Disposable office blocks 'a huge waste of energy'
Constructing city buildings to be obsolete after 30 years is a scandalous building industry practice - and one of the most extreme examples of energy inefficiency in modern society according to international futurist Patrick Dixon.He says most offices being built today use 20th-century energy measures when considerable cost savings are available with the right mix of modern design and technology.
Dr Dixon chairman of British-based Global Change Limited and adviser on the latest global trends to such companies as Microsoft and BP will address a building conference in Melbourne today. He will stress the need to plan for a time when energy is twice as expensive as today after carbon taxes are added. However it is the inefficiency of modern buildings that rankles most.
I do think it's a scandal Dr Dixon says. If you buy a home in Australia you take out a mortgage and in a decade or two you plan to sell it almost as you found it. But office buildings are constructed to be pulled down after 30 years perhaps 40 years at most.