The importance of achieving sustainability in commercial buildings has recently been pushed to the forefront for reasons including the following:

• Increasing costs for Energy and Water. Best practice maintenance carried out with a focus on energy and water efficiency can deliver utility cost savings of 10–40% when compared with poor maintenance. High performance maintenance and operation can deliver efficiency gains and cost savings across all types of buildings. Many opportunities for saving energy and water are relatively easy to implement and are cost effective when potential benefits are considered.
• The need to reduce the environmental footprint of commercial buildings has become an important part of strategies presented by Governments towards their commitment to address climate change.
• The Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD) regulations mandate the energy performance of buildings to be disclosed and publicly displayed, thereby encouraging Building Owners to address energy efficiency.
• Commercial tenants are now demanding to occupy sustainable buildings. This is driven by an interest to do the right thing and corporate commitments to minimise environmental impact.
  
  

Apart from the financial and environmental benefits, other advantages that high performance buildings deliver include:

1. Enhanced occupant comfort,
2. Improved reliability of HVAC Systems and,
3. Better retention of asset value.
   
   

Environmental performance targets are required to be achieved by new buildings. As a result, best practice maintenance is the only option that will deliver the high-performance objectives demanded by property developers.

For existing buildings that perform badly, the initial changes and additional costs associated with implementing best practice maintenance and operation should be viewed as an investment that will deliver a financial return in the long term.