An industry gathering this month aimed to draw attention to how Australia's property industry will experience tremendous changes within the next 24 months.
Compulsory energy consumption disclosure, a housing affordability crisis and updated urban development strategies are among the topics that were discussed by developers, government representatives, architects, investors and builders from Germany and Australia for BCI Australia’s inaugural Future Proofing Property Conference in November.
The conference focused on crucial steps towards a holistically sustainable built environment.
Over 300 environmental thinkers attended the conference, including keynote speaker Malcolm Turnbull MP, Premier of Queensland Anna Bligh MP and German Ambassador to Australia Michael Witter.
Urban and architectural design was a key issue at the conference.
Turnbull spoke about the growth in green building globally, citing Germany as an example: “The green building sector of Germany has grown to be 8 per cent of GDP”.
Suzie Barnett of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) added that “23 per cent of our greenhouse gasses come out of our built environment”.
Barnett also notes that the number of Green star projects has not dropped during the recent economic slowdown with 13 per cent of ground floor space in Australian CBD’s currently Green Star rated.
Rainer Scherwey of Credit Suisse provided an investor’s perspective on the economic value of
building green; “On average, green buildings deliver 7.5 per cent increase in values, 3.5 per cent increase in
occupancy rates and 3.0 per cent increase in rents.”
