This note discusses the difficulties currently being experienced in implementing Ecological Sustainable Development (ESD) from a development perspective. It looks at what motivates developers and examines what is needed, either through mandatory measures or incentives to change the development culture in Australia. The note draws on experience from a number of current and recently completed projects and incorporates input from developers. It also includes discussion on the evolving outcomes of current industry initiatives aimed specifically at changing development processes and culture in Australia. The note focuses on new buildings. The way in which new buildings are financed and delivered generally differs significantly from retrofit projects being undertaken by building owners. Building owners can more easily factor long term operational costs of their buildings into their retrofit project financing. Typically, building developers are not the long-term owners, operators or tenants of the buildings that they deliver. Their projects are normally sold before or soon after completion to unrelated parties such as property trusts, superannuation funds, and other investors. It is this discontinuity in development and ownership of new buildings that creates perhaps the single biggest challenge to the uptake of ESD for the property industry
