This project is being led by Dr Lan Ding and involves other BE researchers (Riccardo Paolini, Komali Yenneti, and William Craft).

The residential sector plays an important role with respect to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Australian federal and state governments have been committed to standards and assessment tools to regulate energy efficiency and GHG emissions in residential buildings, such as Building Sustainability Index (BASIX). However, there is a lack of understanding of how builders make their decisions to meet the minimum BASIX requirements or go beyond the minimum requirements.

The BASIX assessment covers building envelope thermal performance and a wide range of energy use of built-in and plug-in appliances such as heating and cooling systems, lightings, hot water, etc.  Therefore, decisions towards meeting or exceeding the BASIX minimum requirements is complex and influenced by a wide range of factors. The decisions may involve energy efficient design, products, technologies, construction, service delivery, etc. in the whole building cycle.

The work proposed here will assist government to better understand builder market segments and differentiation, to map the decision-making process and key influential factors within each market segment, to identify key drivers in the building design, financing and construction process, and to identify opportunities for government intervention.

The barriers and opportunities identified in this research will elucidate key actions that government and industry can take to improve and the delivery of BASIX and other sustainability outcomes.

The project will address the following research questions: 

• What are the market segments in the new home market?

• What influences the decision making of builders to implement different options to meet or exceed BASIX requirements? 

• What are the attitudes, norms, influences, motivations, and barriers throughout the building process that impact on the decisions? 

• Who are the key actors that interact with or influence builders in the decision-making process?

• Are these influences different by market segments? What are the challenges and opportunities for different market segments?

• How do we enable positive drivers/influences to encourage builders exceeding the minimum BASIX requirements, or address barriers to meet the minimum requirements?