David Lehman is the managing director for Australian project-management and construction firm Bovis Lend Lease, which provides project delivery and real estate services in China. CHINA ECONOMIC REVIEW spoke to Lehman about green building standards and Australia’s pavilion for the 2010 Expo.
Q: Bovis has experience building more efficient, "greener" buildings. How is the market for green buildings in China doing?
A: As far as sustainable building is concerned, most of the green projects in China are being driven by multinationals. What China needs is an institution or government body to push this along.
Q: What does sustainable building require in terms of technology?
A: Sustainable building starts with site selection and goes all the way through to the construction phase and to how you operate the building. You need to consider elements such as energy usage, façade design, smarter air conditioning systems, material selection and so on. We have a strong background in this both in China and globally; we’ve got the second-largest number of LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] accredited professionals in China at present.
Q: What other projects are you involved in at the moment?
A: We’re the design and construction contractor for the Australian pavilion for the Shanghai Expo. It’s about 8,300 square meters in gross floor area, which is one of the largest national pavilions on show. It’s certainly been a very complex and exciting project to manage. We’ve got the client in Canberra and the architect and exhibition team sitting in Melbourne; the exhibitions are being built and shipped from Australia; and then we’ve got our consultants in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
