Helping customers make their homes more sustainable and resilient

Last updated on 24 October 2023

Right now, many homeowners are drawing up plans and making moodboards. In fact, 29% of surveyed homeowners are planning home improvements within the next 6 months. That equates to approximately 3.5 million Australian homeowners.

While many know it’s important to renovate or improve their home sustainably, they’re unsure about what to do.

A backyard with a lawn, shrubs and trees.

New Allianz research1 shows 86% of surveyed Australian homeowners feel there are barriers stopping them from making sustainable and resilient home improvements.

So, what are these barriers?

  • 60% of surveyed homeowners believe it will be too expensive.
  • 31% of surveyed homeowners say it seems too complicated.
  • 24% of surveyed homeowners with a renovation plan aren’t even considering making their home greener.

That’s why Allianz has partnered with the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) to create the Green Specs digital tool, built from a technical guide by the GBCA. As an online guide, Green Specs can help homeowners and renters make their blueprints green and their homes more sustainable.

You can help your customers overcome these barriers and future-proof their homes by introducing them to Green Specs. The guide is a digital floorplan of a typical house. Users can explore each room to see how various design changes affect energy efficiency, emissions, and the home’s resilience against extreme weather. 

Users can also filter these various changes by cost, and the results are often surprising.

“It’s easy to think of sustainable renovations as complex and expensive,” explains architect Alexander Symes. “However, this doesn’t have to be the case. By thinking holistically and choosing more sustainable products and materials, homeowners and even renters can not only support the planet, but be more resilient to a changing climate and manage their overall household energy use, benefiting from cheaper bills, and healthier and less environmental impact products.”

“Having a tool that simplifies sustainable improvements available for Australian homes, from solar to insulation and even lightbulbs, Australian homeowners can be empowered to make greener decisions.”

If your customers are considering making home improvements, they may find Green Specs useful – for multiple reasons.

“Green Specs aims to bridge a knowledge gap for Australian homeowners,” explains Sema Whittle, Allianz’s General Manager of Corporate Governance and Sustainability. “It provides a wealth of information about everything from using sustainable building materials, choosing greener appliances, improving a home’s resilience to bushfire or flood, and more. We’re proud to partner with GBCA to bring Green Specs to life.”

An added bonus is that sustainable homes are often healthier and more cost-effective.

“What’s really interesting is that changes that are good for the planet, can also be good for your health and your back pocket. By making simple updates to your home, such as replacing gas appliances, installing solar panels, or implementing energy-saving measures like sealing gaps around doors and adding insulation, you not only create a healthier living space but also reduce emissions and save on energy bills,” says Davina Rooney, CEO of GBCA.

Share Green Specs to help your customers make their homes more sustainable, and ready for tomorrow.

If you have any questions about Green Specs, please contact your Allianz Account Manager.
All information on the Green Specs microsite is general only and based on information in the Sustainable Home Renovations Guide produced by GBCA. Information in Green Specs is accurate as at 14/07/2023. Allianz is not responsible or liable for any loss incurred by you in connection with Green Specs or your reliance on any information it contains.
  1. The research was conducted by YouGov via an online survey conducted between 29 May to 5 June 2023. The sample comprised of 1,043 Australian homeowners and investors aged 18+ including 739 homeowners and 304 investors. Homeowners were defined as Australians aged 18+ who own the home that they are living in only (outright or with a mortgage) and don’t own any other property in Australia. Investors were defined as Australians aged 18+ who own at least one investment property (outright or with a mortgage) which they are not living in. For brevity, both homeowners and investors are referred to as ‘homeowners’. The data is weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the Australian homeowners and investors population estimates.
Allianz acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live and work across Australia. We pay our respect to First Nations Elders past and present.



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