Business Report: The Greenfields Development, Sunselect Property Group

This business report, focusing on Sunselect Property Group, addresses the critical need for sustainable and affordable housing in Australia. The report centers on 'The Greenfields Development,' a project designed to provide green affordable housing through low-rise, high-density construction. It emphasizes energy efficiency, affordability, waste minimization, and water conservation. The findings highlight the challenges of rising housing costs, energy consumption, and construction waste. The report recommends innovative and sustainable design, zero-carbon homes, water conservation techniques, the use of technology for sustainable housing, and effective waste management. The conclusion emphasizes the project's potential to enhance Sunselect's corporate social responsibility, align with government guidelines, and meet market trends, while also underlining the importance of the recommendations for successful implementation. The report is a comprehensive overview of the project's goals, challenges, and proposed solutions, providing valuable insights into sustainable development in the construction industry.

Running head: Sustainable Practices
Business Report
Sunselect Property Group

Sustainable practices
Executive Summary:
The research reveals that today Australia faces serious issue of sustainable and affordable
housing. Sunselect Property Group is launching a project named ‘The Greenfields
Development’. The project will be the type of green affordable housing. Green affordable
housing means building up sustainable buildings that will be affordable in nature. It will be
working on the concept of low-rise and high-density housing. The major focus of the project
would be on energy efficiency, affordability, waste minimisation and water conservation. The
key recommendations for the project are innovative and sustainable design, zero carbon
homes, implementation of water conservation techniques, using technologies that can help in
sustainable housing development and effective waste management.
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Sustainable practices
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Findings & Discussions...........................................................................................................................3
Recommendations and conclusion........................................................................................................4
References.............................................................................................................................................6
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Sustainable practices
Introduction
Corporate social responsibility can be defined as the firm’s contribution to sustainable
development by taking initiatives that ensure economic, environmental and social welfare for
maximising the interest of various stakeholders. This basically aims at sustainable for the
interest of communities. A widely used definition of sustainable development given by
Brundland states that sustainable development is doing development in such a way that it
meets out the needs of present generations and does not destroy the ability of future
generations to meet their needs (Mawhinney 2008). For enhancing its CSR image every
company needs to improve the sustainable practices of the company. Sunselect Property
Group is a construction company doing its operations in New South Wales, Sydney,
Australia. The company has been in the industry since past 50 years. But gradually it lost
momentum with sustainable development. This report includes details about the project ‘The
Greenfields Development’ that is designed to improve the CSR profile. The project will be
designed to attain green affordable housing for community. Green affordable pricing can be
described as the buildings that are sustainable and affordable in nature (Burke, Nelson and
Rickerson 2007). It will also include recommendations about how company can improve its
CSR practices so that the company regains its reputation. The major focus of the project
would be on energy efficiency, affordability, waste minimisation and water conservation.
Findings & Discussions sss
After analysing various data, the key findings reveal that there is a need for sustainable
housing development. The impact of these on the proposed project is also listed below. Key
findings and discussion are as follows:
 On a median priced house in Sydney it costs around $47,880 per annum to service a typical
loan (Wade and Irvine 2017).
 According to recent reports 41% of people now rate housing as one of the major challenges
for community (Wade and Irvine 2017).
 It is estimated that energy consumption by residential sector will rise to 56% from 1990-2030
(Saman, 2013).
 25% of municipal solid waste and 50% of hazardous waste is generated by construction
industry (Yates 2013)
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Sustainable practices
 New dwellings and renovations above $50,000 in NSW require a Basix certificate. This
certificate accesses the energy and water demands for the proposed project (NSW
government 2017).
The above findings suggest that today Australia faces the problem of affordable and
sustainable housing. The levels of energy consumption show that there is the need for energy
efficient buildings. The levels of waste generated by construction industry have also risen to a
great extent. The cost of servicing the housing loan also shows the housing affordability
challenge for the company. Affordable housing problem affects society’s functioning and
individual’s prosperity. The problem also impacts ability to participate in economy. To deal
with the challenge of affordable housing government has also adopted various measures and
one of the strongest measures adopted by New South Wales government is Basix. This aims
to create sustainable development through minimising the energy and water consumption for
proposed new buildings. The above research data shows that if company Sunselect Property
group wants to regain its reputation then it’s the high time that company should align again
with the running trend. The current scenario in the country shows that project like ‘The
Greenfields Development’ is in requirement. This project of the company aims to work on
low- rise and high-density housing project. The major areas on which the company should
focus include economic affordability, energy efficiency, waste minimisation and reducing
water consumption.
Recommendations and conclusion
The recommendations for the new project are listed below:
 Spend in R&D to develop innovative and sustainable housing design. This involves investing
in research and development to build the designs that support sustainable development. Some
innovative designs are waste house, zep pilot hose, pop up house, tight house, slip house etc.
The design should be passive in nature. Passive designs utilises the advantage of climate and
maintains a normal temperature range in the house. The design eliminates the use of heaters
and coolers.
 Use the latest technology and equipment to minimise the use of energy. Technology plays a
vital role in sustainable development. For example LSF (line spread function) technology can
reduce the cost of construction. ICT (Information & Communication Technology) enables
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Sustainable practices
policy makers with tools to deal with the sustainable housing development challenges.
Equipment like smart meters and smart appliances can conserve the energy.
 Build homes that are carbon positive. Long term sustainability can only be assured if
company builds the carbon zero or carbon positive homes. This can be achieved by reducing
the amount of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
 Australia is the driest continent and Australians are greatest per capita consumers of water.
Therefore the project requires implementing ground water management and water treatment
techniques to reduce water consumption. Popular ways to conserve water that can be used in
this project are avoid wastage, rain water harvesting, waste water reuse, reduce outdoor water
use and waterless toilets (McGee 2013).
 Reduce the waste by recycling and reusing. Choosing the materials carefully can reduce
waste and environmental impact. Waste reduction can be done by the company by adopting 3
basic techniques that are eliminating waste, reducing waste and reusing materials.
From the above report it can be concluded that company has adopted that The Greenfields
sustainable development project will achieve various objectives of the company. These
objectives include fulfilling the corporate social responsibility, enhance its reputation, imply
with the government guidelines and using trend to be in the completion. All of the above
objectives can be achieved after successful completion of the project. The report underlines
the problem of green affordable housing that Australia faces today. It determines the urgent
need for adopting and improving sustainable practices to grow in the industry. In the recent
times even the government of New South Wales has turned its attention towards the problem.
It has come with the strong measure known as Basix to overcome the current issue. The new
project of the company will prove beneficial from economic, social and environmental point
of view. But for the successful implementation the company needs to take into consideration
the suggested recommendations.
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References
Burke, P.M., Nelson, G. and Rickerson, W., 2007. Boston's green affordable housing
program: Challenges and opportunities. NYUJ Legis. & Pub. Pol'y, 11, p.1.
Mawhinney, M., 2008. Sustainable development: Understanding the green debates. John
Wiley & Sons.
McGee, C. 2013. Water. Australian Government, viewed on 19 August 2017 from
http://www.yourhome.gov.au/water
NSW government, 2017. Planning and environment, viewed on 19 August 2017 from
https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/planning-tools/basix
Saman, W.Y., 2013. Towards zero energy homes down under. Renewable energy, 49,
pp.211-215.
Wade, M. and Irvine, J. 2017. The green, amber and red of housing affordability policies. The
Sydney Morning Herald, viewed on 19 August from http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-
economy/the-green-amber-and-red-of-housing-affordability-policies-20170414-gvl9ci.html
Yates, J.K., 2013. Sustainable methods for waste minimisation in construction. Construction
Innovation, 13(3), pp.281-301.
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