Building it ready: resilience, efficiency and opportunity in the Australian built environment

As we mark World Green Building Week 2026, its theme, #BuildItReady, feels particularly relevant.

Over the past decade, the sustainability conversation has moved well beyond environmental intent. It is now central to how organisations manage risk, control costs and plan for long-term value. Climate impacts, energy volatility, changing regulation and rising expectations from investors and communities are all shaping decisions today.

The question is no longer whether we need more sustainable buildings. The question is whether the buildings we are creating today are ready for tomorrow.

Built resilient

Resilience is often spoken about as a future challenge. In reality, it is a current one.

Across Australia, we are already seeing the impacts of climate change affect communities, infrastructure and businesses. Heatwaves, flooding, bushfires and extreme weather events are no longer hypothetical scenarios. They are present-day risks that organisations must manage today.

My colleague Katie Roberts explores this in Turning risk into resilience: Australia’s National Climate Risk Assessment. Her article makes a clear case for understanding and addressing climate-related risks before they become business disruptions.

What I find encouraging is how clients are now approaching resilience. Five years ago, the discussion was often limited to compliance, new designs or a single asset. Today, it is increasingly considered across the whole property lifecycle. 

We are seeing climate risk assessed before sites are purchased, so exposure is understood before investment decisions are made. Project teams are integrating resilience from the outset. Existing asset owners are testing how buildings may perform under future climate scenarios, while organisations are taking a portfolio-wide view of both risks and opportunities.

Increasingly, resilience is being embedded within broader ESG strategies and investment frameworks. It is no longer a standalone exercise. It is becoming a fundamental component of long-term business planning.

Built efficient

Improving efficiency is not a new concept for our industry. For more than 50 years, Cundall has worked with clients to reduce energy use, improve operational performance and create buildings that work better for owners and occupants.

What has changed is the context. Historically, energy efficiency was often justified through financial returns or environmental outcomes. Those outcomes remain essential, but the business case now reaches much further. Energy security and price volatility are shaped by forces well beyond an organisation’s control. Geopolitical disruption, pressure on global fuel supply chains and constraints on shipping routes can quickly translate into higher costs and operational uncertainty for Australian businesses.

Recent fuel shortages and price shocks have made that exposure visible. For businesses, the practical response is to use less energy, electrify assets where appropriate, integrate renewable generation and apply smart building technologies. This reduces reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets and gives organisations greater control over their long-term energy needs.

The same discipline should extend to space and materials. Construction inputs can be just as exposed to volatility. We should ask whether we can achieve the same outcome with less building, create only what is genuinely needed, and make early design choices that favour lower-impact materials.

Energy and resource efficiency are therefore more than sustainability initiatives. They are practical tools for resilience, cost management and stronger long-term performance.

Built for opportunity

The third part of this year’s campaign is the one I keep returning to: how do we create lasting value from the investments we make today?

It is a question that is particularly relevant as Brisbane prepares for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Major events bring significant opportunity. They drive investment, accelerate infrastructure and create momentum for cities and regions. But their success should not be measured only by the event itself. It should be measured by what remains.

The venues we create, the homes we build and the infrastructure we invest in must continue delivering value long after the closing ceremony.

That means designing flexible, adaptable assets that can respond to changing community needs. It means using investment to strengthen neighbourhoods, improve connectivity and support future growth. It also means reducing disruption and other impacts during delivery. Above all, it requires us to look beyond immediate project outcomes and consider the social, environmental and economic value that can be created over decades.

The greatest opportunity is not simply hosting a world-class event. It is ensuring that the investments made to support it continue benefiting future generations.

Ready for the future

The challenges facing the built environment are complex, but we already know many of the practical steps required.

Buildings that are resilient, efficient and designed for long-term value can help organisations manage risk, reduce costs and create better outcomes for people and communities.

For me, that is what #BuildItReady means.

It is not about preparing for a distant future. It is about making thoughtful, practical decisions now, so the buildings, infrastructure and places we create are ready for what comes next.