Environment and Sustainability

Sustainable architecture

Sustainable architecture is a form of architecture that seeks to mitigate the negative environmental impacts that constructions tend to have in the 21st century. It considers efficiency in the development space while also moderating the use of materials and energy – culminating in a sustainable ecosystem. Sustainable architecture is a conscious approach to energy and ecological consumption.

Sustainability at its core, is to ensure that our use of presently available resources does not end up having detrimental effects to our collective well-being or make it impossible to obtain resources for other applications in the long run.

LEED Rankings

The Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design, or LEED, certification has become the world’s most widely used and recognized green building rating system. Annually, international rankings of the Top 10 Countries for LEED turn attention to the upcoming struggles of climate change.

Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, recognises that:

“International demand has grown steadily for tools supporting sustainable economic growth, and it has become increasingly clear that we are reaching a tipping point around environmental sustainability”.

Why should we go green in architecture? 

Social

• The top two social reasons for building green, each rated as important by about three quarters of respondents, are that green building promotes improved occupant health and well-being, and that is encourages sustainable business practices
• There are even links to increased worker productivity, creating a sense of community and simply being aesthetically pleasing

Environmental

• Reducing energy consumption is still most frequently selected as a top environmental reason for building green, as it has been since 2008

Barriers

• The perception that green is associated with high-end projects only continues to be among the top issues in Australia, consistent with previous findings
• The need for greater public awareness of green building to help grow the market is most evident in India, Poland and the USA
• The most influential triggers are client demands and increasing environmental regulations