You have already seen a picture of the AMP Center in Sydney, Australia, you just don’t know it. It stands halfway between the famed Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Built in 1976 the mainstay of the Sydney skyline was scheduled to reach the end of its useful life around 2013. The owner, AMP Capital, wanted a new tower, something more energy-efficient and glamorous to meet the needs of 21st-century tenants. But the team at AMP was also concerned about the environmental impact of demolishing the tower and building a new one.
The impact of building construction on global carbon emissions is something on the minds of many in the real estate and development industries today. It has created a paradox for real estate’s quest to decarbonize. The industry needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions urgently, and as we’ve recently reported, it’s not on track to do so by 2050. Part of the reason the real estate sector isn’t on pace to meet our climate goals is because, globally, we’re building more than ever before. And as the affordable housing shortage throughout much of the developed world shows, we need these new buildings. Every year, new construction on a global scale is equivalent to creating the entirety of Japan’s current floor area.
The carbon emissions generated from demolishing old structures and all the embodied carbon that goes with it, including the production of new materials like steel and concrete, is a pesky decarbonization challenge. In Australia, the construction industry accounts for 18.
The post How an Upcycled Australia Skyscraper May Have Solved Real Estate’s Decarbonization Paradox appeared first on Propmodo.
