The addition of environmental sustainability and energy usage in buildings performance requirements to the South African National Standards, has led to an increase in environmentally conscious material selection and higher performance standards in buildings. The scope of technology employed is however limited by current building practice through its reliance on established building technologies. This largely leads to the exclusion of emerging building technologies and the inherent environmental, social and economic value that they offer. Emerging building technologies in addition to national regulations can assist in meeting sustainable development goals. The two‐phased research design and analysis process first develops critical discourse to examine how institutional and industry constraints possibly lead to the delayed incorporation of current knowledge of emerging building technologies in the South African built environment. Then, the paper will locate, describe and analyze South African exemplars of emerging building technologies where case studies will be systematically compared to identify patterns, emerging constellations and technical relationships. This paper will argue for an improved understanding of the relationship between current building practice, legislation and innovation, and emerging building technology, which may help unlock the potential increase in the scope for application and adoption of emerging building technologies in practice. This together with foregrounding specific technologies that are expected to be available within the next five to ten years, and that are expected to create significant environmental, social and economic effects, offer the opportunity for the South African built environment to be better positioned to respond to sustainable development goals.