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The Construction Industry Affecting Australia's Economy

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The construction sector drives a country’s economy. In Australia, the construction industry is a major role of economic growth and is the fourth largest contributor to Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP) (ABS 2010). By 2056, economy activity is estimated to increase five times, energy consumption and manufacturing activity to triple with the population growth increase by over 50% (Akadiri, Chinyio and Olomolaiye 2012). With construction industry affecting the economy, ultimately, it also affects the social, cultural and environmental aspects of the country.
Decades ago, sustainable construction was not even a common term for construction processes and uses of construction materials are chosen on how it makes an impact on cost savings …show more content…

They are the result from the drastic increase of human consumption of resources during the 20th century. These have become a problem and a constraint for major companies that see sustainability as inefficient before to their projects as they were focused on the amount of cost, quality and time needed for the construction of sustainable buildings. A focus on sustainable construction came about in 1995 for the World Building Congress in Sweden to create collaborations between nations to start a sustainable construction in the future. These include a sustainable construction framework for sustainable development in the construction industry. Sustainable construction just started 2 decades ago and a lot of progress has been implemented however, a lot of sustainable development still needs to be done. The term sustainability was even unclear to people due to its broad term that could be applied in different industries and not just in …show more content…

Producing guidelines, standards and codes such as Building Code of Australia, Green Star ratings and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings for new building and refurbishment projects is a good method to encourage, identify and implement sustainability in construction. In the past, sustainable construction meant traditional approaches to construction was more complex and extensive and less profits in projects to adopt sustainability products and processes. Sustainable construction however should be seen although complex, incorporates aspects of economic efficiency, environmental performance and social responsibility with the aim to meet the needs of today without compromising future’s needs (Lafarge Holcim Foundation

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