Investigating the efficacy of a professional education program in promoting sustainable residential construction practices in Australia

Abstract

The Australian construction industry's resource use and emissions' production—particularly in the building sector—has a significant effect on the environment, thus, highlighting the growing importance for increasing sustainability in the sector. To achieve this within the industry and ensure the uptake of better design and construction practices across Australia, it is necessary to educate building professionals about sustainability. The residential construction industry has a poor record of implementing innovation and transferring information to homebuyers. This has necessitated a need to understand how residential building professionals can be educated to enact change and empower themselves (and others) through knowledge to strive towards more sustainable outcomes. Using a leading program in Australia, presented by one of the main industry associations' courses as a case study, this paper investigates the efficacy of the sustainability education program in teaching and motivating residential construction sector participants to make their day-to-day business operations and products more sustainable. This research is the first to analyse the benefits and outcomes of sustainability education program outcomes for residential construction professionals in Australia. This article will examine how motivation and perception, as well as the value of education, affects practice. A myriad of course-specific factors can be attributed to the poor implementation of sustainable practices, such as the limitations of course structure, format and content. Further, the contemporary industry landscape depicts a sector in decline, which is plagued by a challenge to remain competitive with volume builders. Consequently, this sector fundamentally lacks genuine value for large-scale sustainability adoption in the residential sector, which has bearing on the underwhelming implementation rates in the Australian housing industry.