The Structure of the Sustainable Construction MarketThe whole sustainable construction market can be divided into three segments:
1) the residential market (46% market share)
2) the non-residential market (31% market share)
3) the infrastructure market / civil engineering (23% market share)Dominant Trends in all Sectors of the Sustainable Construction MarketSummarizing the previous future trends of all three market segments, several common trends can be considered dominant:- Future building will have respond to increasingly differentiated ownership, usage of premises and facility services.
- All three market segments require the consideration of both, sustainability issues, the allowance of life-cycles and health related factors.
- Retrofitting will be a dominant task of both, buildings and infrastructure due to increasing resource restrictions.
- Experts expect a growing awareness by public and private actors for environmental and social issues affected by housing, buildings and infrastructure.
Obstacles on a Broad Implementation of Sustainable Construction ApplicationsThere are several obstacles preventing a rapid and effective market development in the field of sustainable construction:- The concept of sustainable construction is rather new and methods and instruments quantifying the financial and ecological impact of single activities are not easily applicable.
- The focus on initial costs especially in the residential market prevents from long-term thinking in terms of quality, safety, environmental criteria and life-cycle costs.
- Even in the public sector, where there are premises and criteria for green procurement rules a given, public clients rarely use the opportunities for using sustainable construction.
- There are already several existing EU directives as well as member state legislation that deal with sustainability in the construction sector. Apart from that, new or revised legislation could diminish bureaucratic burdens and promote competitiveness and innovation in the construction sector.
- Progress in standardisation efforts is very slow, partly preventing the rapid adoption of innovative technologies and market development by the market.
- The high proportion of SME in the construction sector pose a challenge on market development due to the rather short term perspective of many small companies not considering high investments as well as the fast adoption of innovative technologies and techniques.
- The fragmentation of supply chains causes difficulties in generating long-lasting knowledge. This is especially true for short-term, project-based cooperation.
- Lack of adequate education and skills prevents companies and single persons from systematic and organised learning processes and effective knowledge management.
- Some liability regimes discourage companies from working in teams due to possible long-term consequences of failures.
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