SUSTAINABLE’S CRITICAL INDUSTRY UPDATE – 23 April 2026

Unfortunately, we are continuing to experience further significant impacts on the construction industry, so Sustainable® would like to update you with current critical updates and impacts. The majority of our suppliers and subtrades have refined their operational focus and coverage areas for their services due to fuel inputs and current supply as well as technical drain.

Further increasing cost pressures and supply chain disruptions

The continuing Middle East situation has placed considerably more pressure on our industry, energy prices and supply chains, creating further uncertainty. This ever-evolving situation has significantly affected our direct suppliers and subtrades.

All our major suppliers have advised they have significant building material delivery delays and now serious supply chain issues, with the average current delay being 3 weeks, some shorter and some pushed further out. For a simple example, there has been an increase in Aluminium up in some situations of 18% due to 10% of all Australian supply from the Middle East having ceased. There have been three price rises in 8 weeks of many items.

Please note, Sustainable® along with our subtrades and suppliers have all had substantial expenses, all labour costs have increased by about 10% to compensate individuals due to fuel costs. While suppliers are doing their best to try to control these additional costs due to continuing delays, our Team and our supplier’s current positions are being reviewed daily due to these ongoing pressures.

The supply chain has slowed with some stopping in some cases last week. Causing further delays on Bathroom fixtures and fittings, PVC and poly fittings/pipes/window fittings, some glass products as unfortunately they are all imports manufactured overseas. Given this information, our suppliers unfortunately have had to put some supply on hold and are experiencing some early lay off of shift staff.

Therefore, unfortunately, at this stage, at the very least we must ask for your patience as we are under enormous pressure to try and keep things moving for all our contracts, however all productivity has been totally disrupted. As supplier stock supply continues to be delayed and slowed down, this means contract timeframes are tentative and uncertain, both with recent as well as earlier placed pre-orders and deliveries.

We will continue to closely monitor the situation with direct advice from our suppliers and industry membership associations. Should you have any questions regarding the above information, please contact the Head Office on (07) 3201 1177.

With Regards,

Brett McKenzie | CEO Sustainable Pty Ltd

Queensland Science’s Sustainability & Science Showcase: CEO Brett McKenzie as Guest Speaker

Date:Sunday 19th June 2022
Forum 1:Contributing to a sustainable city, starting with your home and backyard

Sustainable CEO Brett McKenzie was invited by Brisbane Sustainability Agency to attend the Queensland Science’s Sustainability & Science Showcase and contribute to a Forum containing 4 other sustainability industry experts.

The event generated a considerable amount of community engagement, and the discussions created particularly stand as a stepping stone for community sustainability and collectively tackling climate change.

For the forum, Brett was asked to discuss ‘creating sustainable homes and retrofitting current homes for sustainable communities.’ The Sustainable Team have broken down the key aspects of Brett’s speech below, and have outlined ‘waste within the construction industry’ as an important aspect in contributing to sustainable homes and futures.

Waste

The construction industry delivers approximately 60% of all its waste to landfill

  • Designing Sustainable Homes starts by reducing waste
    • The Sustainable Team recycles 98% of all waste on-site
      • E.g., Sustainable is currently two-thirds of the way through their Toowoomba build. The Sustainable Team have only taken 5x cubic bags of waste off the site (containing mainly packaging) to landfill. Whereas, most sites will have 5 or 6 skip bins of waste taken off site to landfill int eh same time period.
    • Waste is not only material things, it is also in resources
      • Housing stock is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions
      • A lot of homes are on life support (i.e., need mechanical ventilation, lighting, etc.)

Creating Sustainable Homes

  • When designing sustainable homes:
    • It has to start organically, from it’s location and the history of the area, and by looking at the built-form around it and respecting that
    • Apply 25-Year Lifecycle Modelling around its Occupants
      • Have Adaptable Space
        • Create an environment to zone the house off (e.g., A nursery becomes a media room later on)
      • This:
        • Reduces monoculture in our communities
        • Creates longevity of occupancy

Retrofitting Current Homes

  • Generally, society is quite limited in our approach to retrofitting current stock
  • It is important to:
    • Think laterally of the current space
    • Reflect on the initial design & intent of the home (which is generally quite different to the intent of our lifestyle today)
    • Think about how to make a passive difference to the space by asking the difficult questions (e.g., Is the kitchen in the right location?)
  • In approaching Retrofits, the key aspects are:
    • Bringing it back to basics
    • Implementing a volume (cubic metre) model (i.e., more volume in a room = better passive performance)
    • Looking for the opportunities

Sustainable Communities

  • It is all about embracing and going back to village life
    • Bringing it back more local & delivering locally produced products
    • Maximising current spaces
      • Introduce community gardens (in backyards for example)
        • Communities become more engaged & a lot safer
        • Less greenfield development

More Information

Sustainability & Science Showcase

Event Host:Hannah Turner
Specialist — Marketing & Community Engagement
Brisbane Sustainability Agency
MC:Dr Karen Hussey
Deputy Director General
Queensland Department of Environment and Science
Speakers:
Renae McBrienTarragindi Community Garden Founder & Resource Recovery Advocate
A/ Professor Carol RichardsSocial, Food & Agricultural Scientist at QUT (specialising in Sustainable Food Systems)
Les BarklaRedcliffe Repair Café Founder
Brett McKenzieFounder & CEO Sustainable Pty Ltd.

Phone: (07) 3201 1177