Tagged with design

Why Sustainable Architecture & Construction are Good for Business

Global businesses are increasingly focusing on sustainability. Contributing 39% of global carbon emissions, there is particular pressure on the construction industry as well as those in architecture and design. Along with preserving our natural resources, the success of companies within these sectors will progressively rely on their continuing to search for more eco-friendly solutions in 2020 and throughout the decade ahead.

New technology and production processes are improving the green credentials of materials used for a variety of design projects, and alternative approaches to sustainability such as offsite production, retrofitting and refurbishing are becoming more widely used in these sectors.

Sustainable design and manufacturing are equally important for the companies who supply these services as well as those who employ them. Whether for office refurbishments or new buildings, businesses should seek out eco-conscious architects, designers, and contractors to help deliver workplaces which benefit their staff, their reputation and the environment.

Here are three reasons why creating a sustainably-built environment is essential and why businesses should take a green approach to their design needs:

Environmental protection

The most important reason architecture, design and construction companies should become more sustainable is the benefits to the environment. 17% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) come from commercial, industrial and residential buildings. Therefore, changes in how these sectors operate can help make the country a cleaner and healthier place. Why Sustainable Architecture & Construction are Good for Business

New decoration technologies also contribute to a concerted effort to protect the environment. One such example comes from premium Sintered Stone brand Neolith’s HYDRO-NDD 2.0, which uses water-based inks rather than solvent reliant variations to reduce CO2 emissions. Another is Neolith’s partnership with PURETi, a leading manufacturer of water-based photocatalytic preventative maintenance solutions, which offers architects and designers a sustainable surface treatment for exterior façades—especially useful for commercial buildings and skyscrapers in busy cities.

Additionally, materials made of natural components can be recycled, minimising the amount of waste going to landfills. Building a circular economy into construction projects from the design stage can maximise re-use of components and reduces embodied carbon through a building’s whole lifecycle.

Offsite rather than onsite construction also reduces the amount of energy used, minimises waste and extends the lifespan of materials. Rather than demolishing existing building stock, retrofitting and refurbishing should always be considered first, as they create more energy efficient, high-performance buildings which cost less to operate, increase in value and are aesthetically pleasing.

Industry leaders

Designing and building sustainably benefits the companies who offer these services as well. Working towards protecting the environment helps build and maintain a good reputation, painting them as leaders in their respective industries and demonstrating their dedication to CSR.

This article was originally published by CSO Magazine. To read the entire article, click here.

Australian Sustainable Design: the Challenges, What We’re Getting Right, and Where to From Here

The drive behind building more environmentally friendly residential homes is coming from individuals, not government bodies, and cookie-cutter developments are holding us back, according to a think tank assembled to address the issue of implementing sustainable design.

Peter Maddison (supplied)

The chair of the discussion, organised by LG Electronics, was architect and TV host Peter Maddison, who argued that changing our behaviour was key to these kinds of properties having their maximum benefit.

“In my view, sustainability is a lot bigger than just green stuff,” Maddison said.

“We can put the best solar panels in the world in our house, and that’s a terrific contribution,” he said. “But, if we leave the lights on all night, what’s that mean?”

He said that having travelled around Australia to document cutting-edge buildings, he’d seen individuals embracing sustainability as leading the way.

Edge Environment chief executive Jonas Bengtsson said much emphasis was put on improving operational efficiency and thermal performance, but building materials were a big blind spot.

“There is no regulation around materials,” he said. “Maybe 50 per cent of the energy is actually in the stuff that goes in, and we’re not even looking at that from a regulation perspective.”

Difficulties dealing with local councils and a lack of awareness around how people can partially embrace a more sustainable lifestyle, or take a standard-build and adapt it to its building location were raised also as impediments.

For many people, being sustainable was building a “big square house” and then putting solar panels on the roof rather than incorporating it into the design holistically.

Maddison said sustainable buildings needed to be tailored to their environment.

“The way we go about making shelter, making buildings, should be quite different, if you’re in Queensland or in Tasmania,” he said.

“We haven’t got a national style that we could say is Australian particularly and so it should be, because we have this incredible climatic difference that we’re dealing with.”

Maddison identified the Queenslander as a localised style of housing that was adapted to the climate, but one that had largely been left behind in the “mad development” of our suburbs,

The sizes of our homes was also a factor, although affordability was driving younger generations to smaller homes.

“The average Australian home is the biggest in the world. Bigger than the UK, bigger than the USA,” Maddison said.

“Why don’t you, instead of getting a 40-square metre home, think about living in a 20-square metre home? You can get an architect, and you can get all the whiz-bang stuff you want, and still coming out on top.”

Differences in the building codes between states and the limitations of star ratings systems were also considered roadblocks.

“In Victoria, you do six stars, but you don’t have very strict water and energy control,” said Tracey Cools, head of a sustainable building consultant firm. “But, NSW has some energy control which I think is really important.

“We’ve had a huge lift in targets of thermal comfort last year, and that has been a really big learning curve for the industry to meet those targets,” she said.

Technology expert Charlie Brown raised the issue of cost, in terms of a standard build versus a more sustainable home. Build costs for an architecturally designed home are about 30 per cent more than an off-the-shelf design.

But while solar installation costs and savings could be easily predicted, the “elastic” costs associated with home building and renovation made it hard to determine how much a project could wind up costing.

“We talk about these kind of thing things, and you all want to do better with it,” he said. “But, you just don’t know the steps of how to do it.”

But as electricity prices go up, installing solar systems at home would remain appealing for residents looking to save money.

This article was originally published by Domain. Click here to continue reading.

Have Your Say When it Comes to Sustainable Design

Submit your presentation to speak about all things sustainable (including architecture and design) at the 2019 National Sustainability Conference, held from 1-2 April in Brisbane.

Submissions closing Friday – get yours in here.

Design Competitions and the “Design Dividend” in Central Sydney

Good design delivers a variety of public benefits. The so-called “design dividend” links these benefits to positive financial uplift for property interests resulting from superior design. But what happens when competitive design processes enter the picture?

An Australian Research Council-funded project led by researchers from UNSW Sydney and the University of Canberra is examining the City of Sydney Council’s Competitive Design Policy. This policy uniquely requires major private projects in Sydney’s CBD to undergo a design procurement process based on jury-based evaluation of alternative designs. A discretionary floor-space bonus becomes available for achieving “Design Excellence” via this route.

With this policy now in operation for 15 years, roughly 40 major completed or approved projects in Sydney’s CBD have successfully come through a competitive design process. This provides a unique opportunity to examine the potential of good design – and, particularly, competitive design – to lift the bar for both public and private interests. To arrive at an overall assessment of the value-add from these arrangements, the team’s research draws from Council records, interviews with built environment professionals including developers, architects and planners, fieldwork, and examination of industry judgements of the outcomes.

Although the team echoes previously identified difficulties in defining and quantifying the benefits of design excellence, there is evidence to largely substantiate a consensus in perception that Sydney’s competitive design policy has generated significant public and private benefits in aesthetic, functional, design and sustainability terms. Notably, the policy has diversified and elevated the field of architectural firms participating in designing Central Sydney, and has established common ground for Council staff, design experts and developers to work collaboratively towards better outcomes.

Securing design excellence through competition emerges as an innovative regulatory approach to help ‘bridge the gap’ between public and private interests in the design and development of the city.

For more information on this ongoing research project, visit the team’s UNSW Built Environment research page here.

Authors: Professor Robert Freestone (UNSW), Ms Sarah Baker (UNSW), Dr Gethin Davison (UNSW), and Dr Richard Hu (UC)