Green offices in Australia: a user perception survey

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to deepen understanding of what is working and what is not working within green workplace environments. The paper examines management and employee perceptions of their experiences of working in green workplace environments and assesses the effectiveness of such places. Design/methodology/approach -Being the second stage of a longitudinal study, this paper relies on a data set derived from its survey of 31 management and 351 employee respondents occupying Green Building Council Australia Green Star-rated offices for more than 12 months. Findings -The green workplace is a great place to be, at least most of the time, but there is a discrepancy between the views of management who see greater benefits of the green workplace than their employees. Research limitations/implications -By focussing on green buildings, there is no control to establish a benchmark. Hence, the next stage of the research is a comparable study of a non-green data sample. Also to be tested is -whilst managers and employees overall report satisfaction with their green workplace, what is the norm? Practical implications -The findings are useful for green building industry practitioners and for building owners and managers to maximise the benefits of owning and occupying green buildings by highlighting areas that may require particular attention in order to get it right. The results are particularly useful to support targeted efforts to meet the environmental aspects of the workspace needs of employees. This study aims to assist industry practitioners, owner and managers to learn from the experience of current occupiers and thereby assist the design and space management of office space in the future where such considerations will become increasingly important given the international concerns for improved resource management. Originality/value -With international applicability, a large sample of office space users provides empirical evidence of what works/does not work within the green workplace, i.e. its strengths and weaknesses and provides a good reference point for similar studies in the future, leading to the establishment of clearer, more useful benchmarks of green building occupier satisfaction.

Indoor environment quality of green buildings: Case study of an LEED platinum certified factory in a warm humid tropical climate

“…Armitage et al discovered differences in perceptions between various employee groups occupying green buildings [17]. A longitudinal study was used where occupants of Green Star buildings were asked to rate their satisfaction.…”

Development of a triple bottom line stakeholder satisfaction model

“…The sustainability of buildings in Australia is measured using the Green Star rating system. The number of green buildings in Australia has increased significantly since the Green Building Council of Australia launched in 2002 (Armitage et al, 2011).…”

Motivating Project Owners to Increase Their Commitment towards Improving the Delivery Performance of Green Building Projects

“…Socially, green building projects increase occupier comfort, satisfaction and health (Armitage, Murugan, & Kato, 2011;Best & Purdey, 2012), while economic gains in the form of high demand, financial viability and profits accrued from green building projects are the associated economic benefits (Zainul Abidin, 2009). As a result, there is a growing interest in the delivery of green building projects globally.…”

“…Additionally, it is a motivation for green building development, especially the commercial green building developments, where the quality of life of users and/or occupiers increases employee productivity and reduces absenteeism (Armitage, Murugan and Kato;Purdy and Best, 2012;Ang and Wilkinson, 2008;Feltes, 2007). The delivering of green building projects can also be motivated by the values, norms, believes and social concerns of actors.…”

“…The social category of benefits of green building projects is physical when occupiers experience tangible benefits such as health, comfort and productivity gains (Purdy and Best, 2012;Armitage, Murugan and Kato, 2011).…”