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Introduction: This study examines the complex link between regular maintenance procedures and the effectiveness of business-related assets in Australia. Commercial buildings are essential to the country's economy, and the variables affecting their worth must be carefully analysed. Methods: This study evaluates the relationship between asset value and maintenance frequency, examines how maintenance practices affect building performance, and considers industry perspectives on improperly versus correctly maintained assets. Results: The study's findings highlight the significance of renovations, along with adaptive reuse, in raising asset value; however, despite various maintenance techniques available, the Australian commercial building industry has challenges. Budgetary constraints, for instance, pose a significant hurdle, with many companies struggling to allocate sufficient funds for comprehensive maintenance plans. The findings of this research highlight the positive shift towards technology-driven maintenance procedures in business establishments in Australia. The adoption of computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) and Building Management Systems (BMS) is rising, automating repetitive tasks, improving maintenance procedures, and enabling data-driven decisions. Discussion: This study thoroughly explains the complex processes influencing the value and usefulness of commercial architecture resources in the Australian setting by addressing the differing perspectives within the real estate industry. Future research on this topic should focus on recognising the psychological components of decision-making concerning maintenance practices. Investigating how psychological prejudices, perceptions of danger, and organisational culture affect the choices made by property owners, facility administration, and others can help us better understand why some maintenance methods are preferred over others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – There is growing acceptance that heritage buildings are an important element of Australia's social capital and that heritage conservation provides economic, cultural and social benefits to urban communities. The decision whether to reuse a building entails a complex set of considerations including location, heritage, architectural assets, and market trends. The role of building conservation has changed from preservation to being part of a broader strategy for urban regeneration and sustainability. A growing body of opinion supports the view that adaptive reuse is a powerful strategy for handling this change. Urban development and subsequent redevelopment has a significant impact on the environment and the purpose of this paper is to investigate how the conservation of heritage buildings may contribute to a more sustainable urban environment. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the views and experiences of architects, developers and building managers who have been involved with the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings. In total, 60 semi-structured interviews were drawn from this stakeholder group to investigate their current understanding of the sustainability issues associated with the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings. Findings – The subsequent data show that despite many positive outcomes in terms of sustainability, the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings is considered to create many problems; not the least of which is whether heritage buildings are icons that should be conserved or whether they are in fact eyesores and unviable for adaptive reuse. Originality/value – The contribution of heritage buildings to the three tenets of sustainability has not previously been explored comprehensively and as a result there is a conflict of interest between the preservation of heritage values and progression of the sustainable urban design agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resilience and capacity of historic buildings to adapt plays a vital role in mitigating climate change through adaptive reuse. The adaptive reuse of buildings is a practical substitute to demolition and has substantial economic, environmental and social benefits. However, tensions exist between the retention of heritage buildings and conformance with regulatory requirements (e.g.energy efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, disability access, etc.). This raises questions about whether regulatory systems can embrace both green building technologies and heritage conservation principles. This paper examines the challenges/barriers to successful adaptive reuse projects in Australia using a qualitative approach that involves multiple case studies and in-depth interviews with industry experts coupled with field observation and building plan appraisals. The findings show that compliance to codes/regulations and current design requirements are the major challenges encountered in undertaking adaptive reuse projects. The underlying parameters of the identified challenges will serve as an initiative for formulating prospective regulations that address changing building use, encourage the integration of modern technologies and inhibit unnecessary building demolition for future global climate protection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Building adaptive reuse plays a critical role in emissions reduction and supports global climate protection. Thus, the designing of future buildings with embedded adaptive reuse potential is a useful criterion for sustainability. This paper describes the development of a new rating tool known as adaptSTAR, which offers holistic and unified design criteria suitable for assessing the adaptive reuse potential of future buildings. The findings show that criteria can be identified and weighted according to physical, economic, functional, technological, social, legal and political categories to calculate an adaptive reuse star rating. In addition, this paper reports on the first stage of the research methodology used in the initial development of the rating tool and concludes with some preliminary observations from 12 selected successful case studies in New South Wales (NSW) and Melbourne, Australia. The use of adaptSTAR in designing future buildings will lead and help promote low carbon built environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents the findings of a research conducted on advancing previous research works which have developed a means to predict adaptive reuse potential (ARP). Under the research, comparison of ARP between urban and non-urban settings drawn from case studies in both Hong Kong, China and Australia was done. The research reveals that the 12 urban cases in Hong Kong have a lower ARP score on average than the 12 non-urban cases in Australia, yet the maximum ARP score possible is higher. It concludes that adaptive reuse intervention in Hong Kong is too late and valuable opportunity for economic, social, and environmental gain is delayed.

The Australian affordable rental housing sector has historically faced barriers to green building (GB) adoption due to issues of split-incentives, despite financial support from the commonwealth. This paper explores how a recent shift towards bond-based funding mechanisms offer an opportunity to integrate green building practices, and influence regional social, environmental and economic outcomes. A novel system dynamics model is developed to forecast a business as usual (BAU) and green-building scenario framed around the recently introduced Australian Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator (AHBA) policy framework. The purpose of the model is to examine how a mandate on green building standards together with the use of green versus conventional bonds impact social, environmental and economic outcomes of the framework over a 20-year horizon, within the South East Queensland metropolitan area of Australia. The study determined that the green building framework would deliver 2.37% less housing overall due to higher initial capital costs. However, offers substantial long-term energy and water efficiency benefits, improved affordability for tenants due to reduced utility costs, deferred water and energy infrastructure benefits, and considerable contributions towards Australia's carbon emission reduction targets. Tenants are expected to benefit from a 45–59% reduction in energy and a 27% decrease in water bills. Moreover, a shift to affordable green building policy could contribute to 2.9% of Australia's Conference of Parties (2030) carbon emissions reduction target if applied nationally. The study concludes with a sensitivity analysis to reveal policy refinement recommendations that would yield the benefits of green affordable housing without sacrificing the small reduction in housing stock delivered by the proposed program. • A System dynamics model is applied to determine affordable housing policy outcomes. • A business as usual versus green building policy scenario are compared and analysed. • Three policy recommendations are presented to improve the GB scenario. • GB policy benefits are substantial therefore developer grant scheme is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The various aspects of the diversity within communities can be highlighted by heritage buildings and the traditions they represent. Adaptive reuse of heritage buildings can be seen as a strategy to protect these buildings and their associated values. However, in practice, adaptability assessment of heritage buildings and making informed decisions related to adaptive reuse remains a challenge amongst stakeholders. A comprehensive review of published works on adaptive reuse shows existing models to assess adaptive reuse are mainly focused on commercial and office buildings, and are only partially applicable to heritage buildings. As such, the development of a new, simple model is proposed to assess the adaptability of heritage buildings, at different stages of buildings lifecycle, would benefit all parties engaged with heritage buildings and their ongoing use. By reviewing previous adaptive reuse assessment and decision-making models, as well as identifying the challenges to adaptive reuse, a new model applicable to heritage buildings is developed. The model is applied to two heritage listed city halls in Queensland, Australia, as illustrative case studies. Application of this model in practice over time may result in its further extension and strengthen its validity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]