Business Report of the Sunselect Property Group

Question: Discuss about the Business Report of the Sunselect Property Group with Respect to Sustainable Development. Answer: Introduction Business sustainability refers to the managing of triple bottom line that is managing the social, environmental and financial obligations, risks and opportunities (Bansal and DesJardine 2014, pp.70-78) . These three factors are also referred to as people, planet and profits. Corporate social responsibility is the discretionary commitment of a business concern that it will ensure the social well-being along with its corporate success. It is the responsibility of all businesses to improve its economic, social and environmental practices in order to ensure a sustainable business (Carroll 2015, pp.87-96). Sunselect Property Group Sunselect property group is a 50 years old property developer in Sydney. It has developed various commercial as well as residential properties in the past but in recent times, its reputation has been damaged due to its failure in keeping pace with developments in sustainable buildings. SPG is now working on a project that aims at providing affordable and energy efficient houses to ensure sustainable living. Findings and discussions The key issues found in the Sunselect property group are as follows: 1.Environmental problems: Sunselect property group has various negative impacts on the environment like dust pollution, deforestation, destruction of vegetation and many more. The construction materials used also have an adverse impact on the health of humans and animals. It also requires a lot of energy in its process. It has caused change in climate and global warming (Glasson, Therivel and Chadwick 2013). This has led to unsustainable business as it could not manage the environmental risks. The basic solution to this problem is usage of recycled construction materials such as steel and aluminum. The use of wood from managed forests shall also ensure that there is no harm done to the nature as it ensures that one tree is planted for every one tree cut. Various heavy machines are used in the construction process that uses non-renewable sources of energy. Instead of using the non-renewable energy, solar or wind energy must be put in use as they will never get exhausted. 2.Society: The unsustainable methods of construction have led to the devastation of the biodiversity (Khatib 2016). The construction activities of Sunselect property group have always affected the transport movements. This has caused inconvenience to the society. Another problem that came into limelight was that the company did not provide sufficient job opportunities in the areas of their construction. The excessive use of non-renewable resources has also affected the society as they lose their share over the resources that are being exhausted at a faster rate. The solution to the problem is that the changes in the traffic patterns must be minimized and the local people must be compensated in case of any inconvenience. 3.Economy: The construction of property on fertile lands has adversely affected the economy. Lands from the farmers have been bought by the company which has forced many farmers to relocate themselves (Regan, Love and Smith 2016, pp. 701-706). The company has paid basic amount to the farmers but the uneducated farmers are unable to find any other work in order to earn their livelihood. This has caused disruptions in their lives. The only solution to this problem is to avoid construction on the areas which are fertile lands and if very necessary, the company must provide enough compensation to the farmers so that they can easily relocate themselves. Recommendations The following steps must be taken by SPG in order to improve its reputation: SPG must ensure that its new project that is The Greenfields Development must strictly abide by the environmental laws. It must focus on the following aspects: Energy efficiency: The company still uses old construction methods and non-renewable resources during construction. The company must build a structure, which saves energy. The company must design its buildings in such a manner that there is proper ventilation with proper windows and use of insulation in the floor, walls and ceilings. They must use solar power in their construction process instead of non-renewable resources. Solar panels must be set up which would help in generation of electricity. The company must also promote the use of biogas in the society. Building green roof shall also be very beneficial in sustainable building construction. Water management: In the past, the company has never taken steps to conserve water and reduce its wastage. Therefore, the company must construct efficient toilets and urinals, which use less water. Rain water harvesting techniques must be used in order to utilize the rain water (Cook Sharma and Gurung 2014, pp.86-93). Good quality pipelines must be used that ensures that there would be no leakage. The company must also ensure that there is no wastage of water during the construction process. Waste management: The past records of the company shows that it has never made any arrangements for waste reduction. Therefore, the company must use recycled construction materials such as steel and aluminum. The use of wood from managed forests shall also help in reducing the wastes. At initial level, the company must take preventive steps for avoiding generation of excessive waste. Proper calculations must be done and accordingly the order for raw materials must be placed. The policy of reduce, reuse and recycle must be adopted for managing the waste. Further, the company must design composting toilets, grey water recycling facilities and food composting facilities to reduce the residential waste that would occur in future (Epstein and Buhovac 2014). The company must also aim at helping the society. Mere profit generation must not be the ultimate objective of the company. It is the corporate social responsibility of the company to ensure that it does not have any negative impact on the society (Azzi, Duc and Ha 2015, pp.122-127). Conclusion Being a 50 years old company, Sunselect Property Group must now design sustainable buildings in order to save its reputation in the market. The above mentioned steps must be taken by the company in order to ensure that it does not cause any harm to the environment and the society. The company must ensure that it performs its corporate social responsibilities and works for the development of the society. 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Regan, M., Love, P. and Smith, J., 2016. Whole life costing of infrastructure investment: Economic and social infrastructure projects in Australia. InInternational Conference on Smart Infrastructure and Construction(pp. 701-706).