MAKING SUSTAINABILITY A REAL ESTATE REALITY

Abstract

As the world's population continues to increase exponentially, the strain on existing resources for food, clothes and shelter becomes more apparent and dire. At present, more that 600 million urban people suffer from inadequate sanitation and 450 million from unsafe drinking water. Though these problems have not hit our home shores yet, we must all ensure that sustainable practices are carried out to safeguard clean land, water and air for our present and future generations. Property developers play an important role in creating sustainable developments as their products form and impact our urban environment to a large degree. The life cycle of buildings from conception, design, construction and finally operation and maintenance consumes excessive amounts of non-renewable energy while churning out large amounts of pollutants. Hence, property developers have the ability to make significant contributions to sustainable development if they can accept their responsibility towards the environment and integrate environmentally-friendly features into their final product. The concept of Sustainable Development surrounds the aim of meeting our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This concept gave rise to the emergence of ISO 14001, an Environmental Management System that seeks to guide corporate organizations into achieving sustainable development. Since its introduction to Singapore in 1997, increasing numbers of companies and businesses have taken steps to getting the ISO 14001. But, property developers in Singapore have yet to seek out ISO 14001 for reasons like the lack of thorough knowledge and understanding of the benefits of ISO 14001. Knowing that ISO 14001 was conceived to help organizations achieve sustainable development, it would seem that without this certification, property developers would not be able to make effective contributions to sustainable development. This dissertation sets out to introduce the concept of sustainable development and the mechanics of ISO 14001. Focusing on private property developers and their condominium developments, the research reveals that property developers can indeed make effective contributions to sustaining the environment through incorporating innovative design and eco-friendly features into their projects. With strong infrastructural support from the government, proactive property developers who take initiative to become more environmentally-involved and start to invest in ecobuildings will help make sustainability a real estate reality in Singapore.