Driving forces influencing the uptake of sustainable housing in New Zealand

Purpose

Sustainable houses remain at a low rate among the housing stock in New Zealand. Government, industry and the public are wanting to deliver homes that are energy and water efficient, healthy and adaptive to the climate. The purpose of this paper is to find out the driving forces influencing the uptake of sustainable housing in New Zealand.

Design/methodology/approach

Comparative case studies of Hobsonville Point, Wynyard Quarter and Long Bay were adopted as the primary research method. Semi-structured interviews and an online survey were both conducted for data collection to increase the validity of the research.

Findings

Central and local governments were the most effective driving forces for encouraging sustainable housing. Corporate brand and leadership were critical drivers for public-owned companies, whereas private-owned companies were mainly driven by local governments’ policies and strategies. Social awareness and client demand were increasing to influence the sustainable housing, but there was still room for improvement.

Research limitations/implications

The developers can learn from the sustainable development frameworks to set the sustainability goals. Policymakers can draw lessons from the public sectors’ experiences to carry out new policies and inspire the private sectors to follow. Besides, the basic framework could help the further study to use a larger sample size and more rigorous statistical analysis to explore the synergies among the identified drivers.

Originality/value

This paper provides the useful information on how to promote the uptake of sustainable housing in New Zealand.