Australian green building market set to flourish

The report, based on a global survey of more than 2,000 industry participants including architects, engineers, contractors, owners, specialists/consultants and investors from 86 countries, sought to analyse:

• the level of green activity;
• the impact of green building practices on business operations; and
• the triggers most likely to spur further green market growth and the challenges that may impede it.

In Australia and New Zealand, the top sector for future green building is new commercial buildings, with the top triggers being client and market demands. The report notes that Australia is notably higher than the global average for each of these factors, which demonstrates the sway clients and market demands have on encouraging the green building market in Australia.

The other top triggers for green building growth in Australia were “doing the right thing” and “healthier buildings”, while the influence of environmental regulations was slightly lower than the global average.

While the report anticipates sustained growth in Australia’s green building market over the coming years, it also notes that cost concerns continue to nag the local market.

What’s behind green building growth in Australia?

Below are the key Australian takeaways and statistics from the report.

• Australia has a relatively mature green building market: 94 percent of survey respondents do at least “some” green building projects, and 67 percent reported a “moderate” level of green activity.
• Green building on the rise: 46 percent of survey respondents are doing the majority (60 percent or more) of their projects green, the highest of all the 20 countries surveyed. And 64 percent of respondents expect to be doing the majority of their projects green by 2021.
• Green renovations popular: 39 percent of survey respondents expect to do green institutional projects, while 37 percent expect to perform green renovations on existing buildings. Both numbers are higher (30 percent and 33 percent, respectively) than when this survey was last conducted in 2015.
• Green residential projects fluctuate: 25 percent of survey respondents will do green low-rise residential projects over the next three years (down from 39 percent in 2015), while 33 percent expect to do green high-rise residential projects (up from 24 percent in 2015).
• The key social reasons for building green: Improving occupant health and wellbeing (75 percent), sustainable business practices (70 percent), increasing worker productivity (59 percent), and creating a sense of community (58 percent).
• The key environmental reasons for building green: Reducing energy consumption (57 percent), greenhouse gas reductions (48 percent).
• The business benefits of going green: Australian respondents expect an average of 9 percent operating cost reductions in the first 12 months for a new green building. That number jumps to 11 percent for a green retrofit building.

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