Sunday, March 17, 2013

Retrofitting Market Is Expanding

By Jerry Wright


Although the general construction industry is struggling, the retrofitting market is currently growing more and more. In fact over the next decade it is expected to double in size. The reasons for this growth are outlined below.

There are two main reasons behind the growing retrofit trend: energy costs, which are soaring, and environmental restrictions, which are tightening. While this is promoting energy efficient alternatives, it is also forcing organisations to re-think their building's carbon footprint. That means more than just making new buildings 'greener' (only 1% of buildings are new) - the big impact will be existing buildings that need to be retrofitted for energy efficiency.

What is good about retrofitting?

Government incentives and energy costs are the main incentives but realistically there are a lot of other reasons to retrofit commercial buildings. Australia's market are following the rest of the world in the retrofit market and globally it is expected to rise from $US80.3 billion in 2011 to $US151.8 billion by 2020. So with such a big growth there are some strong incentives behind retrofitting.

Retrofitting provides greater productivity from workers, improved interior air quality for the workplace and hence there is a corporate environmental commitment.

While employee health improved and productivity strengthened in these organisations, they enjoyed additional benefits like attracting and retaining talent. Even better, every organisation said the retrofit built their brand equity.

What effect does this have on building related industries?

The construction industry is, of course, going to benefit from the expansion in the retrofit market. The biggest increase will be in sustainable building related sectors like solar, heating, lighting and ventilation. Natural ventilation, natural lighting, and efficient heating that require little or no energy consumption are going to be in biggest demand. As the retrofit market expands so will the demand for natural ventilation systems which create airflow without electricity and louvers that make the most of the natural light and cooling available.




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