Barriers to renovation for housing sustainability in Tasmania

Australian building legislation now incorporates significant environmental performance requirements for new housing and major housing renovations. These regulations are likely to be tightened over the coming decade, especially as policies for climate change mitigation take effect. Yet most urban and suburban landscapes in Australia are dominated by existing housing which falls well short of current standards. This observation is particularly pertinent in Tasmania, the coldest, most economically marginal state in Australia with one of the nations’ highest proportions of old housing stock. This existing housing will deliver unacceptable environmental impacts and unsustainable living circumstances for decades to come unless retrofitted or renovated to improve resource use efficiency, ecological appropriateness and liveability. In this paper, we describe and analyse a range of individual, institutional and organisational barriers to renovation for housing sustainability in Tasmania by drawing upon interviews and focus groups conducted in three interrelated studies with stakeholders from all tiers of government and from private and non-government sectors.