ABSTRACT
The many examples in this book suggest that an increasing number of organisations put a premium on sustainability. Green buildings are seen as good for business, not just in strict economic terms but from the perspective of customers, consumers, users and the general public. Sustainability occupies the moral high ground and it is no surprise to find companies such as Wessex Water in the UK or Bank of America in the US in the vanguard of green innovation. Equally, universities and other educational institutions value ecological approaches to campus master planning and building design. However, within this broad and expanding consensus, differences exist between nations, types of company, types of workspace, and between private and public clients. These differences find expression in some of the projects featured in this book and need to be highlighted in order to ensure that the forces of sustainability do not reinforce the numbing effect on design or business cultures of globalisation. So what are the features that distinguish types or approaches to sustainable offices and green educational buildings? Generally, six main characteristics or drivers can be identified from the evidence in this book and these lead to a number of conclusions. They are:
office and workspace types
sustainability assessment types
sustainability modelling tools
regional differences
social versus economic models
architecture versus engineering models.
