Global green building is expected to double by 2018, according to a new study from Dodge Data & Analytics in conjunction with the World Green Building Council.
The study, World Green Building Trends 2016, Developing Markets Accelerate Global Green Growth, found that the percentage of companies expecting to have more than 60 per cent of their building projects certified green is anticipated to more than double by 2018, from 18 per cent currently, to 37 per cent.
The results in the report are drawn from survey respondents from 69 countries including Australia.
Key findings include:
Global green building continues to double every three years.
Building owners report seeing a median increase of seven per cent in the value of their green buildings compared to traditional buildings.
The most widely reported benefit globally is lower operating costs.
The top sector for green building growth globally is commercial construction, with nearly half (46 per cent) of all respondents expecting to do a green commercial project in the next three years.
Reducing energy consumption continues to be the top environmental reason for building green (selected as one of the top two reasons by 66 per cent of all respondents), protecting natural resources ranked second globally (37 per cent), and reducing water consumption ranked third (at 31 per cent).
The report described Australia as a stable and mature green market with an increase in green building activity expected in the next three years.
The top sector for expected green growth in Australia is new low-rise residential construction, followed by retrofits of existing buildings and institutional construction.
When it came to new low-rise residential developments (one to three floors) it was the only category in which the percentage of Australian respondents (39 per cent) exceeds global responses (27 per cent).
An estimated 33 per cent of Australian respondents believe that they will work on a green retrofit in the next three years.
This is comparable to the global average of 37 per cent.
See the full report at www.worldgbc.org/news-media/world-green-building-trends-2016.