On Friday the 29th of June, Hames Sharley director Darren Bilsborough sat on a distinguished panel at the Building Upgrade Finance (BUF) event in Adelaide.
Held at the Adelaide Town Hall, this event provided guests with information about how the BUF scheme can enhance business opportunities.
Introduced through new state government legislation and with the involvement of local government, Darren says the goal of BUF is to improve the quality, environmental sustainability, and attractiveness of Adelaide’s commercial office buildings, leading to reduced vacancy rates and increased economic activity.
“The city of Adelaide is in a unique position of having much older CBD office stock than the majority of capital cities around Australia, whilst also dealing with high vacancy rates, particularly amongst its C and D grade building stock,” Darren said.
“So, while the BUF uses an environmental upgrade financing mechanism, known as an EUA (environmental upgrade agreement), the state government has reframed the conversation with a focus on upgrading buildings in general.”
Darren argues that almost any internal or external improvement made to a commercial property that will have a positive impact on the environment can tap into financing using BUF. It can also reduce operating costs and improve heritage values.
To learn more about the Building Upgrade Finance scheme you can read our article here.