ABSTRACT
The chapter examines the concept of sustainability in the built environment and why sustainability has now been fully embedded into the built environment with reference to new and existing buildings, rather than viewing sustainable attributes as “optional” or a sustainable building as “different.” In today’s real estate market it is rare for a new building to not incorporate some form of sustainability, however this relatively high level of acceptance has taken decades to be embraced in the mainstream built environment. Initially, in the 1990s sustainable buildings were referred to as “green buildings,” which then evolved to “sustainable buildings” in the twenty-first century. The chapter commences by examining the commonly accepted definition of sustainability from the Brundtland Report (1987) which introduces the framework for achieving a balance between economic and environmental competing interests. The next section introduces the concept of sustainability into the built environment with reference to how to undertake sustainable development. Here it examines the concept of the “circle of blame” regarding sustainability and how various stakeholders have different levels of responsibility for undertaking sustainable development. The discussion is focused on examples of global sustainable building rating systems, ranging from “design” rating systems to “in use” rating systems. The chapter acknowledges that although most stakeholders in the real estate market are typically profit-seeking with the underlying aim of “maximizing shareholder returns,” sustainability can now contribute both directly and indirectly to bottom-line profit rather than being an added financial cost.
