Barriers to “green operation” of commercial office buildings

Abstract

Purpose The built environment is a major source of carbon emissions. However, 80 per cent of the damage arises through the operational phase of a building’s life. Office buildings are the most significant building type in terms of emission-reduction potential. Yet, little research has been undertaken to examine the barriers faced by building operators in transitioning to a green operation of the office buildings in their care. This study aims to identify those barriers. Design/methodology/approach Building facilities managers with between 7 and 25 years’ experience in operating primarily Melbourne high-rise office buildings were interviewed. The sample was taken from LinkedIn connections, with ten agreeing to participate in semi-structured interviews – out of the 17 invitations sent out. Interview comments were recorded, coded and categorised to identify the barriers sought by this study. Findings Seven categories of barriers to effecting green operation of office buildings were extracted. These were financial, owner-related, tenant-related, technological, regulatory, architectural and stakeholder interest conflicts. Difficulties identifying green operation strategies that improved cost performance or return on investment of buildings was the major barrier. Practical implications Government, policymakers and facilities managers themselves have been struggling with how to catalyse a green transition in the operation of office buildings. By identifying the barriers standing in the way, this study provides a concrete point of departure from which remedial strategies and policies may be formulated and put into effect. Originality/value The uptake of green operation of office buildings has been extremely slow. Though barriers have been hypothesised in earlier works, this is the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that categorically identifies and tabulates the barriers that stand in the way of improving the green operational performance of office buildings, drawing on the direct knowledge of facilities experts.

Construction professionals’ perspectives on drivers and barriers of sustainable construction

“…In this regard, various studies have reported the barriers to implement SC practices in the context of different countries. The vast majority of the studies (Häkkinen and Belloni 2011;Ahn et al 2013;Durdyev et al 2018a, b;Ogungbile and Oke 2019;Rock et al 2019), particularly from developing countries, reported that concerns with the cost premium of SC and lack of knowledge and awareness are the most significant barriers, which ultimately lead to the reluctance to implement the SC concept. No doubt, that SC will significantly improve economic and social conditions of people as well as reduce the environmental impact of the industry (Mahdiyar et al 2019).…”

Barriers to sustainable practices in the Indonesian construction industry

“…Similar studies from developing countries arrived at the same conclusion, namely, that a lack of knowledge and awareness is the most significant factor impeding sustainability implementation and eventually leads to insufficient sustainability practices (Rock et al, 2019;Bonsu et al, 2019). Furthermore, the study of Amiril et al (2017) found lack of training and education to be the second major barrier to sustainability practices in a Malaysian railway project, leading to slow implementation of sustainable construction practices.…”

The Importance of Sustainability Implementation for Business Corporations

“…The main key for sustainable practice is to minimize environmental impact and costs while maximizing occupant comfort and satisfaction. The need for enhancing corporate and organizational image are also motivators for management to go green (Fauzi et al, 2021;Rock et al, 2019). Hopkins et al (2017) acknowledge and divide the various benefits of sustainability into three perspectives.…”