Sustainable properties – dream or trend?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/ic.08.055Keywords:
sustainability of construction works, decision making, policy instruments, standardisation, assessment methods, European perspectiveAbstract
Since issues like climate change, scarcity of resources or social problems in megacities have entered the mainstream media the general public became more sensitised to questions relating to sustainable development. This has also led to an intense debate within the property industry. In the past, the sustainability discourse was often focused on the contribution and role of designers and the construction and building materials industry. The rather abstract concept of sustainable development has been, at best, formally included within corporate goals and missions. In the meantime, however, the important role of private and institutional investors, banks, insurance agencies and governmental authorities is increasingly being recognized; not only by academics but also by the general public which put pressure on corporations to consider the consequences of their actions and thus, aspects of sustainable development within decision making. Based on current trends in Europe and lessons learned in Germany the paper reflects on the transformation of property and construction markets and argues that decision making processes in property and construction are to be backed-up and supported by a ‘tool-box’ of instruments and methods based on LCA and LCC methodology. Furthermore, it is argued that market-driven forces to implement the principles of sustainable development in property and construction shall be supported by governmental and fiscal measures in order to reach market transformation effectively and quickly.
Downloads
References
(1) UNEP, 2003, Sustainable building and construction - the cornerstone of sustainability, Industry and Environment, Vol. 26, No. 2-3, Published by: United Nations Environment Programme Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, París
(2) OECD, 2003, Environmentally Sustainable Buildings – Challenges and Policies, OECD Publications, París
(3) Rogall, H., 2004, Ökonomie der Nachhaltigkeit – Handlungsfelder für Politik und Wirtschaft, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden
(4) UNEP FI, 2004, The Materiality of Social, Environmental and Corporate Governance Issues to Equity Pricing – 11 Sector Studies by Brokerage House Analysts at the Request of the UNEP Finance Initiative Asset Management Working Group [online], Published by: United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, Available at: http://www.unepfi.org
(5) PRI, 2006, Principles for Responsible Investment [online], Published by: UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative in cooperation with UN Global Compact, Available at: http://www.unpri.org
(6) Dalal-Clayton, B. and Sadler, B. (Eds.), 2004, Sustainability Appraisal – A Review of International Experience and Practice [online], Published by: International Institute for Environment and Development, Available at: http://www.iied.org
(7) Enquete-Kommission, 1998, Abschlußbericht der Enquete-Kommission “Schutz des Menschen und der Umwelt - Ziele und Rahmenbedingungen einer nachhaltig zukunftsverträglichen Entwicklung” des 13. Deutschen Bundestages: Konzept Nachhaltigkeit - Vom Leitbild zur Umsetzung, Hrsg.: Deutscher Bundestag, Referat Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Berlin
(8) Huovila, P. (Ed.), 2005, Performance Based Building, Advancing Facilities Management & Construction through Innovation Series, Published by: Technical Research Centre Finland (VTT) and Association of Finnish Civil Engineers (RIL), Helsinki
(9) Pearce, D., 2003, The Social and Economic Value of Construction – The Construction Industry’s Contribution to Sustainable Development 2003, Published by: The New Construction Industry Research and Innovations Strategy Panel
(10) Yang, W. and Kohler, N., 2005, Simulation of Evolution of the Chinese Building Stock, World Sustainable Building Conference, Tokyo, 2005 (see also Kohler, N. and Yang, W., 2007, Long-term management of building stocks, Building Research & Information, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 351-362)
(11) Wier, Mette et al., 2000, Linking Environmental Effects to Consumption Pattern and Lifestyle – an Integrated Model Study, XIII International Conference on Input-Output Techniques, Macerata, Italy, 2000
(12) http://web.conservation.org/carboncalculator
(13) Kats, G., Alevantis, L., Berman, A., Mills, E., Perlman, J., 2003, The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings – A Report to California’s Sustainable Building Task Force [online], Available at: http://www.usgbc.org
(14) European Commission, 2002, Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the energy performance of buildings, 2002/91/EC, Official Journal of the European Communities, December, 2002, L1 pp. 65-71
(15) BMVBW, 2001, Guideline for sustainable building [online], Published by: Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau- und Wohnungswesen (BMVBW), Available at: http://www.bbr.bund.de
(16) UNEP FI, 2005, A legal framework for the integration of environmental, social and governance issues into institutional investment, [online], Published by: United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative, Available at:http://www.unepfi.org
(17) RICS, 2005, Green Value – Green buildings, growing assets [online], Published by: The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Available at: http://www.rics.org
(18) UNEP SBCI, 2007, Assessment of Policy Instruments for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Buildings [online], Published by: United Nations Environment Program Sustainable Buildings & Construction Initiative, Available at: http://www.unepsbci.org
(19) BCBS, 2004, International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards – A Revised Framework [online], Published by: Bank for International Settlements, Available at: http://www.bis.org
(20) VÖB, 2005, VÖB-Immobilienanalyse - Instrument zur Beurteilung des Chance-Risikoprofils von Immobilien [online], Published by: Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands (VÖB), Available at: http://www.voeb.de
(21) Lorenz, D., Trück, S. and Lützkendorf, T., 2006, Addressing Risk and Uncertainty in Property Valuations - A viewpoint from Germany, Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 400-433 doi:10.1108/14635780610691904
(22) Lützkendorf, T. and Lorenz, D., 2005, Sustainable Property Investment: Valuing sustainable buildings through property performance assessment, Building Research & Information, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 212-234 doi:10.1080/09613210500070359
(23) Lorch, R. and Kibert, C. (Eds.), 2007, Next Generation Sustainable Construction, Special Issue, Building Research & Information; Vol. 35 Number 6
(24) Lützkendorf, T. and Lorenz, D., 2007, Integrating Sustainability into Property Risk Assessment for Market Transformation, Building Research & Information, Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 644-661 doi:10.1080/09613210701446374
(25) Lee, A. and Barrett, P., 2003, Performance Based Building: First International State-of-the-Art Report [online], Published by: International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB), Available at: http://www.cibworld.nl/website
(26) Meacham, B., Bowen, R., Traw, J., Moore, A., 2005, Performance-based building regulation: current situation and future needs, Building Research & Information, Vol. 33 No. 2, 2005, pp. 91-106 doi:10.1080/0961321042000322780
(27) Lützkendorf, T., Speer, T., Szigeti, F., Davis, G., le Roux, P., Kato, A., Tsunekawa, K., 2005, A comparison of international classifications for performance requirements and building performance categories used in evaluation methods, 11th Joint CIB International Symposium; Helsinki, Finland; June 2005
(28) Glaumann, M., Malmquist, T., Westerberg, U., 2005, A simplified method to generate weights for application in environmental assessment of buildings, World Sustainable Building Conference, Tokyo 2005
(29) ECO-indicator 99 method, http://www.pre.nl/eco-indicator99/
(30) EU Task Group 4, 2003, Life Cycle Costs in Construction [online], Available at: http://www.fincoweb.org/files/112250/EB%20030%20(Final%20Report%20TG4%20LCC%2026-06-03).pdf
(31) UK Office of Government Commerce, 2007, Whole-life costing and cost management - Construction Procurement Guide [online], Available at: http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/CP0067AEGuide7.pdf
(32) Lorenz, D., Trück, S. and Lu.tzkendorf, T., 2007, Exploring the Relationship between the Sustainability of Construction and Market Value - Theoretical Basics and initial empirical results from the Residential Property Sector, Property Management, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 119-149
(33) Kampschroer, K. and Heerwagen, J.H., 2005, The strategic workplace: development and evaluation, Building Research & Information, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 326-337 doi:10.1080/09613210500161976
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2010 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the print and online versions of this journal are the property of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.
All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. You may read the basic information and the legal text of the licence. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 licence must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the final version of the work produced by the publisher, is not allowed.
