The Crucial Role of 'Existing Buildings'

Thursday, 01 June 2006 10:00

Recognition of the 'embodied emissions' of office buildings creates a crucial role for 'existing buildings' in Australia's response to climate change. While recent years have witnessed the rise of 'green buildings', the fact that up to 98% of floor space consists of 'existing buildings' (buildings built without sustainability considerations in mind) ensures that emissions reductions can only come from upgrading existing building stock.

Moreover, because of the embodied emissions of office buildings, replacing existing stock with new 'green buildings' would be a backward step. On one estimate, a new building built to achieve and maintain an NABERS Energy rating of 5.0 would not repay its embodied energy for almost 300 years*.

The embodied emissions in Australia's existing building stock is a sunk cost that needs to be capitalised upon in order to maximise the contribution of property to Australian emission reduction. The greenest buildings are existing buildings that have been upgraded to achieve substantial gains in emissions performance.

Organisations looking to reduce their carbon footprint should not be commissioning the construction of new 'green buildings'. They should be asking for the upgrade of existing building stock.

*Roussac, C. 2006. Existing buildings, the greenest buildings. Property Australia. v.21. no.4. pp.84-85. December 2006/January 2007. Property Council of Australia.