GBC OF AUSTRALIA
CONSTRUCTION making a dynamic , exciting , liveable city is people . Rob ’ s spent the last thirty years redesigning the streets of Melbourne so that they are places that people want to be . “ None of this is a mystery , none of this is difficult ” he said .
We are nevertheless poised at a time of “ great opportunity and great obligation ”, as Lend Lease ’ s CEO of Property , Tarun Gupta , so eloquently put it .
The challenges we face are enormous . Rob Whelan , CEO of the Insurance Council of Australia , had us sitting on the edge of our seats when he showed us the graph of what he called the “ inexorable climb ” in costs of natural catastrophes due to increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events . The solution , he said , is more resilient buildings , because “ if we are going to live in places that are exposed to extreme weather , we need to build for them .”
The opportunities are just as great . Carnegie Mellon University Professor Vivian Loftness encouraged us to design for ‘ environmental surfing ’, and Harvey Bernstein shared with us how 77 per cent of global building owners are now willing to pay more for healthier buildings .
Architect and biomimicry expert Michael Pawlyn encouraged us to look to nature for inspiration , challenging us to see “ nature as a design sourcebook that has benefited from 3.8 billion years of development process , with all its products withdrawn from the market .”
We heard about how the investment structures are starting to fall into place , with green bonds on the rise . And Michael Salvatico , Vice President of MSCI , pointed out that the US $ 10 billion spent on green bonds in 2013 is expected to climb to $ 100 billion in 2015 .
One of the great themes of this conference was the need to drive cultural and structural change – within our teams , within our organisations , and with our relationships with governments – that encourages connections over competition .
Entrepreneur and ‘ conscious capitalist ’ Craig Davis warned us that the future of our industry is deeply connected with our
www . gbca . org . au / 67