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More green lights for eco-friendly buildingsECONOMIC uncertainty has not derailed Australia's $21 billion green building market: Queensland registered the largest number of projects last year while activity in NSW was worth the most.
Queensland had just under 60 green projects last year, while Victoria was second with 46, followed by NSW with 42. NSW green projects were valued at more than $6 billion, Queensland's were worth just under $6 billion and Victoria has just topped $5 billion, the property researcher BCI says.
The chief executive of BCI, Matt Krups, said green projects planned and built in NSW were larger and more costly. NSW, Victoria and Queensland made up 80 per cent of the $21 billion green building market.
In times of economic turmoil, Mr Krups said, the rates and stages at which projects were deferred or abandoned gave insight into the health of the green construction sector. ''Generally, green projects are twice as likely to be deferred as to be abandoned. This is a fairly healthy sign,'' he said.
Mr Krups said many deferrals could be expected in green projects because they often required a more specialised and collaborative design process, and more funding.
Few green projects were abandoned. ''A high level of professional consultants and dedicated investors are required, and because government projects are more likely to have Green Star briefs and are less likely to be affected by economic cycles, there is a relatively low rate of abandonment of green projects,'' he said.
Mr Krups said the 2009 statistics showed projects in the earlier stages of development were more likely to stall or be shelved than those that had development approvals and had engaged later-stage consultants.
Last year, a third of all green projects were commercial or public office developments. The other major contribution came from retail, which made up 25 per cent of all green building in Australia.
Mr Krups said the statistics suggested that the green building sector was not immune to the financial crisis. ''There are signs, however, that the green building industry is far from ailing and Australia's construction market has not been sacrificed for quicker, cheaper development,'' he said.
Mr Krups said the federal government's emphasis on economic stimulus through construction, plus the pressure for governments to develop or occupy spaces built to environmental best practice, had pushed a high volume of green projects into the development pipeline.
Sustainable buildings were here to stay. "Anything built today that is not green will age prematurely," he said.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Posted: 03.03.2010