POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

IMPACT

Official publication of the Green Building Council of South Africa

0.8

THE CONVENTION ISSUE 2020

NEAR POSSIBLE

MAPPING THE PATH TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

From trees to products, and back again, the pulp and paper industry takes sustainability further.

Wood and paper products are made from a renewable resource — sustainably farmed trees. Paper stores carbon, keeps people employed from the forest to the recycling mill and serves many everyday needs.

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WHAT WE DO TODAY DETERMINES OUR TOMORROW

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Successful projects require complex teams, and our in-house team of expert designers, quantity surveyors, projects managers, contract managers, site foremen and support staff, will work out every single detail of your project and exceed your expectations.

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We design spaces that improve the occupant’s quality of life using an aesthetic that pushes the boundary while being sensitive to the environment. Koen & Associates Architects view design as holistic process; this process considers human needs while interpreting the main commercial objectives of the building.

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ARE YOU A LEADER IN SUSTAINABILITY? Enter the AfriSam-SAIA Sustainable Design Award 2020 To mark a decade of the Award programme, all practitioners of sustainable design are invited to enter projects that respond to innovative architectural and design thinking in the field of sustainability into the AfriSam-SAIA Sustainable Design Award 2020.

The AfriSam-SAIA Sustainable Design Award recognises contributions that bring sustainable

innovation to both urban and rural living environments through an integrated approach to communities, planning, research, architecture, building practice, natural systems and technology.

Entries should demonstrate how they embody sound practices, that bear the hallmarks of great architectural, social design and innovative thinking in the field of sustainability, to achieve a better future for all.

The Award recognises design excellence in the following four categories: A) Sustainable Architecture B) Research in Sustainability C) Sustainable Products and Technology D) Sustainable Social Programmes

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Entries can be submitted online at www.sustainabledesign.co.za by 31 March 2020, Midnight (GMT+2) If you are experiencing any difficulty in entering online, mail hello@sustainabledesign.co.za

WELCOME OUTSIDE Let’s build value together.

A park is an integral part of any neighbourhood. The multipurpose nature of an excellent green open space can provide a safe place for the community to connect and engage, improve property value or even act as an ecological feature. The evolution of parks has brought about a need for communities and municipalities to find creative ways to create and maintain these public spaces.

Working together with Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, whether through a private public partnership or as a Friend of a Park, we can come up with creative solutions to create a positive economic impact in your community or next development.

Call 011 712 6600 to find out how you can collaborate with the City to continue to develop & maintain our green spaces.

www.jhbcityparks.com 011 712 6600 a world class African City

PROFILE

FUTURE POSSIBLE

Green landscaping to bridge the green divide “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now,” is an old Chinese proverb. Now consider that a significant part of Johannesburg’s tree canopy is set to reach its full life expectancy within a decade or two.

M

ain Johannesburg has a proud, centuriesold tradition of tree planting, and can lay claim to being the largest manmade urban forest. It is reported that the greater Johannesburg area has now more than 10-million trees.

Johannesburg’s trees clean the city air for residents, and cool the urban heat island, dampen noise, decelerate traffic, slow storm water run-off, rejuvenate the soil, and even bring the rain, studies show.

Records show that Johannesburg’s urban forest was rooted in proactive, planning as far back as 1896 when 106 kilometres of trees were planted along the suburb of Kensington. Starting with the end in mind, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) guards and advances this legacy. Trees were planted across the City during Arbor Month 2020 to accelerate efforts to bridge the green-divide and mitigate the impacts of the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer.

BATTLING A TREE KILLER

Councillor Margaret Arnolds the MMC for Community Development joined by Councillor Mpho Moerane, the MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services in the City of Joburg, are resolute in their support of tree-planting efforts.

A large portion of Joburg’s tree canopy will be reaching its full life expectancy in the next two to three decades. “The ageing tree canopy is more susceptible to the adverse impacts of inclement weather; pests and diseases such as the shot hole borer; unnecessary pruning and increasing urbanisation,” said Arnolds.

The shot hole borer beetle has caused both private and street trees to die in various City regions. The ambriosa beetle is native to Southeast Asia and bores small “gun-shot” like holes into the trees. The beetle, which attacks 56 tree species, damages the vascular bundles ultimately resulting in die-back. Currently there is no effective chemical solution and biological treatment to control the beetle.

HOST TREE SPECIES

On-going research is being undertaken in South Africa by leading experts to determine both reproductive or susceptible host trees and non-reproductive host trees.

The commitment of the City of Johannesburg towards its environment, residents and investors is effectively portrayed in beautiful and safe public spaces.

Green landscaping programmes were launched throughout the City which included planting of indigenous trees in Gamka Park, Riverlea. 1000 fruit trees were distributed to homeowners in various regions and 3350 indigenous trees were planted during Arbor Month across Johannesburg.

Arnolds states: “The recent, steady decline in the City’s tree canopy requires integrated planning at multi-entity level to create a tree-lined Joburg in every part of the city.” She highlighted that while tree planting plans are being expedited to offset the trees that are lost, progress has been fragmented due to water restrictions; slow responses and space constraints that are guided by the wayleave process for clearance to plant trees in public spaces.

WELCO OUTS

SO, WHAT CAN WE ALL DO? Let’s build value together.

“Space is limited in Joburg and we are calling on A park isto an integral ofspaces. any neighbourhood.

The multipu homeowners plant trees in part private A tree, no matter the season, works a natural sanitiser that place for the commu excellent green openasspace canair provide a safe keeps your airimprove filtered from pollutants; erosion; engage, property value deters or even act as an ecological featu acts as a coolant; provides a habitat for wildlife; serves parks has brought about a need for communities and municipali as a food source; is often medically beneficial and has ways to implications create and maintain public spaces. far reaching on mentalthese health,” she said.

Arnolds appealed to residents to make tree planting Working with Johannesburg Cityand Parks and Zoo, whether a way of life together to commemorate births, deaths public partnership or as a Friend of a Park, anniversaries. “The legacy of a tree planted to markwe a can come up with family milestone is a lifelong gift,” she adds. create a positive economic impact in your community or next deve As street-side trees are JCPZ’s responsibility, communities are 6600 encouraged report Call 011 712 to findtoout how all youdeadcan collaborate with the infested trees.

JCPZ isour currently targeting the develop & maintain green spaces. removal of confirmed dead trees only, and not infested trees, to help preserve the existing urban canopy.

NATURAL SOLUTIONS

JCPZ has developed an action plan for the appropriate removal of dead wood, embarked on widespread green landscaping through tree planting during Arbour month and, an awareness campaigns to inform communities about the beetle and its symbiont fungi. The removal of deadwood operation was undertaken from August until October as part of Arbor month 2020 activities.

POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

www.jh a world class African City

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A view of our world through green-tinted glasses

We’re committed to developing spaces where businesses, communities and the environment can thrive. Growthpoint places great value in green and sustainable workplaces that reduce the impact on the planet. In touch with the latest green trends and technologies, we offer the largest portfolio of Green Star SA rated properties and green buildings in South Africa.

CONTENTS 14 17

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO Lisa Reynolds

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INTERIORS

HOW COVID-19 COULD SHARPEN OUR OFFICES: THE WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE Covid-19 has accelerated the evolution of the workplace

INSIGHT

A note from the editor, Mary Anne Constable

82 08 18 20

PROFILE

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo

PROFILE

Johannesburg Development Agency SPECIAL REPORT GBCSA CONVENTION 2020: NEAR POSSIBLE The GBCSA 2020 conference speakers articulate their perspectives on how to map the path to a sustainable built future

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PROFILE AIRPORTS COMPANY SOUTH AFRICA

INDUSTRIAL

MANUFACTURING GREEN: SUSTAINABILITY IN THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR We take a look at two light industrial buildings that have recently been awarded green stars

48 50

PROFILE

EMPOWERED SPACES ARCHITECTS

INDUSTRIAL

GREEN INDUSTRIAL PARKE EDGES INTO GREEN STARS Equites Property Fund aims to deploy its capital in a sustainable manner

INTERIORS

DESIGN FOR LIFE: CUTTING CARBON IN THE WORKPLACE A look at sustainable offices worldwide

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ENERGY

CAPE TOWN FUTURE ENERGY FESTIVAL: THE FUTURE RE-IMAGINED A family-friendly series of virtual event experiences

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MATERIALS

EMBODIED CARBON: AN ARCHITECT’S VIEW Reducing the embodied carbon that goes into the consumption of buildings

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ECONOMY

THE CASE FOR BUILDING GREEN IS BECOMING BLACK AND WHITE The fourth Annual MSCI SA Green Annual Property Index points to an asset class that is becoming more resilient

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PROFILE Systemair

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PROJECT

LIVING AND LEARNING GREEN

The UCT Avenue Road Student Residence has proudly become the first housing project in South Africa to achieve a Green Star rating

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AFRICA

REGIONAL PRECEDENT: A WORLD GREEN BUILDING CASE STUDY The new SABIS® International School – Runda in Nairobi is the first Green Star certified school in Kenya

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP INFECTION CONTROL IN THE COVID-19 ERA

POLICY

AMBITIOUS BUT ACHIEVABLE GBCSA’s new guide to developing net-zero carbon buildings in South Africa: Getting to Zero

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP ZUTARI’S BUILDING HEALTH ASSESSMENT TOOL

TECHNOLOGY A RECIPE FOR HEALTHY INDOOR AIR The battle with Covid-19 has dramatically increased our motivation to manage the indoor environment

114 CASE STUDIES

G REEN BUILDING SERVICES, MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES

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Blackcurrant Architects

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Sigura Water

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Polyflor

116 Thermguard

117 PAMSA

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119 Rigifoam

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Isoboard

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Koen & Associates Architects

Harvey Roofing Products

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IMPACT The official publication of GBCSA

WINNER

PROPERTY PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR 2019

Editor Mary Anne Constable maryanne@positive-impact.africa General Manager Danielle Solomons danielle@greeneconomy.media Head of Content Alexis Knipe GBCSA Editorial Advisory Georgina Smit Jenni Lombard Jo Anderson Christy Borman Editorial Contributors Mary Anne Constable Melinda Hardisty Nicole Cameron Georgie Chennells Gill Gernetsky Michelle Ludwig Martin Smith Lloyd Rubidge Production Administrator Melanie Taylor

Chief Executive Officer Lisa Reynolds

Chief Financial Officer

Pardon Mutasa

Media Sales Manager Thandiswa Mbijane thandiswa@greeneconomy.media Media Sales Gerard Jeffcote Munyaradzi Jani Vania Reyneke Design and Layout Carla Lawrence, CDC Design

Publisher Gordon Brown gordon@greeneconomy.media MPeople Resourcing (Pty) Ltd t/a GreenEconomy.Media Reg no. 2005/003854/07 Cover image: Rick Geenjaar

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any way or in any form without the prior written permission of the Publisher. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the GBCSA or the Publisher. All editorial and advertising contributions are accepted on the understanding that the contributor either owns or has obtained all necessary copyrights and permissions. GBCSA and the Publisher do not endorse any claims made in the publication by or on behalf of any organisations or products. Please address any concerns in this regard to the Publisher.

CALLING ALL THOUGHT LEADERS Positive Impact, the official publication of the GBCSA, presents thought leadership from local and international green building commentators and practitioners, and showcases the excellent work of GBCSA members.

Are you a thought leader in your relevant field? GBCSA members are invited to submit stories about projects, design concepts, materials, research, and anything else that promotes a healthy sustainable built environment. Submit a 200-word description of your content idea with 1-2 images to: alexis@greeneconomy.media

ADVERTISE WITH US For advertising and sponsored content contact Danielle Solomons: danielle@greeneconomy.media Advertising rates are discounted for GBCSA members and further discounts are available for booking multiple editions in 2020/21.

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POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

FOREWORD BY GBCSA

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

I

ssue 0.8 of +Impact is our Convention issue, and a good time to reflect on a very interesting and challenging year. I joined as GBCSA CEO in June, just as the coronavirus lockdown moved to level three and considering the crisis we were facing on a global scale, I hit the ground running. As with most companies and individuals, GBCSA had to navigate through a new normal that seemed to have happened overnight. The lockdown restrictions severely impacted the built environment, which challenged us to maintain our relevance during an unprecedented health crisis.

We had to ask ourselves, how do we continue to deliver value to our members during the Covid-19 pandemic? How do we partner with our members to drive a green recovery? Organisations like ours have to be adaptable. We have to be able to evolve our membership value proposition to respond to the needs and challenges of our stakeholders. We need to have the flexibility to do things differently, strengthen our resilience and continue to operate with purpose.

Lisa Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer, GBCSA

13TH GREEN BUILDING CONVENTION Enhancing indoor air quality could be as effective in reducing aerosol transmission of viruses as vaccinating 50-60% of the population.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic challenged us to do things differently. So, for the first time, we moved our flagship annual convention online. We are extremely excited to welcome delegates on to the most immersive, interactive and hyper-realistic platform on the planet from 28-30 October 2020.

Our decision to take the convention online was largely driven by the need to keep the momentum going as we transition to a sustainable built environment.

We knew that it was critical that we get together, like we do every year to engage, learn, share and network.

That is why I am very excited that we are hosting it on a

HEALTHY BUILDINGS It has always been our position that green buildings are healthy buildings. Now, more than ever before, indoor air quality (IAQ) has become top of mind. It has become a tangible asset to a building. What rolling blackouts in South Africa did for energy efficiency, Covid-19 is doing for IAQ and the health aspect of buildings. A recent study* showed that buildings can play a crucial role in minimising viral transmission. Enhancing indoor air quality could be as effective in reducing aerosol transmission of viruses as vaccinating 50-60% of the population.

Now that tenants are returning to their workplace, building owners can, and should, leverage a range of tools and strategies to give them the confidence to do so in a safe manner. Monitoring and managing air quality is a necessity as the demand for healthier buildings increases. * Smieszek, T., Lazzari, G., & SalathĂŠ, M. (2019). Assessing the dynamics and control of droplet- and aerosol-transmitted influenza using an indoor positioning system. Scientific Reports, 9(1)

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We need to articulate green building outcomes, actions, targets and policy that will decisively transition a built environment in which people and planet thrive.

NEAR POSSIBLE

The theme of this year’s convention, Near Possible.

Mapping the Path to a Sustainable Future is the culmination of the building blocks we put in place over the years. The time is now to develop a clear roadmap, followed by an ambitious action plan for all stakeholders to embrace. We need to articulate green building outcomes, actions, targets and policy that will decisively transition a built environment in which people and planet thrive.

GBCSA’s Net Zero certification will award projects – whether they are new construction projects, fit-out projects or existing buildings in operation – which go beyond the partial reductions recognised in the current

GBCSA tools, and have taken the initiative to reach the endpoint of completely neutralising or positively redressing their impacts. Projects can achieve net zero ratings in carbon, water, waste and ecology.

Some will say that the path to Net Zero is too ahead of its time for South Africa to embrace. We at the GBCSA want to be the pathfinders to aspirational buildings.

We want to show that it is possible and light the way to where we need to go. As we have seen with the introduction of Green Star certification in South Africa, Net Zero could accelerate market transformation. A 4-Star building was quite the achievement back in 2009, but it has now become the norm, so the time has come to push the envelope.

One of the goals in the South African National Development Plan is that by 2030, all new buildings should achieve Net Zero carbon. The journey is well underway – a journey where buildings go from being consumers of energy to prosumers, where they don’t just consume energy but also produce it. There is a saying: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any path will take you.” But we are clearly defining the roadmap and taking the path to a sustainable future together.

FOREWORD BY GBCSA

platform that will make you feel like you are really there.

The capabilities and features of the virtual platform are second to none. I encourage you to meet us in the clouds – we have an exceptional line-up of speakers and an expertly curated programme with content that tackles the most burning issues and latest trends in the built environment.

A GREEN RECOVERY If Covid-19 has taught us anything significant, it is the impact we have on our planet. It has also brought home the fact that we need to embrace a green recovery – meaning we have to commit to environmental, regulatory and fiscal reforms to recover after the pandemic. We owe it to ourselves, future generations and the planet to strengthen our resilience against climate risk and to build a future in which we all can thrive.

NET ZERO PROJECTS Greenfield Industrial Park (Cape Town)

Net Zero (Carbon)

The Estuaries Plaza (Cape Town)

Net Zero (Water)

Langhoogte Farm Two Dam Sustainable Trout (Cape Town)

Net Zero (Carbon)

Vodafone Site Solution (Johannesburg)

Net Zero (Carbon)

Vodafone Site Solution (Johannesburg) Net Positive – Ecology

Net Zero (Ecology)

78 Corlett Drive – Design (Johannesburg)

Net Zero (Carbon)

Vleihuis Development (Johannesburg)

Net Zero (Carbon)

Vleihuis Development (Johannesburg)

Net Zero (Water)

Vleihuis Development (Johannesburg) Net Positive – Ecology

Net Zero (Ecology)

The District (Cape Town)

Net Zero (Water)

Wild Coast Sun (Durban)

Net Zero (Waste)

Virgin Active Constantia (Cape Town)

Net Zero (Waste)

MDA Property Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Johannesburg)

Net Zero (Carbon)

Lords View Industrial Park (Cape Town)

Net Zero (Carbon)

Nieu Kanaan (Johannesburg) Net Positive

Net Zero (Carbon)

House Baldwin Ragaven (Johannesburg)

Net Postive (Waste)

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TM

S P E CI AL I S E D S O LU T I O NS I N WATER TREATMENT

INSIGHT

I

I believe that this green swan/black swan mindset is the precipice we find ourselves on in the green building space. Which mindset will we choose to embrace? We can fall prey to the messages of impending doom, seeing the economic and social landscape after Covid as a wasteland – by focusing only on the extreme hardships. Or we can see it as a land of opportunity. These are the kinds of rugged landscapes in which all of the world’s early inventors and innovators have birthed discoveries. They are the rough terrain that the green building movement has cut its way through over the past few decades. And although the progress might sometimes seem slow, it is incremental, and the seeds planted are beginning to grow into opportunities.

I believe that this green swan/black swan mindset is the precipice we find ourselves on in the green building space.

Which mindset will we choose to embrace?

During World Green Building Week in September 2020, GBCSA ran a webinar that reviewed the organisation’s past challenges and successes over the last 13 years since its inception in 2007. GBCSA’s CEO, Lisa Reynolds, later reflected on the shifts that have taken place in the green building space during that time. We all need to do a whole lot more to shift the status quo if we are going to achieve the world’s targets of net zero for all buildings by 2050 – a mere 30 years away. And it’s exciting to see the GBCSA ramping up their plans too with goals to launch a new single rating tool (which encompasses all types of buildings) to replace the current suite of rating tools.

This new tool will require more ambitious targets to be met, to shift the green goal posts up several notches in the coming years.

For now, we pause for a moment at this year’s 2020 GBCSA Convention and reflect on how we can continue to turn the impossible into the possible. And if not quite there yet, then the “near possible”. As usual, within the pages of +Impact Magazine, we present some projects which are already paving the way forward – from greening industrial buildings to universities, to imagining the office space of the future, to indoor air quality and healthy buildings – to name a few. We also feature inspiring interviews with some of Convention’s keynote speakers and a piece on the financials of building green.

It is a story unfolding, an ever-growing (ever-greening) one. Incremental footsteps on the path to sustainability.

Rising up

t’s hard not to feel pulled down by the weight of the world at the moment. Many of us are fighting tooth and nail to keep our heads above water. But, as “sustainability’s godfather”, John Elkington so eloquently explains, Covid was not a “black swan”* event. A black swan event takes us by surprise, has an exponential impact, and is something we fail to properly understand afterwards, thus setting ourselves up to fail again. On the contrary, experts and leaders foresaw Covid before it happened, but they failed to act. Elkington instead suggests that Covid could be a “green swan” event. A green swan embraces the opportunity of a black swan event and delivers exponential progress instead of disaster. A green swan is a paradigm shift. It is a new mindset that challenges everything we know, and one that encourages us to find opportunity in chaos and profound difficulty. (You can read more in our convention special report on page 20 for an expanded interview with John Elkington).

Mary Anne Constable Editor www.thepaperarchitect.com

*Nassim Nicholas Taleb introduced this concept in his 2007 book, The Black Swan.

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PROFILE

WATT INTERCHANGE FOCUS CATALYTIC TRANSPORT PROJECT SET TO TRANSFORM LOUIS BOTHA The Johannesburg Development Agency is a wholly-owned area-based development agency of the City of Johannesburg with an emphasis on the development of resilient, sustainable and liveable urban areas in identified transit nodes and corridors. This means that as an area-based development agency, JDA is more than just a project management agency or an economic development agency.

T

he Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) operates within the context of the spatial transformation of South African cities to correct the spatial and systemic inequalities created by past regimes of segregation. This is the foremost goal of urban development in the coming years. A more equitable, more just city is one that extends access to a range of opportunities and services to all of its citizens. This is aligned to the City of Johannesburg’s Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) 2040.

One of the JDA’s strategic programmes is that of Accelerated Infrastructure Delivery, with a subprogramme titled Urban Infrastructure Delivery which aligns to the GDS outcome that speaks to providing a resilient, liveable, sustainable urban environment – underpinned by smart infrastructure supportive of a low-carbon economy. One of the development projects that speaks to these outcomes is the Watt Interchange project.

This project forms part of the Rea Vaya Phase 1C programme. The scope of works entails construction of a Rea Vaya Bus Station for the Alexandra Community and the planned Watt Street Precinct Mixed-Used

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Development. The scope also entails road upgrades, construction of new bridges, and the upgrading of infrastructure services.

Construction of the Watt Interchange project, one of the City of Joburg’s most significant and complex infrastructure developments, in terms of scope and scale, is changing the overall landscape of Wynberg.

This project is located between Alexandra, an old township with a significant place in South Africa’s history, and Sandton central, reputed to be the richest spot in Africa, Watt Interchange is bringing about a major rejuvenation in the area.

The project forms part of the City of Joburg’s Rea Vaya BRT Phase 1c project along the Louis Botha Corridor of Freedom and is currently being implemented by the Johannesburg Development Agency, on behalf of the City of Joburg’s Transport Department.

From Arkwright Avenue to Chadwick Avenue along Old Pretoria Road, mass earthworks, completed columns and reinforced steel are some of the construction work which can be seen. Superstructures, concrete beams, lateral support piling and retaining walls can also be seen making the shape of what will be the most complex transport interchange in the Johannesburg region.

POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

PROFILE

The Watt Interchange forms part of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) System, Phase 1C, which includes the trunk route from Sandton to Alexandra along Rivonia Road and Katherine Drive, and the trunk route from Parktown to Alexandra along Louis Botha Avenue. The Watt Interchange will connect, via Mini Bus Taxis, the greater part of Alexandra Township to the Rea Vaya system, important for the integration of the different modes of transport in the city.

From a spatial and nodal development point of view, the rollout of this Phase of the Rea Vaya BRT speaks to the idea of bringing proximity to places of work and schools, easy access to public transport infrastructure for the citizens of Joburg.

This project will also see the construction of new BRT lanes and an underground station with associated structures, and bulk earthworks. Construction work at the Watt Interchange completed so far includes the demolishing of the previous bridge and the interchange

POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

A more equitable, more just city is one that extends access to a range of opportunities and services to all of its citizens. at Watt Street, upstand concrete beams, columns for viaduct, allocation and relocation of services construction and retaining wall construction.

Once completed, the Watt Interchange will stand as a high-quality integrated public transport interchange which will consist of the following key elements: • Underground basement loading and off-loading bays • Commuter information area • Designated trunk route • Universally accessible facility The scale of this development will enable communities of Alex, Wynberg, Sandton and adjacent area to experience a faster, safer, accessible and affordable public transport system. The construction of the Watt Interchange links to one of the Government of Local Unity’s strategic priorities to build integrated human settlements through the delivery of sustainable social and economic infrastructure projects.

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SPECIAL REPORT

CONVENTION 2020:

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NEAR POSSIBLE POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

GBCSA CEO, Lisa Reynolds, says the time is now to develop a clear roadmap and an ambitious action plan towards a sustainable future. In this special report, +Impact uncovers green building thought leadership shared by the GBCSA 2020 conference speakers who explore and articulate their international perspective on how to decisively transition to a built environment on which people and planet thrive.

WORDS Mary Anne Constable

POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

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SPECIAL REPORT

REGENERATIVE DESIGN: CONNECTING PEOPLE AND NATURE TO REVERSE CLIMATE CHANGE

AMANDA STURGEON

Head of Regenerative Design, Mott MacDonald, Australia www.mottmac.com

What are your thoughts on developing a sustainable roadmap from a built environment perspective?

AS: We have known for decades that our buildings need to take a different course to reduce their impact on climate change, biodiversity loss and the overall health of our planet, but we have made only small steps and our buildings are nowhere close to reaching the zero carbon targets that many cities around the world have adopted.

A roadmap is much needed and overdue.

What does regenerative design mean to you?

AS: Regenerative design is about making positive impacts ecologically and socially with the buildings and communities that we design. Rather than reducing the impact of buildings, regenerative design is a design approach that starts right at the beginning of a project to identify how rejuvenating the ecology, culture and community of the specific place inform the design.

What kind of resistance have you come up against the concept of regenerative design during your career, and how have you overcome it?

AS: Regenerative design requires a systems-thinking approach that puts nature and ecology at the forefront of the design process. Typically, nature is not a consideration in the design of the project – it is ignored, or worse, destroyed completely. Many people have lost their connection to nature – they see money and economy and prestige as the only driving forces for creating a building and therefore too often economics are used as an excuse to not take a regenerative design approach. I also see pushback from design teams and clients who are only able to think about one issue at a time rather than the interconnectedness of every decision that we make, that is the way they have been trained to work. Connecting people to nature – reminding them of their childhood connections and the peace and tranquillity that they feel when immersed in nature has been successful for me in the past.

What are the most significant changes and transformations you have seen in attitudes towards regenerative design in your career?

AS: I have noticed that people are acknowledging that we are at a critical time in our world, with so much of our biodiversity extinguished and climate change impacts becoming even more evident, more people are looking for ways to scale change rapidly. They are realising that

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creating buildings the same way as we have always done will not work, we need a different design process to create the radical change we need.

Describe a couple of examples of your work, which exemplify the principles of regenerative design.

AS: My career over the past decade has focused on creating programmes, awareness and education around regenerative thinking, for example, the Living Building Challenge, Living Community Challenge and Living Product Challenge programmes.

How have behaviours and attitudes changed during Covid-19? How do you think Covid-19 will mould things going forward?

AS: With many people working from home, they have become more connected to their families, their communities, and have had better access to the outside during the day than they did in a standard office building.

They have also had time saved from commuting and have been forced to slow down and face the stresses in their lives. I think people will want to maintain their connection to the outside, more time for themselves and their families and less travel into the future.

Regenerative design requires a systems-thinking approach that puts nature and ecology at the forefront of the design process.

How has technology influenced regenerative design?

AS: Technology has helped us to understand the interconnectedness of the world’s ecosystems. We also have access to the science that shows how the world is changing – there is no excuse to be blind to it and to carry on business as usual.

What is the key takeaway you would like people to gain from your keynote presentation?

AS: That we need to scale a different way of creating our buildings urgently.

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GREEN SWANS:

MOVING FROM RESPONSIBILITY TO RESILIENCE AND REGENERATION

JOHN ELKINGTON

Co-Founder and Chief Pollinator at Volans, United Kingdom volans.com

johnelkington.com

What are your thoughts on developing a sustainable roadmap for our society to follow?

JE: There is no question that clear and well-supported roadmaps can drive change, but I am not sure that a lack of roadmaps is our main problem now. Our main problem is a lack of political will. And in a period of populism, even with all its increasingly obvious defects, science, goals and roadmaps are often treated as playthings, to be kicked around and discarded. To see populist leaders respond to the climate chaos of recent years (“it will get cooler”) is almost to despair of politics and of humanity. But you could also see such extremes as the last, desperate resistance of an old, unsustainable order that is dying.

What are the founding principles of sustainability that you aspire to?

JE: At its simplest, to leave both the planet and our human world better off than we found them. That was the message in my Triple Bottom Line (TBL) agenda introduced back in 1994, followed up in 1995 with People, Planet & Profit. Sadly, over time the sustainability agenda has been misinterpreted as an incremental change rather than a system change agenda – as a nice-to-have agenda rather than as an existential requirement. The Sustainable Development Goals are an exponential change agenda rather than about incremental change, as too many people currently perceive them.

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You’ve been described as the “Godfather of Sustainability”. What kind of resistance have you come up against the principles [stated earlier] during your career, and how have you overcome it?

JE: Since I have been working in this field, I have come up against pretty much every form of resistance known to man, short of imprisonment or assassination.

I have been sued by ICI and McDonald’s, I have been attacked in the media, and I have been blocked in boardrooms. But overall, our agenda has gone from strength to strength. And the way in which business leaders think about all this has gone from “they’re really Communists” to “with Walmart now committing to regeneration, how can we catch up – and possibly even overtake?”

Please tell us about Green Swans.

JE: All our work on corporate responsibility over the decades has been useful, foundational indeed but as our economic, social, environmental and governance systems begin to unravel, a process accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, resilience has shot up priority lists both in the public and private sectors. And the only way to ensure long-term resilience is to invest in the regeneration of such systems. This is the theme of my twentieth book, Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism, published in April this year,

by Fast Company Press.

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SPECIAL REPORT The first diagram in the book [shown on page 23] is one I had been using for a couple of years before Covid-19 hit arguing that the global economy’s bull run was masking a much deeper set of discontinuities.

The bar at the bottom is where ordinary people experience the greatest confusion, fear and anger.

If this analysis is anywhere near accurate, the era of populism is far from over.

Readers will not be surprised to learn that the Green Swan concept was informed by the “Black Swan”, one of the most successful memes of the past decade.

Introduced by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007 book, The Black Swan, the concept spotlights events that take us totally by surprise, that have an off-thescale impact, and that we fail to understand afterwards – setting ourselves up to fail again. Interestingly, Taleb says Covid-19 is not a Black Swan – because we saw it coming but too many leaders failed to act.

By contrast, if most Black Swans take us exponentially to places we really do not want to go, my definition of a Green Swan embraces a profound market shift, generally catalysed by some combination of Black or Gray Swan (foreseen) challenges and changing paradigms, values, mindsets, politics, policies, technologies, business models, and other key factors. The link back to the TBL agenda is that a Green Swan delivers exponential progress in the form of economic, social, and environmental wealth creation.

The Sustainable Development Goals are an exponential change agenda rather than about incremental change, as too many people currently perceive them.

In the book, I also talk about “Ugly Ducklings”, drawing on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. These are early-stage concepts, mindsets, technologies, or ventures with the potential to drive either Black Swan (driven by bad exponentials) or Green Swan (driven by good exponentials) market trends. For me, a potential Green Swan is the European Commission’s growing linking of its recovery plan with its Green Deal objectives.

The potential future evolution of an Ugly Duckling can be hard to detect early on, unless you know what you are looking for. Tomorrow’s breakthrough solutions often look seriously weird today. The net result is that we give them significantly less attention and resources than they need – or than the future of the 2030s and beyond would want us to, in hindsight.

Tell us about the shift in approach from responsibility to resilience and regeneration. How does that look in society today? How would you like to see this shift happen and what can we do better?

JE: The ‘3Ps’ of the Triple Bottom Line became central to the sustainable business debate from their launch in 1995. When we did the product recall of the TBL in 2018, we began the Tomorrow’s Capitalism Inquiry.

One emergent framing was the ‘3Rs’, which emerged from the production of our new book, Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism.

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When the urgency is clear enough, people do act – though the continuing unwillingness of populist leaders to act on the climate emergency is a severe test for anyone who believes in human rationality.

The 3Rs are: Responsibility, Resilience and Regeneration. As we dug deeper, it became clear that almost all business effort in pursuit of sustainability had focused to date on the Responsibility agenda.

• Responsibility: Typical platforms in this area have included the EcoVadis, GRI, IIRC, SASB and WBCSD. Key activities have focused on voluntary standards encouraging greater transparency and accountability, stakeholder engagement, supply chain management and investor engagement.

• Resilience: Unfortunately, all this effort has failed to head off a growing number of “wicked problems”, at the outer edge of which we see the Black Swans spotlighted by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The Covid-19 outbreak is one such Black Swan. Resilience activities include China’s growing number of “sponge cities”. Wuhan, which led in this field, has now signalled the need for very different forms of resilience.

• Regeneration: The change agenda for Green Swans requires a massive shift in thinking and investment, towards the regeneration of our economies, societies and environment. Among the new networks emerging in this space are those based on The Capital Institute (whose CEO, John Fullerton, did the first Tomorrow’s Capitalism lecture at our Tomorrow’s Capitalism Forum on 10 January 2020), Eden Project International (whose founder, Sir Tim Smit, won one of the first pair of Green Swan Awards), the Alan Savory Institute and The Regenerators.

How have behaviours and attitudes changed during Covid-19? How do you think Covid-19 will mould the way forward?

JE: I chaired a conference session this autumn with several panellists who are CEOs of major financial institutions. One of them noted that things – and behavioural changes – that would have been unthinkable even last year have become possible, even inevitable, in 2020. When the urgency is clear enough, people do act – though the continuing unwillingness of populist leaders to act on the climate emergency in places like Australia, Brazil and the USA is a severe test for anyone who believes in human rationality.

What is the key takeaway you would like people to gain from your keynote presentation?

JE: I was originally trained as a city planner – and continue to find cities, urban regions and the built environment fascinating. And they are also where most of our species now lives, so putting our cities onto a very much more sustainable path is make-or-break for the future of our species – and all other species.

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DESIGN WITH LOVE: ARCHITECTURE FOR JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY

KATIE SWENSON

Senior Principal, MASS Design Group, United States massdesigngroup.org

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Design with Love: At Home in America Cover

Harry Connolly

What are your thoughts on developing a sustainable roadmap from a built environment as well as an urban and cities’ perspective?

KS: The last six months of the global pandemic have revealed how interconnected we are, and how difficult it is currently for people to thrive, and for our planet to support human life. We cannot breathe freely, literally. In this pandemic, we are united by our global interconnectedness, and this conference brings out the best of that – we get to share in inspiration and commitments, to share in ideas and to craft a plan together. That said, a critical part of our plan must involve an emphasis on the local sourcing and production of buildings, using local labour, artisanship and creativity.

Architecture is never sustainable: it is either climate negative or climate positive. At MASS Design Group, in order to move our buildings toward climate positivity, we try to adopt a “Lo-Fab” building approach. Local Fabrication (Lo-Fab) is the practice of creating value through the construction process as much as the finished building itself. Lo-Fab is a commitment to supporting the local economy using local contractors and locallysourced materials – highlighting local innovation and ideas, bolstering and developing local craftsmanship, hiring local labour, and investing in local capacity building and job training. Through this focus on locallysourced material and labour, we can leverage the entire supply chain, minimising the environmental impact, and assuring that the majority of capital invested in construction flows to the community we are serving.

A good example of our Lo-Fab process in practice is the design and construction of The Rwandan Institute of Conservation Agriculture (RICA) in Bugesera, Rwanda. RICA’s mission is to train the next generation of leaders in conservation agriculture to attain healthy and sustainable food independence in Rwanda. The campus features innovative methods of power generation, water use, and green infrastructure, and is estimated to be carbon-positive by the 2040s. It has begun to achieve this by reducing the embodied carbon of the buildings, sourcing 96% of materials by weight from Rwanda, installing a 100% off-grid solar farm, sourcing and treating all water on-site, and offsetting the remainder carbon by restoring parts of the savannah woodland and reforesting key areas within the campus.

What are the founding principles that you believe each design should aspire to? Please use examples of your work to illustrate this.

KS: MASS Design Group is a design collective dedicated to delivering architecture that promotes justice and human dignity. We were founded on the idea that architecture is never neutral; it either hurts or it heals.

Twelve years ago, MASS Design Group designed and built the Butaro District Hospital in northern Rwanda, an area where 400 000 people were not served by any medica; facility, and in an environment where many healthcare facilities lacked the necessary precautions to prevent the transmission of disease. Hospitals often had small, poorly ventilated waiting rooms in which a patient with an injury, such as a broken leg, would be waiting in proximity to a patient with Tuberculosis.

Here, architecture and spatial care protocols were directly putting people at risk.

Butaro is a beautiful, medically-sound facility, with natural light, wide hallways, courtyards, and spaces for families to gather, oriented to take advantage of the beauty of this mountainous region. Thanks to projects like these and other investments in health infrastructure in Rwanda, average life expectancy has gone from less than 30 years to almost 70 over the last three decades.

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Iwan Baan

I came to MASS to bring these same core principles – that our buildings should improve our health and wellbeing – to the design of homes that are affordable to people with low incomes. And that design happens locally, where residents are expert in community needs and stakeholders can work together to create the vision for a project.

The J.J. Carroll Apartments redevelopment project in Brighton, Mass., designed in partnership with 2Life Communities, a non-profit organisation dedicated to developing and managing safe, affordable, and dignified housing for older adults, is one such project. The current J.J. Carroll buildings, built in 1966, are a series of two-story brick townhouses right next door to 2Life’s Brighton campus buildings, with 64 units for an aging and disabled community. The development is now past its useful life and lacks the accessible design features required by residents with various physical abilities and ages.

When MASS Design Group began work with 2Life, designers hosted a workshop series with current J.J. Carroll residents to learn how they operate, what they most want in the new development, and how the design could best support 2Life’s goal to offer older adults the chance to thrive in a dynamic, supportive environment.

At the top of everyone’s list was community. Loneliness and social isolation are two of the top health hazards

We were founded on the idea that architecture is never neutral; it either hurts or it heals. for aging adults, associated with a variety of poor mental and physical health outcomes and a higher risk of mortality overall.

Covid-19, however, dramatically increased the urgency for thoughtful design to keep people safe, while creating opportunities for social interaction.

People 65 years or older represent 80% of all deaths from Covid-19, but older adults also need to balance another threat to their health – social isolation.

Building on community feedback about what was most loved about J.J. Carroll – its neighbourliness – the design team came up with an approach to maintain this type of intimate connection and community while increasing the capacity to more than double the units on site. We created a series of “neighbourhoods” made up of apartment clusters of between five to eight units each, allowing residents to “pod” in smaller groups, while also enjoying a diversity of spaces and access to green space, views, natural light and ventilation.

MASS Design Group

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Butaro District Hospital

Gun Violence Memorial Project

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SPECIAL REPORT Over the past six months, MASS has created a series of guides that suggest how we can design buildings that make us healthier. Like Butaro did for doctors, patients and visitors, we can design non-medical environments – housing, schools, restaurants, offices and outdoor spaces – to prioritise user health, but not at the expense of their wellbeing.

How can one incorporate justice and human dignity into design and what does this really mean?

KS: To design with dignity, and for justice, is to bring one’s whole self to the understand the broadest implications of the work at hand, to consider the conditions which make design needed, to understand the ambitions of those partnered in the design process, to strive for the mission of the design of the project to guide its process, product and long-term outcome.

Justice and dignity must be fought for. In the U.S., we are confronting the power of memorials in the construction of public memory and identity, especially as we encounter the plethora of memorials dedicated to white supremacy. With the design of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, we learned, among so many things, the power of truth telling, and creating space for truth and reconciliation to take place, in ways both intimate and collective.

Our Gun Violence Memorial Project collects and displays personal objects of victims of gun violence – and with them – the personal stories by those who loved them. The losses are multiplied, however, and the memorial shows the magnitude of shared loss, made more striking for its specificity. Architecture, in this case, can be healing, spatialised.

What kind of resistance have you come up against your design principles during your career, and how have you overcome it?

KS: So many of the market-based metrics for success – economic profit, gentrification of neighbourhoods, value engineering – are organised to create maximum benefit for the wealthier members of our society. I try to advocate for prioritising investing in the quality of life for people with limited means, for beautifying historically poor neighbourhoods, for providing stable and beautiful homes for everyone.

I think that resistance to these commitments is a failure of imagination. What is preventing us from

creating a world where every person and family has a good home? I fear that it is a fundamental failure to care enough, or if we truly do care, then to turn that care into the policies, financial mechanisms, regulations and designs to make a more equitable society. Our systems are in fact designed, but are they designed to deliver the outcomes that we want?

How have behaviours and attitudes changed during Covid-19? How do you think Covid-19 will mould things going forward?

KS: I am optimistic about two important collective realisations we are having as a result of Covid-19.

The first is an understanding that our buildings need to do more to keep us healthy. At MASS, we believe that architecture is never neutral; it either hurts or it heals. We have learned that the design of buildings is essential to prevent the spread of infection, and that many of our contemporary building techniques which depend on mechanical ventilation can have a detrimental impact. We need to employ design for infection control principles.

The second is the realisation of the importance of home. We are all depending on our homes to be not only the places we live with our families, but also where we work, go to school, work out, perform all the facets of our lives. I hope that with this realisation will come a greater emphasis on the need for high quality homes for all people.

What is the key takeaway you would like people to gain from your keynote presentation?

KS: As design professionals, we can do so much more to create a just and sustainable world. Many of the structures of our practice orient us to participate in the perpetuation of the status quo, which is clearly taking us in the wrong direction. Breaking free is hard, leadership requires rethinking our role, and more importantly, our approach. I urge all of us to understand the true mission behind our work, and to commit to the critical work of bringing our whole selves – personally and professionally – to aspire to a world in which poverty, homelessness and racism are not tolerated.

J.J. Carroll Apartments

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THE POST-COVID REVOLUTION IN THE WORKPLACE

CLIVE WILKINSON

President/Design Director, Clive Wilkinson Architects, United States clivewilkinson.com

What are your thoughts on developing a sustainable roadmap from a built environment as well as an urban and cities perspective?

CW: As we all know, things change very slowly in the world unless there are external forces like Covid-19 pushing change. However, it begins with some small voices crying out, and that gains momentum over time, until the voices are everywhere. At that time, people agree to change things. We still need voices to grow as the world is not yet feeling the pressure of change, but I believe that we are heading there – to a bright green world – and it is just a matter of time.

What does regenerative design mean to you?

CW: I like the phrase regenerative design – it is poetic and brings a kind of biological character to design, which in essence is just the act of drawing.

Of course, it implies an ability to reconstruct itself which begs the question of what internal capacity drives the reconstruction. In my own home, I used a self-healing zinc material on the exterior – which is a kind of regenerative act.

What are the founding principles that you believe each design should aspire to? Please use examples of your work to illustrate this.

CW: Great design should touch the soul. It should also be in service to its duration of use with an appropriate use of resources. This is not to say that all design should be durable, but simply that it should devote an appropriate use of resources to its intended use.

This can occasionally be a very short duration, like the structures or furnishings of an event. What touches the soul is also something that touches the earth lightly.

What kind of resistance have you come up against your design principles during your career, and how have you overcome it?

CW: The resistance we have experienced has mostly been a product of people undervaluing or not understanding the design process, which is a longstanding one. When we design, we need to have the time to mentally live in our designs, in order to develop and adjust them. We have had clients constantly change the brief on us, which is like being thrown out of bed every morning and sent to a different house. This inevitably leads to a poor outcome. A wise client once said to me, “you can’t take nine women and have a baby in one month”. He understood.

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What are the most significant changes have you seen in attitudes towards transformation and sustainable design over your career?

CW: It is awesome to see how sustainability has moved from a marginal interest to a mainstream concern in architecture and design, including urban design. It is again the rise of small voices that propelled this. I don’t believe it has come full circle in addressing what we commission and construct in our cities, as there is still insufficient attention paid to adaptive re-use of the existing urban fabric. Innovative legislation could pave the way for truly prioritising the re-use of existing resources. Transformation is certainly where we are at this moment in time, as a combination of massive technological progress and a health crisis have made it impossible to return to the “old world”.

How have behaviours and attitudes changed during Covid-19? How do you think Covid-19 will mould things going forward?

CW: Covid-19 has proved something that no one could have proved before: that people can work productively from remote locations. This will change the nature of work irretrievably. The office will never be the same again. What is great is that it can finally move into the role of a community-shaped environment: a place for collective endeavours that prioritises collective work, while still accommodating private and focused needs.

Hence, Covid-19 has acted as an accelerator and I think that is a good thing. I have always said that change does not happen except in a condition of stress.

What do you think the office space of the future is going to look like?

CW: Paradise. With a wealth of choice about how, where and with whom you work.

How has technology influenced workplace design?

CW: Technology is the primary driver for all change that has occurred in the workplace in the last two centuries. Most recently, the computer took over human routine work which led to the rise of the knowledge worker, and then rapid e-communications has led to true mobility in work. Since Covid-19 began, I have had some employees working remotely for long periods from Washington DC, Florida, Texas and Costa Rica!

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RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT:

ENSURING A SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT FUTURE

SHAMEELA SOOBRAMONEY

Chief Sustainability Officer, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) www.jse.co.za

What are your thoughts on developing a sustainable roadmap from a financial investment point of view?

SS: A sustainable roadmap for financial investment is critically important. When you think about the adage: “Money makes the world go round”, effectively we’re talking about allocating capital in the right place when we're looking at sustainable development from a financial investment perspective. We need to allocate capital deliberately in a manner that achieves the most positive sustainability outcomes. We are referring to outcomes such as a green economy, decent jobs, and gender equality as examples. From a simplified peopleplanet-profit perspective, it’s effectively saying that businesses can’t survive in a society that is failing.

So a sustainable roadmap, from a financial investment point of view, fits into a broader notion of responsible investment and being able to be more responsible stewards for what we actually spend money on and invest in, and the impact that has on the environment and society.

What significant changes have you observed in the markets in relation to sustainability during your time at the JSE? SS: There’s certainly been a tangible uptick in both awareness and the allocation of capital to responsible investment and responsible investment aims. Correspondingly, there has been an increase in both the requirement for, and the interest in, credible institutions who can perform an external verification function – which is what the GBCSA does. This function brings credibility into the space and helps to mitigate the risk of greenwashing.

From a simplified people-planetprofit perspective, it’s effectively saying that businesses can’t survive in a society that is failing.

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I have also seen an uptick in general societal awareness of sustainability-related matters – a growing acceptance that sustainability thinking is part of good governance – and increasing engagement by the investment community about bringing those considerations into investments.

What opposition have you come up against responsible investing ideas, during your time working at the JSE? SS: In terms of sustainability, the past 15 years have seen a lot of changes in people’s thought processes. Some main oppositions have been that to be sustainable, you need to sacrifice return, and that there is always a significant upfront investment that doesn’t have an immediate monetary benefit. Another opposition is that there haven’t been regulations.

I have seen a common overarching narrative in sustainability that says: “If it’s not regulated, or there's no law or policy about it, then why should we do it?

If it was important enough, there would be a law or a policy about it”. In the meanwhile, the shift to a more conscious capitalism is happening and in fact, there is mounting evidence that ESG funds and indices have been outperforming traditional market benchmarks.

Using cost as the argument without real proper backing is something that is changing.

Why should we care about climate change when considering investing?

SS: The issues related to climate change are systemic in nature and have serious economic consequences. There is massive human impact in relation to exacerbating the challenges that we already have around poverty and inequality. The reality is that some of the world’s most vulnerable will be the worst hit by the impacts of climate change. Largely because their ability to adapt to those changes is almost non-existent.

When we consider that how we steward our money could either exacerbate or help mitigate some of the potential issues, then investing responsibly becomes more and more relevant. Investing in mitigation is showing to be more cost effective than having to bear the cost of the negative impacts of climate change in

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SPECIAL REPORT the longer term. investing responsibly gives us the opportunity to try and lessen the future impact and costs – many of which we don’t even know.

How have behaviours and attitudes changed in the markets during Covid-19? How do you think Covid-19 will mould things going forward?

SS: There was a lot of volatility particularly during the early stages of lockdown in South Africa, but we have seen the market subsequently stabilised. Emerging markets often have a lesser ability to respond to crises which results in going into more debt to deal with the fallout, and the cycle continues. This means they are often hardest hit. We’ve seen a significant decline in GDP as a country. But we were struggling before Covid-19. Going forward, I think we need to apply our minds to the “build back better” narrative.

Regenerative design represents a sum design process that encompasses all views including positive and non-positive to restore a common ground.

The reality is that some of the world’s most vulnerable will be the worst hit by the impacts of climate change. Largely because their ability to adapt to those changes is almost non-existent.

What we’ve seen is that the inequalities in our society have been hugely exacerbated during this time. And it’s because historically we have not done enough to address those issues. If we really have learned anything from this, it is going to be, let’s tackle those gaps as a matter of urgency because the human impact is huge, and, as we have seen the costs to deal with crisis is staggering. It is the right thing to do. The bottom line is that we need to invest in creating resilience.

What is the key takeaway you’d like people to gain from your keynote presentation?

SS: The evidence shows that investing responsibly doesn’t mean sacrificing returns.

THE UNPRECEDENTED DISPOSITION OF SUSTAINABILITY

PHILL MASHABANE

Co-Founder, Mashabane Rose Architects, South Africa mashabanerose.co.za

What are your thoughts on developing a sustainable roadmap from a built environment as well as an urban and cities’ perspective?

PM: The articulation of the green building outcomes, actions, targets and policy development can enhance the desired intentions, only if the roadmap is simplified for the benefit of all members of society including those that question or may not realise the impact of green buildings ratings in response to the unprecedented global warming. The edges of the envelope are being stretched by technical developments that would need to be combatted by knowledge and application thereof.

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The founding principles of any design should show the embodiment of accommodating or responding to all possible opposing views and impacts thus leading to a sustainable solution.

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Covid-19 has brought about an unassuming attitude for listenership.

What does regenerative design mean to you?

PM: Regenerative design represents a sum design process that encompasses all views including positive and non-positive to restore a common ground. This further revitalises all forms of energy and materials under consideration.

What are the founding principles that you believe each design should aspire to? Please use examples of your own work to illustrate this.

PM: The founding principles of any design should show the embodiment of accommodating or responding to all possible opposing views and impacts thus leading to a sustainable solution. This is exemplified in many of our projects wherein the client, the commissioned practitioner and the end user are considered, including various stakeholders who have a voice during design.

What kind of resistance have you come up against your design principles during your career, and how have you overcome it?

PM: The resistance we have come across, which of course gets ultimately resolved, is when a client or beneficiaries have preconceived outcomes of an undertaking. We have overcome this challenge by having extensive consultation with the relevant parties wherein we share a strategy that makes their desired outcomes realised. This process may take far too long, and threaten the viability of the project, but we’ll also recommend certain approaches and placements for the client, beneficiaries, and stakeholders.

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What are the most significant changes you have seen in attitudes towards transformation and sustainable design over your career?

PM: The most significant changes in attitudes towards a transformative and sustainable design is the acceptance that most, if not all, matters need to be resolved or attended to at an early stage of concept development, no matter how long this process could be, even though this process could be time consuming with a risk of impeding on the timelines of the project.

How have behaviours and attitudes changed during Covid-19? How do you think Covid-19 will mould things going forward?

PM: Covid-19 has brought about varied behavioural and attitude changes to spaces and places that are meant for human beings. Covid-19 has successfully challenged any approaches that may have been deemed to be cast in stone. It has brought about an unassuming attitude for listenership.

How has technology influenced sustainable design?

PM: Technology evolves so rapidly that human attitude towards design solutions is also forced to adapt quickly.

This has also created an opportunity for the designs to be adaptable and flexible to possible change.

What is the key takeaway you’d like people to gain from your keynote presentation?

PM: What I hope the audience will take away is that, until we learn and apply effective collaboration, and consideration of others, there will be nothing positive to offer future generations to come. Therefore, success is never achieved through singularity.

What are three takeaways you are personally hoping to get by attending and networking at convention?

PM: There are at least three takeaways that I hope for from this convention: 1. That humanity will learn to be considerate beyond financial gain. 2. That even the deemed to be insignificant voice should be heard for whatever it is worth. 3. That our voices are transformed into practical interventions to save planet earth.

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PROFILE

FLYING HIGH INTO A

GREEN FUTURE Airports Company South Africa has a vision to be a recognised leader in the implementation of energy solutions that are economically and environmentally sustainable to airport businesses.

A

ir travel and transport has transformed the human experience and connected the planet in ways not thought possible before the turn of the century. It has also had an environmental impact on our planet, just like any other industry, business and even our homes. With the reality of climate change upon us, threatening the long-term sustainability of our planet, it is critical that every individual and role player turn to this urgent agenda, if they have not already done so.

Airports Company South Africa owns and operates nine airports in South Africa, namely O.R. Tambo International Airport in Gauteng, Cape Town International Airport, King Shaka International Airport in Durban, Port Elizabeth International Airport, East London Airport, Bram Fischer International Airport in Bloemfontein, George Airport, Upington International Airport and Kimberley Airport. Realising the paramount importance of taking proactive steps to reduce environmental impact and promote sustainability, Airports Company South Africa has for a number of years aspired to be the most sought after

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partner in the world for the provision of sustainable airport management solutions; and has incorporated a low-carbon economy, resource efficiency, energy efficiency and overall significant lowered environmental impact of business within its business activities.

CARBON NEUTRAL BY 2030

Airports Company South Africa has plans in place, many of which have already been achieved, some are in progress, and others are long-term goals looking ahead to 2030. Each airport has an optimised, feasible energy mix that will be implemented by 2030, moving the airport towards carbon neutrality in electricity consumption. These energy sources will be coordinated using smart energy grids and will not only decrease the airports’ carbon footprint, but also have the potential of providing operational cost savings in excess of R150 million per annum.

Each airport has a roadmap towards carbon neutrality by 2030 that consists of projects and initiatives that must be undertaken to achieve this goal. These include

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PROFILE natural gas to power trigeneration plants, solar thermal powered absorption cooling plants, solar photovoltaic plants, vertical axis wind power plants, geothermal heat sinks as a replacement for air conditioning cooling towers, geyser sleeves to reduce energy consumption, lighting reduction and lighting control technologies, and air conditioning passive cooling techniques such as solar heat deflective paint and low emissivity glass.

SHOOTING FOR THE (GREEN) STARS

Environmental accreditations also form part of Airports Company South Africa’s long-term strategy, and in order to sustain the consciousness of environmental impact, existing terminal buildings have been earmarked for green building certification, which will verify that their operations are resource efficient, energy efficient and ecologically sustainable. Application will be made in this regard, to Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) to accredit the terminal buildings. In addition, the ACI Carbon Accreditation programme, which has the focus of reducing carbon emissions of airport operations, is being targeted for the various levels and will require that all stakeholders and users of the airport are compliant with environmental sustainability.

Each airport has an optimised, feasible energy mix that will be implemented by 2030, moving the airport towards carbon neutrality in electricity consumption.

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The third category for 2030 environmental sustainability is about sustaining environmental consciousness, and this includes “green leases” for all tenants, with active energy management programmes for tenants using significant amounts of energy. “Green clauses” will be incorporated for project contractors, along with green service level agreements, which will be implemented during the course of the accreditations from the Airports Council International and the GBCSA. These green leases, contract clauses and service level agreements have the goal of closing the loop in bringing stakeholders and airport users along the journey of resource efficiency, energy efficiency and environmental consciousness, making all the efforts sustainable.

GREEN ACHIEVEMENTS

With the long-term vision having been established, Airports Company South Africa has a number of significant achievements under its belt. In the area of energy reduction, Airports Company South Africa’s nine airports show a reduction in energy consumption in excess of 10% over the last five financial years.

This is regardless of the passenger growth, air traffic movements and infrastructure growth experienced over the past five financial years, and is equivalent to powering more than 70% of King Shaka International Airport for a period of 12 months (or powering over 2000 average households over a 12-month period).

This was achieved by the imperative to move towards LED lighting technology, the adoption of appropriate lighting controls and the controlling of air conditioning systems. Lighting and air conditioning are significant energy users in airports, and can make up more than 65% of the energy bill.

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PROFILE

SOLAR SAVINGS

Renewable energy efforts and a low carbon energy mix have successfully achieved a carbon footprint offset at Airports Company South Africa’s regional airports.

The solar PV plants collectively contribute more than 2% of Airports Company South Africa’s annual electricity requirements, which is equivalent to the carbon footprint of more than 200 homes, or more than the operation of Bram Fischer International Airport in Bloemfontein for a period of 12 months. The cost of solar PV per kWh is competitive with the electricity supply from the Eskom National Grid, and, using an average cost per KWh over the three installations in George, Kimberley and Upington airports, the solar PV yield offers an annual saving over R3,5 million: • George Airport had its 750kWp solar PV plant installed in October 2015, supplying the airport with about 40% of its electricity requirements • Kimberley Airport’s 500kWp solar PV plant, installed in May 2016, supplies the airport with over 56% of its annual electricity requirements • Also installed in May 2016, Upington International Airport’s supplies the airport with more than 52% of its electricity requirements through its 500kWp plant.

• Bram Fischer International Airport had its 750kWp solar PV plant installed in March 2019 • A 1MWp plant came online in July 2019 at Port Elizabeth International Airport.

When it comes to other sustainability initiatives achieved so far, the recent drought in the Western Cape and the pressure to reduce potable water consumption led to an aggressive potable water saving programme, especially at Cape Town International Airport, which in fact reduced the airport’s water consumption by almost half. The initiatives adopted are now being considered for implementation across the nine airports. This includes low-flow plumbing

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Environmental accreditations also form part of Airports Company South Africa’s long-term strategy, and in order to sustain the consciousness of environmental impact, existing terminal buildings have been targeted to migrate to an “existing buildings” green star rating. and fittings, alternative cleaning regimes, awareness and accountability, rainwater harvesting and recycling at car wash bays. The use of borehole water, through a reverse osmosis plant, was also adopted at the airport. Choosing air-cooled air conditioning over water-cooled systems in new projects and replacement cycles, especially for drought-stricken or drought-prone regions has been established, while air conditioning condensate recovery systems are being designed at King Shaka International Airport, which will set the standard for those airports utilising water-cooled air conditioning systems. Another achieved goal has been the implementation of recycling, and reduction of waste to landfill, throughout Airports Company South Africa’s airports.

SUSTAINABLE WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Some of the energy reduction initiatives which are underway include a programme for each airport to

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PROFILE

migrate their lighting technology to LED lighting.

This is occurring at replacement cycles, in order to maximise the technology’s return on investment through operational and maintenance cost savings.

The incorporation of lighting control, as per the area utilisation and functionality, is also currently in progress.

Each airport is also on a plan towards the migration of their air conditioning systems towards greater efficiency cycles, with the consideration of alternative energy systems such as thermal absorption cooling. The adoption of technologies and strategies that lower air conditioning loads such as double glazing, heat deflective coatings/paints, wind lobbies and other strategies have been identified for implementation at airports with refurbishment cycles and for new infrastructure.

OFF THE GRID

When it comes to alternative low carbon emissions energy sources, Airports Company South Africa has made a techno-economic assessment of options such as natural gas, solar thermal energy, geothermal energy, anaerobic digestion as well as wind energy, based on the availability and suitability of each energy source to the airport’s geographical location, operations, current infrastructure and spatial plans. These have

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Renewable energy efforts and a low carbon energy mix have successfully achieved a carbon footprint offset at Airports Company South Africa’s regional airports. been approved by Airports Company South Africa’s Technical Committee for the detailed investigation of airport integration. Natural Gas that can be used in a trigeneration plant for electricity heating and air conditioning needs are targeted for O.R. Tambo International Airport, Cape Town International Airport and King Shaka International Airport, and Geothermal Energy to be used as a heat sink for cooling towers are being investigated towards integration at Cape Town International Airport. Wind Energy has been investigated for Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, and Energy Storage technologies are being investigated to store surplus yield from solar PV plants at Kimberley, Upington and George Airports bringing the airports closer to carbon neutrality. Studies are

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currently underway to convert the bus vehicle fleet at O.R. Tambo International Airport to run on compressed natural gas that will reduce the carbon footprint of the fleet by about 60%, while electric cars are also being considered for the airport’s other operational vehicles.

The introduction of e-vehicle charging facilities is also being assessed for airports.

When it comes to environmental certifications underway, the new section of the terminal building in Cape Town International Airport has been earmarked for green building certification, and will target a minimum 4-star green rating under the EBP rating offered by Green Building Council of South Africa, while the new commercial office facility in O.R. Tambo International Airport is registered under the Design & As Built rating tool, and will target a 4 star rating. Technical manuals have been drafted for the guidance of certification of all new developments – terminal buildings, retail centres and office buildings, and a Technical Manual is being drafted to guide the transition of existing terminal buildings from their current state to the targeted green star rating. Airports Company South Africa’s Carbon Accreditation status with Airports Council International is currently as follows (Level 4 is the ultimate): • Bram Fischer International Airport – Level 1

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• George Airport – Level 1 • King Shaka International Airport – Level 2 • Port Elizabeth International Airport – Level 2 • OR Tambo International Airport – Level 2 • Cape Town International Airport – Level 2 All these actions, whether achieved or underway, form part of Airports Company South Africa’s overarching strategy directed towards promoting a healthy environment, and preserving it for the benefit of present and future generations. “Our concern with the environment goes to the heart of our focus on sustainability. Our approach is therefore to continue to entrench sound environmental management philosophies and business practices that will sustain Airport Company South Africa’s value into the future.

This is based on the simple model of plan, develop, implement, audit and review…in order to ensure continual improvement,” concludes Airports Company South Africa Chief Operating Officer, Fundi Sithebe.

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INDUSTRIAL

Manufacturing Green:

Sustainability in the

Industrial Sector 38

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Since the age of the Industrial Revolution, factories have been seen as noisy, dirty, and polluting. Smoke and waste was just an accepted side effect of mass production and mechanised manufacture, and the comfort and health of workers was, historically, barely a consideration. Recently, however, there has been a move to question the status of industrial buildings and their contribution to sustainability. We take a look at two light industrial buildings that have recently been awarded Green Stars.

WORDS Melinda Hardisty

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uropean regulations governing work environments and the protection of the natural surroundings are already well advanced.

Historically perhaps the conditions weren’t always as healthy, but they certainly prove that industry doesn’t have to be synonymous with pollution and destruction in the modern age. It is encouraging to see local companies rising to the challenge of pursuing

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more sustainable approaches to manufacturing their products. To that end, the Green Star EBP (Existing Building Performance) tool has been customised to apply to industrial buildings. To date, four South African buildings have successfully achieved Green Star Ratings.

The two most recent ratings have been the Equator – The Belt Factory™ in Durban, and Growthpoint’s Serra Building in Germiston, Johannesburg.

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Johan Pretorius

INDUSTRIAL

Additional glazing and new skylights have been added to allow natural light into the factory space and offices.

EQUATOR – THE BELT FACTORY™ Buhr’s passion for sustainability in his business and Project dates: Completed in June 2018 Green Star rating: 5-Star Green Star Custom Industrial (EBP V1) Location: New Germany, Durban Type of building: Light Industrial (factory, stores, warehouse, offices) Building size: 4 440m² Cost (interventions): R1.3mil Equator has been manufacturing belts since 2001.

By 2009, they were well established in the industry and were authorised to manufacture belts for Levi’s, giving them further credibility. Leon Buhr, founder and director of Equator, explains that the CTFL (Clothing, Textile, Footwear, and Leather) supply chain is one of the least sustainable industries in the world. High consumption of products at low cost leads to economic imbalance and environmental destruction.

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his life is contagious as he talks about Equator’s sustainability journey. The real impetus for change came when he took a 10-week sabbatical in 2016 to reassess his lifestyle and his business. While making many positive changes in his own life, he also thought about the business he had been building for 15 years and what legacy he would leave. He says: “My daughters (then about 13 and 11) asked me more and more about sustainability and I felt [that] building a business and then not being able to tell your children you did your best to do so in a sustainable (and green) manner would nullify all efforts to lead by example.” He decided that they needed to interrogate every level of the business and manufacturing process and see where they could improve. It could have seemed like an insurmountable problem, but Buhr decided to just take it one bit at a time, fixing small things one by one.

In 2017, the company needed to move to bigger premises and this seemed like the perfect opportunity

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INDUSTRIAL

to make drastic changes to their physical space and operations. An old textile mill in New Germany – one of the oldest industrial areas in Durban – was purchased and completely transformed in terms of environmental sustainability and human comfort. These factors were not great priorities in 1967 when the factory was first built.

Buhr says that it was important that their interventions were scientific and measurable, and so they appointed sustainability experts, Andre Harms and Catherine Luyt, of Ecolution Consulting, to manage the Green Star certification on the client’s behalf. With the tag line: “A Place of Craft and a Place of Science”, one wouldn’t expect anything less.

The EBP tool, which has been customised to assess industrial buildings, doesn’t rate the construction or design of a building but rather provides benchmarks to measure the operating performance of a building over time, thus a building needs to be operational for at least a year for its performance to be assessed.

The tool measures performance under eight categories: Management (building management, continuous monitoring, learning resources), Indoor

Water tanks storing harvested rainwater for use throughout Equator. Pictured (left) Rajeev Matai (right) and Marc Pozniac.

Johan Pretorius

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Johan Pretorius

Johan Pretorius

Equator - The Belt Factory™ has been transformed in terms of environmental sustainability and human comfort.

The key advice for any business looking to embark on their sustainable journey seems to be: Just start!

Environmental Quality (air quality, lighting comfort, thermal comfort, occupant survey, acoustic comfort, daylight views), Energy (energy consumption and peak demands), Water (potable water management), Transport (alternative transportation), Materials (procurement and purchasing, solid waste management), Land Use and Ecology (hardscape, landscape, pest management), and Emissions (refrigerants, legionella prevention, stormwater).

There were no structural or footprint changes made to the existing building, but there was additional (double) glazing and new skylights added to allow natural light into the factory space and offices. A new break room was added for the factory staff that also has plenty of natural light. The office component also gained a new, industrial aesthetic, kitchenette-cumcoffee bar with access to a balcony space. Non-toxic and low VOC paints and finishes were used throughout, and most of the furniture was second hand or up-cycled.

Rainwater harvesting systems were implemented by KZN Water Energy, and low-flow fittings were installed throughout. Treated and purified rainwater is used for washing, drinking, cleaning, and flushing toilets. The interventions are expected to save about 347 600 litres of water a year (when compared to the benchmark of a similar building) and simple payback, at today’s tariffs, is expected within 16 years.

Energy savings were achieved by the use of LEDs and lighting control, high-performance glazing, natural daylighting, hyper-efficient cooling systems, and smart metering, amounting to a combined annual saving of about 285 579kWh (as compared to similar benchmarks).

Sarah Robyn Farrell, from transparenCI, who works with Equator on their sustainability communications,

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Johan Pretorius

INDUSTRIAL

Waste management systems have been implemented that include the reduction, recycling, and composting of manufacturing waste. Pictured (left) Nosipho Zulu, (middle) Thabanie Mngoma and (right) Lungani Manqele.

says: “In 2019 the average energy consumed per belt [manufactured] was 0.2 kWh which is the equivalent energy required to make one cup of tea.”

Waste management systems have been implemented that include the reduction, recycling, and composting of waste. Crucial to the successful and sustained implementation of many of these measures is the understanding and buy-in of the staff. Training and vision casting was done at the beginning of the project, and regular refresher discussions are held. The staff was generally enthusiastic and a

green committee has been formed. Clear signage, in both English and isiZulu, was installed to clarify and remind people of processes, and the monthly reports on the building performance are shared with all staff so that they understand the impact of the changes they’ve made.

Buhr regards the achievements of the building as only one important step towards sustainability. For the next step, they will be focusing on their materials, responsible sourcing, innovation towards greener raw materials, and improving their packaging and logistics.

BELGOTEX: FORERUNNERS IN INDUSTRIAL GREEN STARS The Belgotex flooring factory in Pietermaritzburg developed the first Custom Industrial EBP Tool. They were awarded a 6-Star rating in 2017. The factory started operations in 1983 and has expanded significantly over the years to produce their current range of carpets and flooring. They have endeavoured to push the boundaries of sustainable manufacturing processes and the production of eco-friendly products since 1991.

The 2017 accreditation recognised the measured operational performance in eight: Management, Indoor Environmental Quality, Energy, Water, Transport, Materials, Land Use & Ecology, and Emissions. Extra credits were awarded for innovative strategies implemented in the manufacturing process.

The company has continued to pursue improved overall sustainability. Energy efficiency is continually being enhanced with new technologies and interventions, both in their operations and their innovative product lines.

Their ambition is to invest further in renewable energy, with the groundwork being done over the past two years to obtain a NERSA licence and to reinforce the roofing of a large portion of the factory to support additional solar panels. In 2019, they completed a project linking the factory ablution facilities and cooling towers to a water harvesting dam, further reducing the overall municipal water consumption.

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MA Dlamini Consulting Engineers (Pty) Ltd. is an independent consulting engineering firm which operates in the electrical, mechanical and building services disciplines.

The company is registered in Kingdom of Eswatini in accordance with all relevant laws and statutes. It is registered with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport under Electrical Engineering Professionals and Mechanical Engineering Professionals. For both disciplines, the company is registered as category A, which is the highest rating. The company is 100% owned and directed by qualified indigenous LiSwati National. The company has provided technical assistance to various government departments, parastatal organisations and private companies in these disciplines. MA Dlamini Consulting Engineers is certified with ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System and is registered with Construction Industry Council (CIC).

(+268) 2417-1041 | frontdesk@madlamini.co.sz | www.magroup.co.sz

INDUSTRIAL

Serra Services

Serra Park is an example of how industrial buildings are well-suited to being highly efficient. Warehouse roofs are ideally suited for solar panels, efficient lighting and daylighting.

SERRA® PARK, MEADOWBROOK ESTATE

Meanwhile, in Johannesburg, the Serra® Services building owned by Growthpoint Properties has become the first building in Gauteng to have been awarded a 5-Star Green Star rating using the Custom Industrial EBP tool. The success of this project depended on the shared vision and goals of both landlord and tenant.

Grahame Cruickshanks, head of sustainability and utilities at Growthpoint, explains that the company’s strategy seeks to create value through sustainability.

“All our new office developments should achieve a minimum 4-Star Green Star rating. As part of our dedication to reducing carbon emissions, Growthpoint made a commitment in line with COP-21 to have all

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Serra Services

Serra Services

Project dates: March 2019 to February 2020 Green Star rating: 5-Star Green Star Custom Industrial (EBP V1) Location: Meadowbrook, Germiston, Johannesburg Type of building: Light Industrial (manufacturing, offices, warehouse, laundry, showrooms) Building Size: 7 400m²

its long-held commercial buildings attain a minimum 4-Star Green Star rating by 2020 year-end and we are progressing well against this target.”

Serra® has been manufacturing and servicing washroom fittings and dispensers for 35 years. Paul Thomaz, group marketing director, says that as a leading hygiene service provider and washroom dispenser manufacturer, “Serra® is duty-bound to highlight health and sustainable environmental practices”. Many years ago, the decision was made to manufacture their products in stainless steel for several reasons, including the material’s sustainability, durability, and low environmental footprint.

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INDUSTRIAL

Serra Services

The EBP rating grades building and operational performance rather than structure, so achieving the targets is largely dependent on the tenant and how they operate in the space.

Because the EBP rating grades building and operational performance rather than structure, achieving the targets is largely dependent on the tenant and how they operate in the space. Solid Green Consulting, in collaboration with Sow and Reap, and Imbue Projects, was appointed to advise on the sustainability aspects of the project and to develop a green building guide for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the building.

Francois Retief of Sow and Reap, reiterates the particular importance of the tenant’s buy-in in an industrial building as opposed to offices, where the landlord may have more control over maintenance and cleaning aspects. He also says that industrial buildings are well-suited to being highly efficient.

Warehouse roofs are ideally suited for solar panels, efficient lighting and daylighting is often easier to achieve, and intensive water use in processes (like in Serra’s laundry) can make use of non-potable water.

130 photovoltaic panels, with a capacity of 25kWp, were installed on the roof. A further 110 panels are planned for phase 2, and the end goal of 550 panels in total. Three lithium-ion battery banks can provide the offices with 24 hours of uninterrupted power. Andy McKay, director of Greenwave, installed the gridtied solar system and the hybrid battery back-up. He explains that the system can sustain critical equipment during power outages, but also lowers the consumption during peak tariff periods in winter months. This not only saves money but lowers the building’s carbon footprint as well. Errol Taylor, Growthpoint’s head

of asset management: Industrial, says that Serra® consumes around 16kWh/sqm/year, as opposed to the benchmark comparison of 106kWh/sqm/year, and the performance is still improving.

Water-saving implementations, and the use of nonpotable water where possible, has enabled the facility to achieve an 88% improvement on similar sized light industrial complexes.

Greenwave also designed, installed, and monitors the Building Management System (BMS) that tracks and controls all the key equipment. This state-of-the-art system is what allows the performance of all the services to be monitored and adjusted as necessary. This, along with regular occupant surveys and other assessments, allows Growthpoint and Serra® to continuously assess the building’s performance and push for further improvements wherever possible.

The teams involved in both of these projects highlight the importance of the education and buyin of the building’s occupants as an important factor in sustained building performance. The key advice for any business looking to embark on their sustainable journey seems to be: Just start!

In the words of Equator’s Leon Buhr: “More and more we realise there is no alternative path for any of us than to make more sustainable decisions each day; in business and personally. That sustainability is not a solar panel here or a Jojo tank there. It is especially not a ‘marketing extra’. It must become deeply embedded in the very foundation of what we think, say, and do.”

FURTHER READING:

THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY Circular economy

The Impact Receipt is a great concept within the fashion industry.

It is the idea of labelling garments with their true cost/value (environmental impact etc).

This relates to some of the Equator principles, too Interesting showcase of designer/artists who upcycled fashion items – highlighting the circular economy in the fashion industry concept

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CONTACT Mary Anne Constable - maryanne@thepaperarchitect.com - 083 601 1851

www.thepaperarchitect.com

PROFILE

EMPOWERED SPACES

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mpowered Spaces Architects will soon celebrate their 25th anniversary, having completed well over two hundred industrial facilities during that period. The company has become synonymous with industrial architecture and development in South Africa, receiving the coveted, South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) award for innovation in industrial development for six consecutive years from 2013 to 2019. We pride ourselves on consistently delivering world-class industrial facilities across South Africa and into Africa.

Empowered Spaces has become the design trendsetter in the warehouse space, pushing the boundaries in steel and sheeted buildings. We are continually evolving our designs to keep up and ahead of the fastchanging logistics industry.

In the lifespan of our business, we have had to develop in parallel with the prevailing technologies, from the founding days of fixed telephone lines and thermal faxes, to the present reality of smart phones, 3D printing and BIM technology. While the Covid-19 pandemic will no doubt accelerate the adaption and adoption of newer technologies and systems, we were already living in world where the rate of these changes was happening exponentially faster.

Over the past quarter century, we have accrued extensive technical expertise in the sector, including bulk warehousing, third party logistics, manufacturing, food processing, pharmaceutical and production.

Beyond this technical capacity, Empowered Spaces are renowned for continually pushing the boundaries of lightweight steel frame construction and have set the trend in the design of these building typologies for many years.

While the body of work completed by the firm speaks volumes for our design experience, we have also invested heavily in standards, specifications and detailing, as well as the latest BIM-based software and management team, in order to allow us to offer clients a comprehensive, holistic solution from conception to completion.

Empowered Spaces have continued with our founding philosophy to remain a lean, agile, solutions-based company, focused on delivering more value than cost to our clients. This constant ambition and focus enable us to become the preeminent architectural consultants in this sector, both nationally and internationally.

Our portfolio ranges from small private owner occupied facilities of less than a 1000sq.m, all the way to global brands such as Coca-Cola, Caterpillar

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and Toyota, with facilities of over 100 000sq.m. Our portfolio includes South Africa’s first 5-star, green star rated industrial facility, Grundfos (Pty) Ltd, completed in 2014, as well as the country’s first net zero carbon rating for the Premier Foods (Pty) Ltd facility, completed in 2018.

In 2020 alone, we are on site with a broad spectrum of projects for Toyota, Sandvik, Coca-Cola, Imperial Health Sciences, DHL, Altron, Torrecid, Emit Logistics, DSV Pharma, Digistics and Takealot, constantly building on the knowledge and expertise gained through historical projects, which include BMW, Cummins, John Deere and Caterpillar South Africa.

Empowered Spaces are proud to service a broad spectrum of developers and funds working within the industrial market, with national representation and exposure to the vast majority of industrial/logistics estates in Gauteng, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal. We have completed building in Western, Central and southern African countries for multi-national clients With such comprehensive experience in the sector, our team has the ability to conceptualise the optimal planning and operations of the facility, institute the most cost effective details and material specifications for its construction, ultimately optimising the construction, operation and lifecycle of the buildings itself and importantly the business within it.

Empowered Spaces offer unparalleled knowledge and expertise of the South Africa industrial sector with a broad perspective of the national context influencing clients and developers, as well as experience in advising international tenants looking to develop in the country. Beyond typical architectural services, we also offer consultation services covering the planning and development of industrial estates, management and adjudication of development proposals, logistics, principal agency, and project management, all the way through to marketing content, 3D rendering and animations, space planning and interior design.

Empowered Spaces Architects look forward to continuing their 25-year tradition of innovation and excellence for the next 25 years and beyond.

www.espaces.co.za

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Green Industrial Park

EDGES INTO GREEN STARS Equites Property Fund is a Real Estate Investment Trust that focuses on the ownership and development of warehouse and logistic properties in South Africa. The fund aims to deploy its capital in a sustainable manner to improve short- and long-term stakeholder results.

WORDS

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Ecolution Consulting

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Premier Foods

The energy generated from the 690kWp photovoltaic system on Premier Foods’ roof is shared with the neighbouring Lords View Spec warehouse.

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n 2020, the Premier Foods development located in Equites Lords View Industrial Park achieved a 4-Star Industrial As-Built Green Star certification as well as Net Zero Carbon certification. This was made possible by the 690kWp PV system on Premier Foods’ roof where the energy generated is shared between Premier Foods and the neighbouring Lords View Spec warehouse. This was the first project in the Equites portfolio to be recognised for its green credentials but by no means the last.

To date, the property fund has achieved two final EDGE advanced certifications, two preliminary EDGE certifications and a further three developments targeting EDGE certification. All of their projects are being certified by Green Business Certification Inc (GBCI).

Ecolution Consulting is performing the roles of EDGE expert and auditor on all of Equites’ EDGE projects. The EDGE expert owns and manages the certification process and is the direct link to Equites and the project team in collating all required information for assessment. The EDGE auditor is then responsible for auditing all information submitted by the EDGE expert, undertaking site audits and testing and recommending the project for certification to the certifying body, in this case, GBCI.

materials, a combination of steel profile cladding and precast concrete panels for the external walls, and mostly finished concrete floors within the building.

The projects that have received EDGE preliminary certificates are Altron and Digistics, both located in Equites’ Meadowview Industrial Park. The energy and water measures being targeted for these two projects are: • Reduced window-to-wall ratios • Reflective paint for the roofs • Low-E coated glass • VRV cooling system • Energy-saving light bulbs throughout the building • Shared rooftop solar photovoltaics • Reduced flush volumes for water closets • Water-efficient urinals • Low-flow kitchen and bathroom taps Within each of Equites’ industrial parks, namely Lords View, Meadowview, Witfontein and Philippi, at least one of the logistics facilities has or plans to have rooftop solar PV sized sufficiently to generate enough power for that specific building and a neighbouring warehouse building.

An industrial-type building inherently uses fewer materials than a standard brick-and-mortar building

The projects both achieved greater than 50% savings in embodied energy of the construction materials.

An industrial-type building inherently uses fewer materials than a standard brick-and-mortar building thus leading to reduced embodied energy.

The two logistics properties located in Lords View Industrial Park, Premier Foods and Lords View Spec, have received final EDGE certification, both achieving EDGE advanced certification (energy savings exceed 40%). The energy and water measures targeted for these two projects were: • Reduced window-to-wall ratios • Energy-saving light bulbs throughout internal and external areas • Occupancy sensors in bathrooms • Shared rooftop solar photovoltaics • Dual flush water closets • Water-efficient urinals • Low-flow kitchen and bathroom taps The projects both achieved greater than 50% savings in embodied energy of the construction materials. This was possible by using light-weight roof construction

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thus leading to reduced embodied energy. The main challenge with a warehouse is ensuring the water and energy operational consumption is reduced by implementing efficient fittings and interventions.

Ecolution Consulting has assisted Equites in developing a base-spec for all new developments in the portfolio such that, if adhered to, the building would be eligible for EGDE certification. Due to the short construction timeframe of an industrial building, the design specs must meet the EDGE thresholds before ground has even been broken.

These baseline specs will be applied to all new Equites developments so that EDGE certification can be rolled out with ease and the developments can be recognised for their cutting-edge designs and technologies as soon as possible. The EDGE certification will assist in attracting and retaining quality tenants as well as offering lower operating costs to these tenants.

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Designers and suppliers of LED Lighting solutions to the UCT Avenue Road Residence, receiving SA’s first Green Star rating with the GBCSA. Our product range is of the highest quality. This, combined with superior product knowledge, enables us to supply world-class products with service excellence.

SERVICES OFFERED: • • • • • • •

Lighting Designs according to local and international standards.

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PROJECT

Living and learning

GREEN 54

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In 1829, the University of Cape Town was the first university to open its doors in South Africa. Almost 200 years later, the UCT Avenue Road student residence has proudly become the first student housing project in the country to achieve a Green Star rating from the GBCSA. WORDS Nicole Cameron

Project dates: January - October 2020 Green Star rating: 4-Star Custom Student Residence - Design Location: Middle Campus, UCT, Cape Town Type of building: Student residence

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I

f sustainable development is the next frontier, the University of Cape Town (UCT) Avenue Road Student Residence and Dining Hall, with its 4-Star Green Star Custom Design rating, is a true pioneer. Every area of the design and construction of the residence focuses on sustainable concerns such as energy, carbon emissions, embodied energy, water, healthy spaces for people, ecology, transport and construction management.

“UCT values environmental sustainability and the health and wellness of students and staff – green buildings are resource efficient (they save energy and water), are responsible for less greenhouse gas emissions, tread more lightly on the environment and are healthier for students and staff. These are all very important values to UCT, especially for a space that students will be living and studying in, which is why the green design was so important for this project,” says Manfred Braune, UCT’s director of environmental sustainability.

PROJECT The residence is conveniently located in Mowbray, with the development forming a backdrop to the existing Avenue and Cadboll House buildings along Avenue Road (part of UCT’s heritage buildings) and creating an edge along Matopo Road. With easy access to upper campus, shops and amenities as well as connections to public transport, students are encouraged to use public transport (such as Jammie Shuttles), non-motorised mobility and the cycling facilities provided, in order to contribute to a lower student carbon footprint.

Limited parking acts as a further encouragement to do so. The building is also well located near sporting facilities and university health and wellness services.

When it comes to the residence, which accommodates 500 student beds and support facilities, as well as two Warden’s apartments, Pather describes the project’s design concept as being organised around three landscaped courtyards, which allows light into the

OLD MEETS NEW

The new residence and dining hall forms part of a larger precinct made up of several buildings, most of which are heritage-protected, explains Gabs Pather, director of Jakupa Architects and Urban Designers.

“Some buildings and parts of others were demolished to make way for the new structures, and the placement of the new structures was carefully thought through in order to enhance and control vehicular and pedestrian movement.” All the surrounding heritage buildings and features were retained and protected and incorporated in the overall planning of the site layout.

We are excited and proud to think that approximately 500 students will every year be living in a healthier built environment than they are likely to experience at home, where most South African families have not been in a position to have a green home.

An aerial 3D image of the site, with the new residence and dining hall illustrated in grey, as part of the larger precinct.

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TRILOGY

FORMWORK

BUILDING SERVICES Electrical and Electronic Engineers with Specialised expertise in student accommodation. We adhere to the minimum norms and standards for student housing as set out by the Higher Education Act and strive to include sustainable energy practices in our designs.

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The full scope of electrical & electronic engineering services Energy audits Smart metering design & implementation Data management Automation and control Building management systems Structured cabling & wiďŹ designs Fire/ smoke detection systems Security systems & access control

PROJECT

Low-carbon materials such as ground granulated blastfurnace slag were used in the building's concrete structure.

inner-perimeter of the building strips. The dining hall is a column-free, multi-functional, 536-seater main dining area, supported by a foyer, toilets, a preparation kitchen and serving spaces. It is near the new residence building and adjacent to the existing University House residence, which it also caters for. “The dining hall roof and the way the high-level windows allow light into the space is one of the project’s highlights for us as a team,” says Pather.

A further highlight, he says, is how the residence’s external courtyards have been designed to be sunken lounges, with the trees seats, benches and planters making them inviting spaces in which students can

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gather together to relax and socialise. Landscape architect Herman de Lange adds that a combination of indigenous water-wise and low-maintenance plant and tree species define the space as well as complement the architecture. “An outdoor gym has also been installed as a functional element within the landscape,” he says.

A SUSTAINABLE START Getting things off to a green start meant using lowcarbon materials such as GGBS (Ground Granulated Blast-furnace Slag) in the building’s concrete structure to reduce the amount of virgin cement, and the use ►►

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PROJECT

NEW GREEN BUILDINGS AT UCT Project

Building use

Location

Green Star rating

Date of completion

New Lecture Theatre

Teaching

Upper Campus

Green Star Public and Education Buildings Design v1

2014

GSB Academic Conference Centre

Teaching and conference centre

GSB Campus (Breakwater Campus, V&A)

Green Star Public and Education Buildings Design v1

April 2019

Avenue Road Residence & Dining Hall

Student residence

Middle Campus

Green Star Custom Student Residence Design

Completed. Open for 2021 student intake

School of Education

Teaching and administration

Middle Campus

Green Star Public and Education Buildings Design v1 targeting

Construction to start late 2020

d-school

Teaching and administration

Middle Campus

Green Star Public and Education Buildings Design v1 targeting

Construction to start late 2020

Nelson Mandela School of Governance

Teaching, administration, conference and public exhibition

Upper Campus / SANParks

Targeted rating not yet confirmed

Construction start not yet confirmed

The placement of the new structures was carefully thought through in order to enhance and control vehicular and pedestrian movement.

of recycled steel. Sustainability consultant Alison Groves of WSP explains that at least 50% of all timber came from sustainable sources, and carbon emissions associated with construction were reduced by sourcing products and materials from within 50km of the site. All construction activities followed strict guidelines with

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regards to protecting the environment and preventing construction waste from going to landfill.

As residences are the university’s biggest users of water, the infrastructure ensures that all sanitary fittings are water efficient, with low-flow showerheads and taps and dual-flush toilets. “The taps in basins ►►

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LOCKERS Our locker features include excellent resistance to impact and mechanical stresses, they are 100% water resistant, unaffected by high humidity, corrosive environments and easy to clean and maintain.

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PROJECT

Three 10 000 insulated insulated 600kPa hot water storage vessels with zero power consumption.

SIRAC

Four high-efficiency 90kW Sirac Core environmentfriendly R410a heat pumps provide the water heating for the facility.

Sirac provided the water pumps for the project [pictured]. Coldwater booster pump set provides pressurised potable water for hot and cold water throughout the facility.

provided to each bedroom offer a cold-water supply only, with a centralised heat pump plant producing hot water that is circulated to bathrooms and kitchenettes using a ring main system,” says Groves. “This prevents water wastage from ‘dead legs’ in the system.” There is also a partial greywater system, with a borehole on site which would allow the building to continue to operate using ground water, in a drought scenario (depending on the water quality). Under normal conditions it would revert to municipal supply. Water-efficient kitchen appliances and fittings are installed in the industrial kitchen, and water-wise smart irrigation is used to water the equally water-wise planted landscape.

To keep energy output to a minimum, the design ensures that all bedrooms have openable windows that

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50% of all timber came from sustainable sources, and carbon emissions associated with construction were reduced by sourcing products and materials from within 50km of the site. allow fresh air, natural light and views to the outdoors.

There is mechanical ventilation and extraction to areas such as some of the lounges, the workshop, the

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PROJECT

In addition to providing 144 single rooms and 173 double rooms, the building has 12 universal access rooms, six of which offer assisted living for students with disabilities.

laundry and waste room area, and lighting in common areas such as passages and lounges are switched using occupancy sensors.

A SPACE FOR EVERYONE

In addition to providing 144 single rooms and 173 double rooms, the building has 12 universal access rooms, six of which offer en-suite assisted living facilities for students with disabilities. While three other UCT residences have been retrofitted to provide similar facilities, this is a first for a new residence.

The planning for this starts at the road entrance to the residence, with parking in 3.5m-wide disability bays; ramps into the residence for mobility-impaired students; tactile way-finding; and accessible door handles, window handles and plug points in all rooms.

“The fact that the building caters extensively for people with disabilities speaks to a very important value for UCT, of ensuring that this new green space is inclusive and that students from all walks of life can

enjoy it,” says Braune. The residence will be ready for the 2021 student intake and is one of a few other design and construction projects in planning at the moment, of which three are new buildings and will also be targeting Green Star ratings. The School of Education and the d-school are both middle campus projects due to start construction in late 2020, with the d-school targeting a 6-Star rating and the School of Education targeting a 4-Star rating. The third significant project in early planning stage is the Nelson Mandela School of Governance adjacent to Upper Campus, which is at urban planning stage and will likely go through an architectural competition in the next 12 months or so.

“We are excited and proud to think that approximately 500 students will every year be living in a healthier built environment than they are likely to experience at home, where most South African families have not been in a position to have a green home,” says Braune.

“These students will be able to learn about what a green building is by living in such a building; and hopefully go on to be sustainable stewards of the future.”

An outdoor gym has been installed as a functional element within the landscape.

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THE

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AFRICA

Regional Precedent A WORLD GREEN BUILDING CASE STUDY

The site was chosen to meet the growing demand for a new school in an area that has become densely urbanised in the last decade.

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SABISŽ International School – Runda offers a world-class education to students from kindergarten to Grade 12 within a vibrant, multicultural community that is committed to academic excellence. Construction on the state-of-the-art campus, which gives students the space to learn, grow and discover their talents, started in June 2016 and was completed in June 2018.

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he new SABIS® International School – Runda in Nairobi achieved a 4-Star Green Star Africa-Kenya PEB v1 Design Rating in April 2020. The school was presented as a case study at the World Green Building Week in September, and a tree-planting ceremony is being planned as part of the Green Star design certificate handover process.

Facilities include an independent kindergarten area, upper- and lower-school buildings, cafeteria, gymnasium, pool, football pitch, tennis courts, mini car track, and an auditorium. As the first Green Star certified school in Kenya, the aim was to positively impact the project’s design and construction costs, asset value, operating costs, workplace productivity and user health.

With a GFA of almost 14 600sqm, the school is conveniently located near the Northern Bypass in Kiambu County. The project was developed by the SABIS® Network, a global network of schools that dates back to 1886 and currently educates over 70 000 students in 20 countries on five continents. Concept design architects on the project were Archika, with Boogertman + Partners as executive architects. The green building AP (accredited professional) team comprised WEB Limited, a Kenyan-based sustainable development consultancy and co-founding member of

The design, construction, and operation of the buildings in which we work are responsible for the consumption of many of our natural resources.

AFRICA the Kenya Green Building Society, in collaboration with Solid Green Consulting.

URBAN AND CLIMATIC CONTEXT

Elizabeth Wangeci Chege of WEB Limited explains that the site was chosen to meet the growing demand for a new school in an area that has become densely urbanised in the last 10 years. Being very close to the Equator with no extremes in weather, conditions lent themselves to passive design; the soil is conducive to plant growth and biodiversity, and rain is abundant for harvesting.

The SABIS® Network has developed schools in different regions in the Middle East and South America, and the concept design had to be contextualised, acclimatised and aligned with local expectations. For example, following the attack on the Garissa University College in April 2015, a top priority was security, which necessitated a boundary wall and physical barriers between the buildings.

“Safety on-site is also paramount,” comments Anthony Opil, project architect at Boogertman + Partners. “The site is on a steep slope so the buildings were staggered and connected with soft, landscaped ramps – working with the terrain to make the buildings easily accessible to one another and for the mobility impaired. Courtyards were also designed for different age groups with specific play areas for the lower school and high school – which was an approach that was customised to local expectations.”

The school is bound by two roads to the north and south respectively, with the northern road being a busy highway. SABIS® had to provide a budget and infrastructure to access the southern road, which is much lower and further away from the school. The original design was mirrored to avoid traffic and highway noise, and cyclist and school bus facilities were provided.

The school has a busy highway to the north, and an accessed road to the south.

Cycling and public transport facilities have been provided.

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AFRICA

Play areas have been provided for different age groups.

A TAILORED RESPONSE

Another key consideration was resource efficiency.

While there is a greater reliance on mechanical ventilation and heating in other countries, in Kenya, with its high energy costs and a consistent climate, a more appropriate response was developed.

The classroom blocks were oriented north/south with openings, particularly in the study areas, that do not face east or west. Heat gain from outside surfaces was limited by merging soft and hard landscaping and, in the site planning, by ensuring that paved spaces do not bounce heat back into the internal spaces. Air pollution was also mitigated by ensuring that the school bus parking areas, which are planted with young trees, are oriented to prevent exhaust fumes from entering the buildings.

Locally available materials and technologies were specified where possible, such as concrete hollow blocks and roof insulation to improve thermal massing.

This was a departure from the typical local construction practice of using natural stone because, says Opil, the hollow blocks were more climatically appropriate, enabled costs to be reduced, and were readily available thus circumventing supply issues relating to stone.

Natural lighting and ventilation were modelled and optimised by increasing the height of the windows specified in the original design. Together with the selection and procurement of low-VOC finishes – such as paints, adhesives, and sealants – to ensure that the children are not exposed to toxins, this ensured a significant improvement in the school’s Indoor Environmental Quality. Elizabeth Chege explains that,

although the AP team did not conduct embodied energy calculations for materials, this strategy was used to govern the specification of materials; and workshops were held with both the client and contractor to ensure that targets were met.

Solar water heaters were installed to reduce energy consumption, and a modular solar PV system was designed for optional adoption – to provide panels for classrooms in the next phase of the development, to cut back on consumption and reduce operational costs.

Electricity and water sub-metering was provided for each block with smart meters connected to the BMS to monitor and manage consumption and to offer a learning resource for the school children and their carers. The school was also the first in Kenya to install 100% LED lights in all spaces, thus gaining an additional Green Star Innovation point.

TARGETING NET ZERO WATER

Boniface Chege, also of WEB Limited, says that the project is performing so well in terms of water consumption that the team will consider targeting a Net Zero Water certification which, if successful, will be the first in the region. “We had to consider how children behave and how they like to play with water,” he says. “We reduced consumption by specifying lowflush toilets and low-flow taps with sensors.

“Potable water consumption for landscape irrigation has been reduced by 100% using a rainwater harvesting system and recycled black water system. This is backed up by a borehole with variable speed drive (VSD) pumps

Natural lighting and ventilation have been optimised by increasing the height of the windows.

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AFRICA

Facilities include an independent kindergarten area, upper and lower school buildings, cafeteria, gymnasium, sports facilities, and an auditorium.

and municipal water as a last resort. For the Green Star rating, we achieved 99,9% of the available water credits by using context-appropriate systems such as efficient fittings and the treatment plant – thus contributing to the long-term resilience of the school.”

Elizabeth Chege adds, “To treat the sewage emanating from the facility, a membrane bio reactor (MBR) – a process of membrane-based technology – was provided. In this process, the excess sludge does not require separate digestion and the quantity of sludge generated is minimal. This avoids the cumbersome sludge disposal exercise which needs more manual labour and land area. The treated water from the system is disposed of into an overhead tank to flush toilets by gravity. The supplier and installer of the system was also appointed to maintain the system during operations.

“A workshop is being planned with the school’s operational team to ensure a smooth transition from design to operations by sharing information, and consumption data is already being reviewed. The team will also implement an occupancy survey plan to ensure ongoing comfort and usability for users.”

A FIRST IN WASTE MANAGEMENT

Construction waste is currently a topical discussion in Kenya and this project has become a case study for the National Construction Authority, for other contractors to adopt. The reason, says Elizabeth Chege, is that the tender and preliminary documentation was very clear, so the contractor was informed at the outset of the required standards. The contractor, therefore, appointed a local waste consultant to ensure that the waste was recycled and reused, and 96% of the construction waste was tracked, weighed and diverted from landfill.

In terms of operational waste, spaces were provided on-site for separation of waste; and recycling bins were clearly labelled for use by the school children and staff. Paper and cardboard, plastic, metal and cans,

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glass bottles, and food waste are all separated during operations. The appointed waste collection company was awarded a contract on the basis that they collect the separated waste in trucks that maintain separation, and they have an extensive sorting site that employs women and youth.

A BENCHMARK FOR EAST AFRICA

“The growth and development of school infrastructure have a large impact on our natural environment and communities,” shares Austin Opiyo, SABIS® facilities manager. “The design, construction, and operation of the buildings in which we work are responsible for the consumption of many of our natural resources. We are glad that SABIS® Runda is a leading example of a green school and has gone ahead to be a corporate leader in sustainability initiatives.”

“Research has shown that certain green building factors positively influence learners’ performance at school,” notes Chilufya Lombe, director at Solid Green. “SABIS® Runda is the first school in the SABIS® Network to be completed and undergo certification in Africa, with more planned in future. With this project we have shown that schools, where our children spend most of their time away from home, can be green too.

We hope that other learning institutions in Africa will also adopt green building certification and become part of the call to climate action.”

“This certification sets an example for the rest of the region,” says Elizabeth Chege. “We were thrilled to be part of the process of opening up the Green Star Africa PEB tool for countries outside South Africa.

The client was dedicated to achieving this aim and the professional team and main contractor were completely open-minded about the process, enabling us to efficiently meet the required credits.”

In both its realisation and certification process, SABIS® International School – Runda has successfully set a new benchmark for schools and the green building sector in East Africa.

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INFECTION CONTROL IN THE COVID-19 ERA: NOVAERUS CLEARS THE AIR Now available in South Africa.

A

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As the world enters into a second wave of the COVID-19 crisis, tens of thousands of white, shoeboxsized metal devices — parked on shelves, mounted on walls — are working 24 hours a day to make indoor air safer to breathe. Whirring quietly, plugged into ordinary outlets, these devices have been installed just about everywhere — above hospital beds and surgical gurneys across Europe, adjacent to dental chairs and IVF incubators in China, on pharmacy walls in Hong Kong and school library shelves in the United States, in Irish pubs and hotel lobbies. Their unobtrusive design conceals a sophisticated and powerful technology, now deployed in 58 countries to help prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

These pathogen-killing devices represent a decade of innovation at Novaerus. Designed to control infection in high level medical settings, Novaerus technology is now generating interest well beyond hospitals. “In a world that’s been transformed, we’re helping people get back to work and return to a safe environment,” says Kieran McBrien, Senior Vice President of International Business Development.

INFECTION PREVENTION IN A PANDEMIC

When COVID-19 exploded, so did global awareness of a worrisome and accelerating phenomenon: the airborne transmission of pathogens. For decades, infection spread has plagued hospitals, driving up mortality rates, costs, and fear among patients. Even in pristine facilities, viral and bacterial particles — launched airborne by a cough, a sigh, the rustling of a bedsheet — waft about the corridors, only to be inhaled by patients or settle on bed rails, stethoscopes, and countless other high-touch surfaces.

It is Novaerus’ mission to prevent pathogen spread.

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hospital patients from infectious outbreaks of all kinds — influenza, norovirus, tuberculosis, MRSA, aspergillosis, measles.

But it was COVID-19 that put Novaerus on the map.

In the pandemic’s early days, experts assumed SARSCoV-2 was spread in the community via hefty droplets, sprayed by sneezes and coughs and evaded by taking a few steps back. Then it became clear: symptom-free people were spreading the virus, too. Studies piled up confirming transmission via aerosols, infectious particles light enough to sail across a call centre or church, small enough to slip through gaps in a surgical mask. Most recently, the CDC in the United States has acknowledged COVID-19 can be spread via airborne transmission.

“Now we know there’s a great range of droplet size,” says McBrien. “Whether you’re sneezing, singing, or talking, you can emit very small, very infectious particles that can remain suspended for a long time.”

Infectious aerosols, whether viral, bacterial, or fungal, are no match for Novaerus patented plasma technology, NanoStrike®. This plasma-based nanotechnology kills all airborne microorganisms on contact providing the first line of protection against viruses and bacteria.

NanoStrike® has been independently tested and proven effective on a wide range of airborne pathogens, including MS2 Bacteriophage, a virus used as a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2. The technology was shown to reduce the virus by 99.99%.

Hospitals from Wuhan to Budapest began installing the units in their COVID wards. Then, as lockdowns eased, the hotels and pubs started calling. By deploying Novaerus NanoStrike technology, healthcare facilities, schools and businesses of all types will find themselves prepared for future waves of Covid-19 and the inevitable outbreaks of other highly infectious diseases.

Light Ray Pty Ltd is the exclusive distributor of Novaerus products in South Africa . Mr Cristian F Cernat, Light Ray CTO, is available for individual or group webinars to better introduce the technology and other built environment air purification technologies.

For more information contact novaerus@light-ray.com or visit www.novaerus.com.

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The COVID-19 outbreak has sparked concern worldwide. Global health authorities are taking measures to control the spread of infection.

Enhance Infection Control Protocols with Air Dis-Infection Novaerus patented plasma technology is proven to rapidly destroy airborne viruses. Implementing air dis-infection technology that is continuously working at the point of care to reduce the amount of bioburden in the air leads to less sur face contamination and a lower likelihood of direct and indirect transmission of infection.

A Proven Technology that Rapidly Kills Viruses Due to the small size of viruses, many clean air solutions, including standalone ďŹ ltration, are unable to trap viral particles. Novaerus portable air dis-infection units use a non-selective, rapid killing, patented plasma technology, offering a unique and safe solution to kill airborne viruses 24/7.

Novaerus technology has been independently tested against MS2 Bacteriophage, a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19.

The Defend 150 was shown to reduce the virus by 99.99% in 15 minutes.

The Protect 800 was shown to reduce the virus by 99.99% in 5 hours.

Sizes For Every Space Novaerus air dis-infection units are available in three sizes, to suit any space. All units can be easily positioned and plugged in where they are needed most - patient rooms, waiting rooms, ambulances, operating theaters, intensive care units, emergency rooms, etc.

CONTACT US TODAY: Call: 011 312 2430 Email: novaerus@light-ray.com

POLICY

Ambitious but achievable

GBCSA recently released a new guide to developing net-zero carbon buildings, which seeks to prove that net-zero carbon in buildings can be achieved and offers an overview of this concept in South Africa.

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eliance on fossil fuels to power our buildings and cities is damaging the health of our people and environment, but this can be overcome with a move to net-zero carbon buildings. They are completely viable today and crucial for the future.

The GBCSA defines a net-zero carbon building as “a building that is highly energy-efficient, with the remaining energy requirement generated from renewable energy, preferably on-site, or off-site where necessary”.

The critical mass of net-zero carbon buildings is required to meet political and planetary climate goals.

The built environment currently produces one-third of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. This sector must drastically reduce the amount of CO2 it generates and it has the potential for significant greenhouse gas emissions reduction at a lower cost than other sectors.

It is possible and imperative for us to achieve netzero carbon buildings, and with determination and

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enabling building standards, policies and legislation, it can be implemented far and wide.

The biggest challenges facing the uptake of net-zero buildings are those of perception (when people think it’s more difficult than it is), technical challenges as well as financial challenges. All of these are being rapidly overcome.

The main aim when targeting net zero is to drive the energy consumption of a building as low as possible.

This is done by addressing the main consumers of energy such as heating, cooling, lighting and equipment.

Using passive design strategies that work closely with the prevailing climate and context, not only helps to create comfortable buildings for people but also ones that are energy efficient.

Building performance simulations make it easier than ever today to understand and predict the way a building will operate, allowing us to intervene and ultimately design and construct the best spaces

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Daffonchio & Associates Architects

The Living Building Challenge standard uses a flower as a metaphor to illustrate the principle of regenerative buildings like 76 Corlett Drive.

GETTING TO ZERO The guide to developing net-zero carbon buildings in South Africa DOWNLOAD

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possible. Once simulations and cost-effective passive design interventions have driven energy consumption from heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) and lighting as low as possible, advances in technology can be used to ensure that the active equipment required in the building is as energy efficient as possible with the use of on-site renewable energy.

If this cannot be achieved on-site (for example in buildings with limited roof-space in relation to floor area), then off-site renewable energy can be explored.

With the focus on new and existing commercial buildings, mainly offices, with some reference to the residential sector, the guide provides useful efficiency targets to aim for and offers guidance and practical tips on how to achieve them – from identifying the right people to have on your project team, to the actual energy-use intensity of lighting and mechanical equipment that should be targeted in a commercial building. Furthermore, it highlights renewable energy considerations to bear in mind on your project.

The guide features numerous case studies, showcasing projects that have already achieved netzero carbon status. These projects inspire and share learning to motivate those seeking to make net-zero carbon a reality.

It also emphasises that building energy-use intensity should be about one-third of current standard practice in South Africa and details the most effective passive design strategies to use in the local context. And when implementing active systems such as air conditioning, it gives the pros and cons of different systems and guidance on choosing the most effective ones for particular regions in South Africa. Finally, the guide highlights some of the intricacies of the renewable energy landscape in our country.

PUBLISHING PARTNERSHIP ASHRAE South African Chapter (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers). This is a volunteer-based society of built environment professionals, striving to improve and share building sciences and related industries.

C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) South Africa Buildings Programme. Connects 96 of the world’s greatest cities to take bold climate action, leading the way towards a healthier and more sustainable future. Representing 700+ million citizens and one-quarter of the global economy, mayors of the C40 cities are committed to delivering on the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement at the local level. The C40 South Africa Buildings Programme is delivered in partnership with Sustainable Energy Africa (SEA). It includes embedded expert advisors working in each city, to develop net-zero carbon building policies and bylaws as part of a roadmap to achieve net-zero carbon new buildings by 2030.

The Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA). Promotes sustainable development and property industry transformation through green building programmes, technologies and design practices. The GBCSA has developed comprehensive environmental rating systems for buildings, including Green Star, Energy Water Performance and Net Zero/ Net Positive.

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INTERIORS

How Covid-19 could sharpen our offices THE WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE

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Covid-19 has accelerated the evolution of the workplace while revealing new challenges. The transformation to mobile working has been remarkable, as have the newlydiscovered health and safety risks of being together at the office. Specialist workplace consultant, Georgie Chennells, explores how these drivers of change can lead to a more efficient, more effective, and much more human workplace of the future.

WORDS Georgie Chennells,

SPACE SENSE

iStock

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11616 | www.iww.co.za | rm

structuring the future… one partner… one project at a time...

In August, MPAMOT (Pty) Ltd, previously known as Malani Padayachee and Associates (Pty) Ltd (MPA), announced the acquisition of Mott MacDonald Africa (Pty) Ltd, the South African engineering entity of Mott MacDonald. This was preceded by months of extensive negotiations with Mott MacDonald the global engineering and development organisation, civil and structural engineering consulting firm.

Prior to the above transaction, investment holding company Motseng Women Investments (Pty) Ltd (Motseng) acquired a minority equity in Malani Padayachee and Associates (Pty) Ltd. As first mover recognising the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, MPAMOT is largest 100% black women-owned engineering and development consultancy of its size, capacity and capability in South Africa. MPAMOT (Pty) Ltd trades within South Africa, the South African Development Community, and beyond.

Mott MacDonald continue to collaborate with MPAMOT to support transformation and development and to ensure that we are grooming local talent to international best practice, as well as providing global linkages for our collective clients. A sizeable contingent of Mott MacDonald speakers will be at this year’s Green Building Council’s Conference which further highlights our strong partnership, their support to MPAMOT and our drive to bring international best practice to SA. In addition, the continuing cooperation and links with various partners in SADC and Africa allows MPAMOT to compete effectively for development of infrastructure to enhance the lives of people in Africa.

Structuring the future... one partner...one project at a time.

Please contact info@mpamot.co.za for further information or visit our website www.mpamot.co.za

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ne thing is for certain in our post-Covid world: the concept of the office has been irrevocably altered and will not return to what was previously considered normal.

But this may not be a bad thing. Covid has revealed a whole new world of possibility where the work world is concerned, and will quite likely signify a leap in the direction of a more efficient, more humane workplace – designed to benefit its occupants, rather than the other way round.

Before we explore the changes, let’s remind ourselves where we were before Covid-19.

THE PRE-COVID WORKPLACE

The workplace as a paradigm is in a constant state of evolution, responding to the way people work, which is ultimately about how businesses work. Before Covid hit, the world’s workforce was already moving towards being more mobile and technology-reliant, and we were already embracing digitalisation, automation, robotics and AI. The workplace was also getting smaller, with the average square metre of workplace per employee reducing year by year as hot-desking, flexible working and activity-based work styles gained favour, driven by improved connectivity and virtual collaboration tools like MS Office, Asana and Google Business, as well as increasing real estate costs.

New workplace design was responding more and more to the connection between employee wellbeing and business productivity, as a growing body of evidence on neurological and physiological effects of the work environment on cognitive ability, fuelled the popularity of biophilia and healthy green buildings. Add to that growth of coworking and increased adoption of the hybrid workplace model and you have an already fertile ground for change.

INTERIORS None of the above has disappeared. Covid has accelerated the evolution along this same trajectory while revealing new challenges.

The local workplace pre-Covid’s arrival was not very evolved in terms of Work From Home For knowledge workers in South Africa, we’ve gone (quite suddenly) from a predominantly office-based scenario pre-Covid to a predominantly home-based scenario during the lockdown.

A recent local workplace study* revealed that before the lockdown, 57% of South African businesses had issued less than a quarter of their staff with laptops for remote work. Home internet availability and quality have also played a role in the pace of evolution. Our workforce simply hasn’t been equipped.

The South African workplace post-Covid’s arrival has highlighted possibilities and detractors Covid forced the world into the largest mobile-working and digital transformation in history. We are now seeing a massive increase in the number of employees who are working remotely and are able to continue doing so.

The workplace will need to be seen to demonstrate care for the occupants while at the same time supporting a seamless workflow, allowing the focus to be on productivity and human connection.

Space Sense

CoWomen on Unsplash

Coworking spaces like WeWork have spurred the boom in highly expressive, easily accessible flexible work spaces frequented by not only entrepreneurs but big business too.

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INTERIORS Worldwide studies are showing that for certain tasks and types of work, Work From Home (WFH) can be as productive, if not more so, than working from a “traditional” office. This is, however, a short-term result and is not conclusive in terms of longer-term impact on employee engagement, productivity and business resilience.

The same studies also reveal that the WFH experience is not beneficial to all. Despite being more digitally savvy in general, the younger generation, especially, is having a less favourable WFH experience, as they are more likely to live in smaller or shared spaces, and therefore don’t have access to the same quality of the home-working environment that their older colleague, or boss, might. They are also missing out on the inherent learning and growth that comes with exposure to more experienced colleagues, as well as the growth of personal social and professional networks.

We are seeing that overall, people do want to return to the office, or a form of the office, in some capacity, whether it’s for the social component or to re-establish the boundaries between home and worklife.

This is not surprising given that in-person interaction is also vital for building trust and strengthening the culture of any organisation, which is vital for any business to survive.

THE WORKPLACE POST-COVID

The post-Covid workplace keeps its foundational purpose: to provide space and facilities for employees to get their work done, whether as individuals or teams. It does, however, entrust employees with more autonomy than ever before. It embraces a new set of design functionalities and human behaviours in response to new knowledge and forms of disease.

And it incorporates a higher level of workplace management, powered by technology and policy, to efficiently support a more dynamic workforce and a more focused work environment.

What this could look like, essentially, is less time spent at the office, but a higher level of functionality expected from it when we are there.

Shift to health and safety Covid has highlighted some serious shortcomings in the design of our workplaces that were previously largely overlooked.

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Covid forced the world into the largest mobile-working and digital transformation in history.

A much-overdue spotlight has been shone on the role building ventilation plays in employee health and wellbeing, and, new standards in air-conditioning filters and maintenance have been adopted, to everyone’s benefit.

There is also a new appreciation and recognition for fresh air and outdoor workspaces, which with our temperate climate, should be in ample supply in South Africa, especially in Green Star-certified buildings.

Environmentally-sustainable buildings, by their general nature, incorporate healthy indoor environments that encompass passive design (natural light, fresh air, etc) and low-emission materials – another benefit to the air quality of buildings – which stands them in good stead as attractive locations in a post-Covid world.

www.businesslive.co.za

Cabinet members sit in the lower court garden of the State Chancellery at the start of the Bavarian cabinet meeting in Munich, southern Germany.

In returning to our workplaces, whether as an interim or permanent capacity, new functionalities and behaviours around the workplace are required, both to lessen the risk of disease, as well as to address occupants’ new-found anxieties. Some of these are now legislated and may at some point be waived; some are just good practice.

We’ve seen the office as we know it replanned to incorporate physical distancing, wider circulation routes, controlled entry points, and sanitising stations galore. We’ve seen our behaviour change in line with this, and we are reminded constantly of new workplace protocols to wash hands, keep distance, and limit the number of people in any contained area. The process of using a lift, for example, is completely transformed.

Socially-distanced queueing, limiting capacity, finding ways to avoid touching the buttons, and hand sanitiser on both sides of the journey, are now the requirement.

Increased levels of cleaning and sanitisation, too, have become the accepted norm, and new practices around the cleanliness of office settings include the communication of these practices just as much as the practices themselves.

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INTERIORS

123rf

Workplace technology can seamlessly integrate with employee devices to support friction-free work flows and effective space management and planning.

We expect more from our buildings in terms of their approach to occupant health and safety. The way we use them has also changed, along with our perceptions of what it means to feel safe and comfortable in a shared environment. Overall, a higher level of functionality, service and communication around building health and safety will be a standard requirement.

In this scenario, it makes sense to set up the workplace to have fewer settings (desks, meeting rooms, collaboration areas, etc) that are used on a shared basis. This requires a layer of workplace management to efficiently allocate and utilise available space and facilities without compromising employees’ ability to get work done. Software that brings real-time visibility and bookability to these elements is key. Plug-and-play technology with on-hand support is equally important.

Workplace amenities and technology overall will need to provide a friction-free experience if they are to support and not hinder employees’ limited time at the office. Time wasted trying to connect to a glitchy video conference or looking for a whiteboard marker at the start of a team session detracts from productivity.

In a world where employees have the choice to work remotely or visit the office, the experience is paramount to attracting them back.

While less space and fewer settings might be a possibility in the hybrid workplace, it’s worth noting that a greater level of management and service will be required to successfully orchestrate this symphony of employee experience.

THE SHIFT TO HYBRID

The hybrid workplace model blends analogue and virtual participation. It’s a mix informed by people and team functionalities and ways of working. It’s essentially the mid-point between the two extremes of office or home, and the likely landing point for most workplaces going forward. While this model is not new, its adoption is becoming more mainstream.

The hybrid workplace gives employees a level of flexibility, allowing the incorporation of mobile working (WFH, or from wherever they may choose) as part of day-to-day work life. This way of working incorporates a blend of real-life as well as virtual interaction, from video conferences to virtual whiteboarding sessions to in-person collaborative sessions.

This could take various forms, for example, three days in the office, and two at home rotated to align with team members on certain days. It also opens doors to a more distributed workforce, located in further reaching areas, who may only come to the main office on occasion for specific tasks. There are multiple possibilities depending on the nature of the business, the work and the people.

The hybrid way of working allows more employee autonomy, and has been shown to lead to better employee health, wellbeing, and productivity. Of course, it also means less time commuting between home and work and thus fewer carbon emissions.

The workplace will need to care for the occupants while at the same time supporting a seamless workflow, allowing the focus to be on productivity and human connection.

SO WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US?

With an overall move away from full-time occupancy of the office, this central gathering place still plays a vital role in the life of a business or organisation.

And while it may make sense to downsize and make use of shared settings and facilities, the functional expectation from our physical environments will be greater than before. The workplace will need to be seen to demonstrate care for the occupants while at the same time supporting a seamless workflow, allowing the focus to be on productivity and human connection.

This next step in the evolution of the office could be a positive step forward, benefiting overall human health and wellbeing, business efficiencies and of course playing a small but important role in reducing the impact on our environment.

*Study: Remote Working in South Africa 2020, by World Wide Worx for Cisco Systems

Space Sense is a Johannesburg-based workplace consultancy that works with organisations to help them set up their spaces to enable high-performing teams and efficient operations.

Space Sense is driven by Georgie Chennells, a workplace consultant with a background in architecture, communications and organisational dynamics.

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INTERIORS

Design for life:

Cutting carbon in the workplace Low waste fit-out at the JLL Manchester offices.

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A sustainable office that minimises its impact on the planet offers immense benefits for employers and employees – and it starts with design. Office fit-out firm, TÊtris Design and Build, explore some international examples.

WORDS Tetris

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INTERIORS

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s countries strive to meet carbon reduction targets, more corporations are pledging to achieve net-zero emissions – and a low-carbon, earth-friendly workplace is becoming a vital business priority.

According to the UN Global Compact, companies that make climate consciousness part of their business can increase their sales by as much as 20%, and decrease employee turnover up to 50%. Green practices are increasingly valued by consumers and investors, and for employees, sustainable workspaces have been shown to enhance wellbeing and boost productivity.

While overall carbon impact largely depends on external building features, a low-carbon interior fit-out significantly improves an office’s lifetime environmental impact, not only by reducing waste during the construction phase but through design that minimises emissions in operation and makes use of furniture and materials from local, sustainable sources.

“Sustainable fit-outs are a process to create beautiful, functional spaces that minimise the impact on the environment,” says Silvia Aranda, design operations director, EMEA at Tétris. “With the commitments made by countries and corporates, this approach has become more normalised and therefore affordable for everyone.”

LOW ENERGY BY DESIGN For Interface, a pioneer in carbon-neutral flooring, its interior fit-out reflected its business aims and philosophy. The biophilia-centred design reduces the energy required for lighting and ventilation by prioritising natural light and green walls that filter the

CONSUMING LESS, AND LOCAL Procuring recycled or salvaged materials that minimise the consumption of resources is equally crucial in low-carbon design.

Take the JLL Manchester office – along with smart sensors that track the office climate to optimise energy use, the low-carbon, low-waste fit-out relies on the use of recycled materials. Its kitchen and reception countertops are made of recycled yoghurt pots, while the floor and ceiling coverings comprise recycled plastic. Instead of new chairs, refurbished seating reduced carbon emissions by 61% and water use by 75%.

“Reusing materials helps avoid producing unnecessary waste. Where clients already have good

Rick Geenjaar

Countertops at the JLL Manchester offices are made of recycled yoghurt pots.

air, with movable glass partitions that ensure daylight reaches through the entire space.

“Energy efficiency, whether it’s through daylight harvesting or efficient office systems, is a key factor in creating a net-zero design,” says Aranda.

As in the Interface office, which received WELL Gold certification, an accreditation for spaces that enhance wellbeing, designs that consider employee wellness and convenience are likely to slash emissions.

For example, floorplans configured with desks at the perimeter can maximise daylight for all staff and reduce the need for artificial lighting. In hot climates, desking could be placed further from the façade, while window treatments can reduce heat and glare to dial back reliance on air conditioning. Across the board, energy-saving LEDs optimise electricity use while easy-to-access switches and motion sensors ensure lights are off in empty zones.

You cannot achieve net zero as an afterthought – it has to be a mandate from the beginning that drives every single design and build decision.

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Rick Geenjaar

Rick Geenjaar

INTERIORS

furniture, it can be included in their new designs,” says Joanna Gajewska-Sokołowska, EMEA deputy chief operating officer at Tétris.

Suppliers that check off against sustainability criteria streamline the process of sourcing low-impact materials and furnishings, notes Gajewska-Sokołowska, while working with local suppliers not only reduces the emissions associated with transport but can create a positive impact in the local economy.

In Amsterdam, the InteriorWorks office is fitted entirely with regained materials, from joinery to glass and wood partitions, with some elements sourced from the industrial neighbourhood, others from within a 100-kilometre radius. An edible garden contributes to employee dining, and throughout, trees and greenery maintain air quality and evoke the sense of parkland within the workspace.

“A net-zero design incorporates as much of the outside landscape into the interior as possible, choosing materials that utilise and preserve the local land and culture,” Aranda says.

SAY NO TO THE LANDFILL

With , there is a growing range of furniture and finishes that create little or no waste, absorbing what’s generated back into their production cycles – and reducing what needs to be sent to the landfill when companies refurbish or when materials wear out.

Flooring by Interface, for example, can be returned to

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Biophilia centred design at the WELL Gold certified Interface offices in Paris.

The InteriorWorks office in Amsterdam is fitted out entirely from regained materials.

the manufacturer at the end of a life cycle to be recycled into new products. Furniture company Steelcase to make upholstery, and many of its pieces contain up to 95% recyclable content.

Setting a formal system for waste management throughout an interior fit-out – including what’s generated in the supply chain helps with the effective reuse of materials, whether they’re used in the new design, donated or sent on for recycling.

“When you design the workplace with circularity in mind, you are more likely to use less, measure exactly what you need, and reduce waste,” says GajewskaSokołowska. “A zero-waste project should be the ultimate goal.”

THE NET-ZERO JOURNEY

Creating a zero-carbon workplace starts long before anyone walks through the office doors. “You cannot achieve net zero as an afterthought – it has to be a mandate from the beginning that drives every single design and build decision,” says Aranda. Nor does one size fit all, she notes. Strategies to reduce the emissions of a fit-out are unique to a particular space and its tenant’s operations.

“The result is a functional, accessible and stylised space designed specifically for low maintenance and minimal operating costs, and for the client’s goals,” Aranda says. “In this way, we create holistic spaces that inspire, are differentiated in the market, and most importantly, can thrive for generations to come.”

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ENERGY

Cape Town Future Energy Festival: THE FUTURE

RE-IMAGINED The Cape Town Future Energy Festival is a fun, family-friendly series of virtual event experiences designed to include all residents in shaping an energy future that is sustainable and equitable. The festival showcases innovative and cost-effective household solutions for energy use and a more sustainable way of living, now and into the future.

WORDS & IMAGES City of Cape Town

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Grant Williams

Grant Williams

hat are some of the ways we can be more conscious and resource-efficient at home and work? What will Cape Town’s energy landscape look like in 10, 20 or 30 years? How will new technology shift the way we use energy? And what role can each of us play in meeting Cape Town’s ambitious target of carbon neutrality and climate resilience by 2050?

These are some of the questions that the Cape Town Future Energy Festival hopes will spark conversations and get Capetonians thinking about creating a more sustainable, resilient and equitable city.

Organised by the City of Cape Town’s Sustainable Energy Markets department, the festival is currently running as a virtual programme with a physical event planned for early 2021. The line-up of activities aims to educate residents on how to make sustainable choices while creating dialogue inspired by climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, water-saving, waste reduction, smart transport and sustainable living.

The energy landscape is rapidly changing and as we continue to operate under the threat of load shedding, new technologies are being adopted and international pressure to reduce our carbon emissions is mounting.

The City’s Energy and Climate Change Directorate is committed to providing an energy service that is Clean, Accessible, Reliable, Equitable and Safe (CARES).

Identifying consistent and sustainable ways to use energy effectively is of vital importance, especially since the global Covid-19 crisis has impacted many of Cape Town’s households, as well as our country’s economy.

For many households, energy is a significant expense,

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ENERGY so in today’s context, energy efficiency and cost-cutting becomes even more relevant. Due to the crisis, issues such as inequality and household resilience have been highlighted anew, so the festival will also look at social and financial sustainability and how to make the city’s energy service accessible to all its residents.

For a city like Cape Town, being carbon neutral is synonymous with creating a cleaner, more equitable, resource-efficient and resilient city.

As part of its commitment to the global pact to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 while increasing climate resilience, the City of Cape Town is developing a Climate Action Plan which sets the pathway to this goal. Reaching this ambitious goal is only possible if every Capetonian understands the role they play and the positive choices they can make in their own homes. The festival sub-events are thus deliberately designed as collaborative platforms, to encourage participation and promote conversation around efficient energy usage and sustainable living in all Cape Town households.

The festival kicked off with Watt’s in the Pot? – an energy-efficient cooking competition that invited the public to share their delicious recipes using energyefficient methods and appliances. Six finalists were

Finalists for the Watt's in the Pot? cooking competition from left to right: Velma Mullins, Juliette Pilaar, Chantal Martin, Kurt Johnson, Nandipha Motsa and Nanziwe Mzuzu.

Winner of Watt’s in the Pot? Nandipha Motsa “high fives” host Jarrad Ricketts, with City of Cape Town Councillor Zimkhitha Sulelo (left) and Peter Nordejee (right) of Crown National Food Group.

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ENERGY

Grant Williams

Above: Watt’s in the Pot? contestant Nanziwe Mzuzu (right) shows off her energy-efficient cooking skills to judge Liezel van der Westhuizen (left) in the Crown National commercial kitchen during the live cook-off event.

Below: Reshmi Wolvers of GreenCape (left) with Lauren Hermanus Founder and CEO of Adapt for the second Future Energy Conversations (centre), and Mary Haw from the City’s Sustainable Energy Markets Department (right).

Zelda Coetzee

selected for the live cook-off that took place at the Crown National commercial kitchen under the watchful eyes of host Jarrad Ricketts and celebrity judges Aden Thomas, Liezel van der Westhuizen and Africa Melane. Watch the final cookoff to see the winning recipe and learn some tips along the way on how you can save energy in the kitchen.

The Smart City Kids series is aimed at children aged between four and eight years old and introduces the concepts of energy, waste, water, transport and food to our future sustainability champions. These engaging and interactive shows are not only fun and entertaining but will also teach children ways they can start helping to protect our environment for their future.

Meanwhile, the Future Energy Conversations are geared towards those who want to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities around energy, climate change and sustainability. The series brings together thought leaders in industry and government to discuss the tough questions around these issues, and provides a platform for inspiring case studies on the journey to carbon neutrality by 2050.

The festival will culminate in a physical event to be held outdoors in the first quarter of 2021. The My Clean Green Home exhibit in collaboration with the GBCSA will demonstrate sustainable living in action. The public will have the opportunity to tour a full-sized model home built to operate at net-zero carbon emissions and learn about the possibilities of energy-efficient homes. Another event is the Green Maker Mania, which will provide an opportunity for innovators to share their projects related to sustainability and green technology. The top projects which best demonstrate the Future Energy theme will be showcased on the festival’s various platforms.

As Mayoral Committee member for Climate Change Councillor Maxiti says: “For a city like Cape Town, being carbon neutral is synonymous with creating a cleaner, more equitable, resource-efficient and resilient city. In the process, we learn to thrive on innovation to generate sustainable livelihoods while providing affordable and accessible services to our residents.”

GREEN HOME DESIGN COMPETITION As part of the My Clean Green Home exhibit, the City of Cape Town along with the GBCSA is running a design competition to showcase the ultimate in green living. The competition is targeted at students and professionals of the built environment and aims to showcase how efficient design principals and sustainable materials can be used to build a home that is net-zero carbon in operation. The winning design will be constructed and displayed at the physical festival in early 2021, and members of the public will have the opportunity to tour the home and see the energy efficiency, water-saving and other sustainable and cost-saving measures in action.

QUICK TIPS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING • • • • • • • • • •

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Switch off unused lights and appliances at the wall Replace old incandescent lightbulbs with energy-efficient LEDs Use green energy by installing solar water heaters and/or solar PV panels Use local building materials Reduce, reuse, recycle Harvest rainwater and reuse greywater Invest in low-flow tap fittings and showerheads Eat local, seasonal foods and cut down on meat Start a compost bin for vegetable waste Clear alien invasive plants from your property and replace with indigenous, water-wise species

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INTERNATIONA LL INTERNATIONA

Entrance and Security Solutions Entrance and Security Solutions

Established 1970 Established 1970

ALWAYS OPEN, OPEN, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS CLOSED CLOSED BOON EDAM REVOLVING DOORS: BOON EDAM REVOLVING DOORS:

A complete separation between the internal Aand complete between the against internal externalseparation environments, Protects and external Protects against air and noise environments, pollution. air and noise pollution.

Drastically reduce the strain on a buildings Drastically reduce strain on a buildings HVAC system, and the leads to improved energy efficiency and and savings.

HVAC system, leads to improved energy efficiency and savings.

Contactless activation ensures highest possible hygiene levels.ensures highest Contactless activation possible hygiene levels.

Hygiene starts at the entrance.

Hygiene starts at the entrance.

In addition to the range of Boon Edam revolving doors, Frost International offers contactless Entrance Solutions In addition to the range of Boon Edam revolving doors, in the form of the FROST AUTOMATIC sliding door Frost International offers contactless Entrance Solutions operator, and swing door operators. in the form of the FROST AUTOMATIC sliding door operator, and swing door operators.

MATERIALS

Embodied Carbon:

AN ARCHITECT’S VIEW 90

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The built environment is responsible for almost 40% of global climate emissions. Many architects are already designing so that buildings use less carbon in their daily operations. Now it’s time for the second step: to reduce the embodied carbon that goes into the making of those buildings in the first place.

WORDS Lloyd Rubidge, VDMMA

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HOUSE KRITZINGER

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ooking out over the vineyards of Croydon Vineyard Estate and Table Mountain in the distance this property embodies luxury, style, and comfort. Within the building, windows are placed on both the northern and southern perimeter so the user can enjoy cross ventilation as well as full height sliding glass doors to the outdoors, connecting both the interior and exterior spaces.

The sleek and stylish open-plan kitchen leads seamlessly into the dining room and lounges, which in turn lead onto the patio with wooden decking and a solar heated swimming pool. Built-in fireplaces are strategically placed to add warmth during the colder months where necessary. Interiors are styled with beautiful open trussed ceilings and warm wooden flooring.

Project Details Location: Croydon Vineyard Estate, Cape Town, South Africa Client: Kritzinger Size: 994m² Status: Built Completion Date: 2018

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OPERATIONAL VS EMBODIED

As architects, we know our decisions affect climate change. We spend lots of time and effort thinking about how to light and shade our buildings, how ventilation works and our occupants’ comfort. We do this not only because building regulations require it, but also to create good, usable buildings.

The existing stock of buildings in the world consumes copious amounts of energy: for heating, cooling, lighting and to power the activities of their occupants. This releases huge amounts of greenhouse gasses, mainly carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.

This operational carbon accounts for 28% of all carbon that we humans release, significantly more than the entire transportation sector.

The earlier you start considering embodied carbon in the design process, the bigger the impact.

This a shocking amount of carbon, and the reason why we have been increasingly focused on the performance of our new buildings. Around the world, new buildings are improving, and many are achieving close to zero operational carbon. At the same time, many countries and cities are tightening regulations, making that level of performance a requirement.

But that 28% is only part of the story. According to the UN Environment Global Status Report, the world will be building the equivalent of an entire city like New York or Paris every month for the next 30 years.

This means the stock of buildings that will produce operational carbon is increasing – and the construction process itself also consumes energy and produces huge amounts of carbon dioxide. This embodied carbon accounts for another 11% of global warming gas emissions.

Think of it this way: every year we increase the world’s building stock, in the process emitting 40% as much carbon as all the buildings already in existence.

Over the next decade, as operational carbon emissions continue to fall, embodied carbon will become a bigger part of the problem. But until recently, embodied carbon has been largely ignored.

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WHERE TO START?

When I first started thinking about this it seemed to me to be an impossible problem.

The construction industry is geared to build in a certain way, that has changed little over time. Clients, engineers and local authorities have expectations and requirements, and we architects are trying to make beautiful buildings. How can we push against that?

Even the construction codes, many of which go back decades, encourage “business as usual”.

Most of us are vaguely aware that some materials are better than others in terms of embodied carbon.

Concrete, steel and aluminium, for example, have been long known to be energy-intensive in their manufacture. But is it possible to build without them?

And are they really that bad? Is concrete any worse than brick, or a glass curtain-wall? Is a natural tile worse than a manufactured ceramic tile? Where do we even look for information?

CHANGE IS POSSIBLE

We need to bring embodied carbon thinking into our everyday discourse, and every stage of the design process. Can we avoid building in the first place by re-using, refurbishing or extending existing building stock? If we must build new, can we be more efficient, creating smaller buildings that do not waste space or resources and can be more intensively used? This takes a great deal of creativity and design thinking and can make for great architecture.

According to a UN Environment Global Status Report, the world will be building the equivalent of an entire city like New York or Paris every month for the next 30 years.

Then, we need to understand the impact of our design decisions. We should know what products have the highest and lowest global warming potential (GWP) so that we can avoid the worst offenders and encourage the use of better alternatives.

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MATERIALS Ideally, we would do a full Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) with a focus on global warming potential for all of our buildings. This may not always be practical, but we can certainly start to interrogate our material choices and incorporate life-cycle thinking into the design process.

Where do we get the information? Can we reasonably ask our suppliers to give us accurate information on the GWP of their products? Would they even know?

Right now in South Africa, many salespeople wouldn’t know what you are talking about – but the more we ask, the more aware the industry will become. We have power here.

Internationally, suppliers are increasingly offering products with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) that includes a measure of the product’s GWP. These declarations are certified by third parties to ensure that they are comparable and trustworthy.

Until we start to see similar schemes in South Africa, we can use international data from sources such as the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool at buildingtransparency.org

CURRENT TRENDS

Around the world, many of the world’s top architectural practices have signed up to the AIA Architecture 2030 Commitment, the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge, or the Architects Declare and Construction Declares initiatives. They have made a commitment to take positive action in response to climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse. These commitments include an accelerated shift to low embodied carbon.

Well-known international architects are now sharing their research and their experiences. For example, Heatherwick, AECOM and FCB shared their learnings in a recent article [read below].

Tackling embodied carbon: how to specify the carbon cost of materials

Others, like Norwegian architect Snøhetta, have committed to designing only carbon-negative buildings.

Their Powerhouse Brattørkaia office will be carbonnegative over its lifespan.

Architecture firm, Kieran Timberlake released their Revit plugin tool “Tally” to help other architects understand the carbon impact of design decisions, and to compare options.

Architectural associations, institutes and societies are playing their part too. The Boston Society for Architecture recently presented Embodied Carbon 101, making the course available on YouTube [right].

The WGBC has called for all new buildings to have at least 40% less embodied carbon.

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EXAMPLE ASSESSMENT Embodied carbon impact of materials by a UK architect to guide design work.

MATERIAL kgCO2e per m³ ALUMINIUM 25 650 STEEL 12 170 PVC 4 790 GLASS 3 590 CONCRETE 550 BRICK 320 CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER (FSC) -600 (source: https://carboncounts.fcbstudios.com/)

Unmanaged timber harvesting causes about 25 hectares of forest loss per minute (yes, per minute) globally.

The World Green Building Council has called for all new buildings to have at least 40% less embodied carbon, and all new buildings to emit net zero operational carbon by 2030. The GBCSA’s own Getting to Zero guide [free download on page 74] focuses mainly on operational carbon, but is also working to make embodied carbon accounting more accessible in South Africa.

TAKE ACTION The embodied carbon in a system, product or material reflects its full life cycle, from mining and manufacturing, installation and maintenance, to demolition, reuse or recycling and disposal. Although complex, some overall assessments can be made, and design decisions can have a significant impact even when full analyses are not practical.

The earlier you start considering embodied carbon in the design process, the bigger the impact. The structure, accounts for a huge proportion of the embodied carbon in a building. In a typical office building shell, concrete and cement can account for about half of the carbon, so the early collaboration between architect and structural engineer is hugely beneficial.

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MATERIALS

Pixabay

HIGH-CARBON MATERIALS

We can also reduce embodied carbon through our selection and specification of materials. One good place to start is Architecture 2030’s Carbon Smart Materials Palette at materialspalette.org , designed to provide “highly impactful guidelines for low/no carbon material selections and specifications”.

DESIGN ETHIC

The impact of climate change is already being felt around the world. We can expect every year to be more volatile, with once-extreme climate events becoming commonplace. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless – but we cannot give in to the temptation of thinking our personal decisions don’t matter. As architects, we have immense power to shape not only the built environment future generations will inherit, but their whole world. From now on, good design is carbon-conscious design.

In a FastCompany article earlier this year Stephanie Carlisle wrote: “The vision of a radically decarbonised building sector is possible, but only if we all work as if our future depends on it”.

The future depends on us. Will we be able to rise to the occasion?

CONCRETE Using less cement is the most effective way to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete. Choose suppliers with better GWP ratings, or specify the use of additives and replacements that reduce the amount of cement needed. Optimise structural sizes and spans, and lighten slabs.

STEEL The carbon footprint is very dependent on the amount of recycled content.

WOOD Unmanaged timber harvesting causes about 25 hectares of forest loss per minute (yes, per minute) globally. Be aware of where timber comes from (if it is not FSC or similar certified there is a good chance it is not from a managed renewable forest).

INSULATION There is a huge range. Try to specify products with low carbon, and avoid spray foams and polystyrene where practical.

GYPSUM Products with gypsum often have shorter life spans than the building shell, and are rarely recycled. Avoid where possible.

CARPET GWP can vary by as much as eight times, so use sources with known GWP. If an Environment Product Declaration (EPD) or similar data is not available locally, use international resources on similar products. Be aware that carpet is likely to be replaced multiple times over the life of a building.

LOW-CARBON MATERIALS WOOD Use wood from managed sources certified

by FSC or another trusted authority. In certain cases you could make the case that you are “sequestering” carbon in the building, removing it from the atmosphere for the life of the building while the replacement forest does the same again.

Many countries are changing codes to allow for the structural use of timber, particularly mass timber, like cross laminated timber (CLT).

OTHER MATERIALS We can expect more “biogenic” products that can sequester carbon to become available as demand increases. Bamboo, wool, and hemp are examples.

Lloyd Rubidge is a professional architect and co-owner of award-winning South African firm, Van der Merwe Miszewski Architects (VDMMA) . He has worked extensively on high-profile projects, including the Silo District development at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, in which several of the buildings achieved 6-Star Green Star ratings.

References and useful resources https://materialspalette.org/ https://www.fastcompany.com/90435650/these-are-the-last-years-of-design-as-we-know-it http://www.heatherwick.com/studio/news/new-research-tackling-embodied-carbon/ https://aecom.com/without-limits/article/tackling-embodied-carbon-how-to-specify-the-carbon-cost-of-materials/ https://www.dezeen.com/2019/11/27/snohetta-carbon-negative-buildings-pledge/ https://kierantimberlake.com/page/tally https://carbonleadershipforum.org/ https://www.buildingtransparency.org/en/

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ZUTARI’S BUILDING HEALTH ASSESSMENT TOOL Engineering consultants, Zutari, responded to the challenges of Covid-19 by creating a technical tool for building health, which helps property owners create better workplaces. Technical director and building services expertise leader, Martin Smith, elaborates.

O

ur workplaces enable us to be productive and economically active but now pose profound risks to the health and safety of employees and continuous business operation. Occupants’ health and wellness have become a critical component in commercial buildings, with an increased emphasis on the design and operation of buildings for occupant health and well being. Zutari’s, Martin Smith, takes an indepth look at what property owners can do to prepare themselves as employees return to their workplaces during Level One.

UNDERSTAND OCCUPANCY NEEDS

Full occupancy is unlikely to be considered by many businesses in the short-term and possibly even beyond that. Given the tough economic times, some businesses will scale down on space. For some, their business continuity will depend on saving costs while still having a productive workforce. For landlords, this scenario may change the space needs of occupants and require a change in building management technology and practices.

DIAGNOSE INFECTION ROUTES

The virus is understood to spread through multiple infection routes, including surface contact, macro droplets, micro droplets and other contamination spreaders in your building such as your sewer systems.

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To get to grips with the risks within your building, a comprehensive diagnostic is needed of staff behaviours, organisational processes and the building itself. The physical operations are as important as the technology, including ventilation, air-conditioning, control systems, water and sewerage systems. All these components contribute to the functioning of the building and serve as infection routes.

PREPARE RESPONSE PLANS

The aim is to try and find practical solutions that close the gap between your business needs and the risk of infection. These include operational processes and controls and building physical and technological improvements, along with emergency procedures and awareness. The challenge here is not to have a knee-jerk response with short-term actions, but to systematically reduce risk in a manner that is affordable and makes sense in the short- and long-term.

To assist property developers and facility managers respond to Covid-19 risks and prepare buildings for resumed operations during Level One of the lockdown, Zutari has used its extensive multi-disciplinary experience to develop a customised building health assessment tool. It allows property owners to demonstrate to their shareholders, management, employees and clients that a systematic, balanced approach has been taken to find an optimal solution to minimise the health risk, explains Smith.

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP “We are highly experienced in building design and operations. Our technical experts understand how the virus can distribute through multiple infection routes within your building and among your people,” Smith points out. Technical elements such as airconditioning and wet services, along with usage patterns, all contribute to the transmission risks within buildings. By analysing your work environment and operational practices while understanding your business needs, we have the power to mitigate risks and create safe and productive spaces that will assist you with resuming business and increasing productivity, highlights Smith.

Zutari’s Building Health Assessment Tool is a comprehensive diagnostic of the key operational and physical factors that helps property owners put in place plans to mitigate workplace risks, and assists them with resuming business and increasing health and productivity. A gap analysis is used to prepare a short-, medium- and long-term plan that meets the client’s business needs.

In late September Smith presented a paper entitled Healthy Green Buildings: A Technical Guide during Covid-19 and Beyond as part of a webinar series hosted by the GBCSA during the World Green Building Week. The technical guide focuses on an holistic approach for infection control for healthy buildings during Covid-19 and beyond. It addresses various infection routes such as macro droplets, micro droplets and indirect contact surfaces.

In terms of the return to workplaces during Level One and the associated “green recovery”, Smith points out that the technical guide developed by Zutari “empowers landlords and tenants to return safely to their working environment, providing confidence that key safety concerns have been addressed”.

The technical guide has been developed along the following hierarchy of principles, considering the point of control within a building along with the effectiveness of the foresaid control. Acknowledging that social isolation is the best form of control, the guide differentiates between three key scales, or levels, of control:

TECHNICAL CONTROLS

This refers to the building design elements and engineering control that can provide physical barriers, purified air and water and touchless interaction for building users. This would typically be managed by the landlord or facilities manager.

MANAGEMENT LEVEL

This refers to management policies, procedures and administrative controls that govern building operational performance as well as collective human resource behaviour and movement. It would be implemented by stakeholders such as the landlord or tenant’s facilities manager or a tenancy’s general manager.

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR

This refers to the behaviours and practises carried out by the individual building users themselves. These are typically guided by the management procedures and, in some instances, technical controls.

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BEST PRACTICE INITIATIVES: Management for a healthy building • Healthy building assessment • Building zoning and separation • Commissioning performance verification and maintenance • Awareness and education • Access control • Hygiene and cleaning plan • Transport plan • Building Management System (BMS) • Energy management • Waste management • Mental health support Resilient behaviour • Physical distancing • Hand washing • Limited physical assembly • Appropriate PPE • Limit lift, escalator and lobby use • Personal food preparation and consumption • Ablution use • Workspace cleaning Indoor air quality • Ventilation • Air systems control and times of operation • Outdoor air distribution • Relief and return air paths • Space air distribution effectiveness • Carbon dioxide monitoring • Air quality monitoring • Outdoor air filtration • Return air filtration • Filtration pressure drop or air-flow monitoring • Exhaust and vent stack systems • Toilet ventilation systems • UV-C lights • Air-cleaning devices • Toilet ventilation systems • Vacuum cleaning Wet Services • Sewer system and water traps • Potable water systems quality control • Reused/harvested water quality • Drinking water access • Taps and hand washing facilities • Hand drying • Toilet seat sanitisers • Toilet bowl water sanitisers • Soap dispenser Design Elements • Workstation separation • Partitions and screens • Demarcation • Walk-off mats and disinfectant mats • Hand-sanitisers dispensers • Contact surfaces: Doors, lift buttons, biometrics

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ECONOMY

The case for building green is becoming

BLACK AND WHITE 144 Oxford Street in Rosebank, Johannesburg is a nine-storey, 36 000sqm office development with two office wings and a centralised office core with a breath-taking multi-volume atrium.

Developed by Growthpoint, this resource-efficient 5-Star Green Star Office Design-v1.1 rated building boasts an energy-efficient façade and features standby power and water. Rainwater is collected and recycled and grey water is re-used. The building’s landscaping incorporates indigenous planting, custom landscape lighting and water features; all serving to soften the transition between public and private space.

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The fourth annual MSCI South Africa Green Annual Property Index, released in June this year, found that the green-certified office sample delivered a 34% higher capital value per square metre, more resilient capital growth and a higher net operating income per square metre compared to the non-certified office buildings. These, and other indicators, point to an asset class that is becoming more resilient and more defensive, particularly in adverse conditions, than their less efficient, less agile non-green equivalents. But why is this the case?

WORDS Gillian Gernetzky IMAGES Growthpoint

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he MSCI 2020 ESG Trends to Watch report pinpoints the shift in investing in real estate as one of the five key ESG themes for the year. According to the report, greening of property portfolios will move from a niceto-have reputation booster to an imperative, in the face of a looming “brown discount” as regulators and physical risk deliver a double-whammy on the market.

According to the World Bank, weather-related losses and damage to buildings and infrastructure have risen from an annual average of about $50 billion in the 1980s to close to $200 billion over the last decade. In the case of green, more resilient buildings, lower insurance costs improve returns and lower downtime required for emergency repairs, which increases the bottom line.

At the same time, legislation passed by regions, countries and cities is fast-tracking towards a zerocarbon future. For example, the Green Deal is at the core of the EU’s Covid-19 recovery package, while building a greener, more inclusive, digital and sustainable Europe and increasing resilience to future crises. And New York City’s Climate Mobilisation Act aims to cut buildings’ emissions down by 80% by 2050. Buildings are given a carbon budget and are fined for every ton in breach. In the South African context, Johannesburg is one of 19 global cities that have committed to advocate for all buildings to be net-zero carbon in operation by 2050.

ECONOMY MSCI executive director, Gareth Allison, says that brown discounts are the direct opposite of the green premium that green-certified buildings command.

“Initial indications of how decarbonisation efforts have affected the real estate market have been seen for years in what some refer to as a green premium. That is, properties built to high energy standards appear to command a rent premium in some markets. As the market continues to mature in 2020, green buildings may become the new normal, compressing the market into one where a brown discount is put onto buildings struggling to meet new energy standards.”

A brown discount works like this: property values are significantly driven by the present value of future expected cash flow, or net costs, over the anticipated life span of the property. Thus, anything that affects a property’s ability to generate a profit from rental income will ultimately impact its value. Much of the

Green buildings have higher rental income than traditional buildings – up to 8% higher and sale premiums up to 31% higher.

The 116 000sqm resource-efficient, cost-effective and environmentally-innovative Discovery head office in Sandton, Johannesburg is the largest single-phase commercial office development in Africa. Developed by Growthpoint, the building boasts a 6-Star Green Star Office As Built-v1 rating, and its high-efficiency air conditioning leverages an outside air economy cycle and indoor air CO2 monitoring. Added to this is low-energy lighting, occupant control and daylight optimisation, as well as the building’s standout high-performance double-glazed curtain wall.

Grey and rainwater systems, efficient sanitary fittings, efficient irrigation system and water-wise landscaping contribute to the building’s optimal water performance.

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ECONOMY current building stock could face escalating capital and operating costs to meet increasing carbon-emission standards and bolster resistance to climate risks.

At the same time, they’re likely to lag in attracting commercial tenants who seek more efficient properties with lower utility costs, higher comfort levels and increased climate resilience, while offering the tenants the potential to improve their own green credentials.

This year’s MSCI index showed that greencertified buildings required comparatively less capital expenditure – 0.7% of the capital value for Green Starcertified buildings, versus 1.2% of the capital value for uncertified buildings – which enhanced their capital growth and is consistent with the rationale behind the brown discount. Vacancy rates were also significantly lower at 8.0% versus the non-green sample vacancy rate of 11.5%, highlighting the value occupiers are attaching to green-certified premises and again supporting this theory.

Johannesburg is one of 19 global cities that have committed to advocate for all buildings to be net-zero carbon in operation by 2050.

Eileen Andrew, vice president of Client Coverage at MSCI South Africa concurs, saying that the inherent risk that lies in green-certified buildings is proving to be less than those of non-certified building and this is shown in the lower risk premium. “It has been interesting to see how green-certified buildings have outperformed on the key investment metrics of occupancy – net operating income and operating cost ratios – highlighting these assets’ defensiveness during tough times. The superior capital growth was the result of better net income growth and a lower discount rate – perhaps showing that valuers are adjusting their relative long-term risk assumptions for green-certified buildings,” she says.

An IFC report Green Buildings: A Finance and Policy Blueprint for Emerging Markets published in January this year, found that green buildings have higher rental income than traditional buildings – up to 8% higher and sale premiums up to 31% higher.

Green buildings also have higher occupancy rates of up to 23%, higher tenant retention, and lower vacancy rates. Presently, green buildings comprise a relatively small share of global construction – global investments accounted for $423 billion of the $5 trillion spent on building construction and renovation in 2017.

However, the market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of more than 10% between 2017 and 2023, according to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment.

Exxaro’s headquarters, the conneXXion, in Centurion, Gauteng is a 21 500sqm energy-efficient building fostering a healthy, energising work environment and high productivity levels in a cost-effective setting. Green measures include a performance glazed façade, zoned lighting, energy-efficient building services and systems, waterefficient fixtures, rainwater harvesting, water-wise landscaping, low VOC interior finishes, abundant fresh air and natural light, and a hydro panel that generates water from the air. Developed by Growthpoint, the building achieved a 5-Star Green Star SA Office Design-v1.1 rating and was awarded a “Well Rating” by the Well Institute in the US.

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ECONOMY

144 Oxford: The nine-storey building is eye-catching and innovative, with its spectacular glass façade extending across the two interlinked towers, which stand with prow-like prominence and present exceptional views across the city.

An internal view of 144 Oxford focusing on the high-performance glazed façade.

Georgina Smit, GBCSA head of Sector Development and Market Transformation, adds that the value of certified green buildings is expected to become even more pronounced as the world navigates through the challenges presented by Covid-19. “Post the Covid-19 crisis, many companies are likely to review health measures put in place in their offices. Harvard University recently found that long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with an 8% increase in the Covid-19 death rate, and the improved internal environment quality from increased ventilation, temperature and lighting control, the use of natural light, and the absence of toxic materials result in the improved health, comfort and wellbeing of green building occupants. In a post-pandemic world, these factors can no longer be overlooked. Internal environmental quality is a key consideration within the GBCSA’s Green Star green building frameworks,” she explains.

Allison believes that the business case for green buildings is getting stronger all the time, and screening in favour of sustainability, resilience and future-proofing will become more and more common.

“As the bar shifts, it will become the new standard.

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The ground floor podium level of 144 Oxford extends this landscaping, with low planter-walls rising and falling into the floor to create private spaces. All spaces are designed for the people who work in the building to enjoy their lunch breaks and use pause areas.

According to the World Bank, weather-related losses and damage to buildings and infrastructure have risen from an annual average of about $50 billion in the 1980s to close to $200 billion over the last decade.

The day will come when no one will want to own or occupy the ‘brown’ buildings and infrastructure.

Then those will increasingly be sold at a discount – or updated at substantial cost. Buildings that are designed with the future in mind, with smart building technology and interactivity integrated throughout, making them as responsive and adaptable to the needs of the workforce in a post-Covid-19 world today as those in the future, are more resilient and less likely to become stranded assets that no asset manager or building owner wants.”

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Q&A

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ystemair is a leading ventilation company with operations in 50 countries. The South African operation started manufacturing locally in 2014, producing fans, rooftops, air handling units and accessories. Managing Director Vincent Laidet tells us more about how to minimise one’s energy costs…

When building or renovating, how important is it to factor in the operational costs on an installation?

Today more than ever before, we look at the life cycle costs of a building or installation. The products that we supply to the market - across residential, commercial and mixed-use – will have a lifespan that varies between 10 and 20 years. When we look at the electrical consumption of these products, the initial cost, the Capex, becomes insignificant compared to the operating costs involved. So, when building or renovating, we see that energy-efficient solutions can play a great role in reducing these operational costs, often up to 40 to 50%.

If you look at the ventilation industry specifically, you have two quite distinguishable technologies – ACoperated ventilators and EC-operated ventilators. The difference in energy consumption between the two is about 40%, on the product itself. We also need to bear in mind that a product can be very efficient, but installed into an inefficient system. These factors all need to be considered when designing or renovating a building.

What proportion of these costs relate to energy consumption?

The HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system in any building-receiving people is the largest consumer of energy, and can make up approximately 4060% of the electricity bill. When looking at costs related to energy consumption, the least efficient building, for example, might consume close to 200w/m², while an energy efficient building might only consume 30w/m², or even be completely passive, not requiring any energy in order to maintain a good indoor temperature or air quality. So the difference is enormous. On paper, we design green buildings to be efficient on the hottest day in summer and on the coldest day in winter. But then there’s also the question of how good the building is at adapting to climate change – outdoor conditions and indoor occupation. And so we start looking more and more at a control system which can adapt the use of the HVAC system to the building’s use; and perhaps even be able to anticipate the use in order to flatten the electricity demands.

What are the most important interventions building designers can make to minimise energy costs in the context of total cost of ownership?

When renovating, the main question is first, how can we reduce any waste of energy; or perhaps, how can we produce the least possible amount of energy to host a good indoor environment? So if we can benefit already from things outdoors – the right amount of sun, the right amount of fresh air coming into the building, while at the same time having controlled exposure, that is a good first step. Then there is insulating the building, so we shift towards the right amount of energy being produced and keeping it where it is useful, so that includes isolating the building from the outdoor environment and being sure that filtered air – warm

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air, cool air – goes to the right place at the right time.

Then it’s about looking at having the right installation; for example, there’s no point in having 300 rooms air-conditioned when only one is in use.

Clean air has an impact on health and productivity, and this applies across the board. As we spend more and more time indoors, it’s critical that the air is of an extremely high quality, and this comes down to not only the design of the building but also its operation and maintenance.

Most electrical costs in commercial buildings relate to meeting the human health and comfort standards for buildings, how does one reduce energy consumption and cost without compromising indoor environmental quality?

Reducing energy consumption doesn’t mean that we have to reduce or compromise the indoor air quality; it really means that we have to adjust the system and its load according to the needs. So the need doesn’t really change at all, but, say for example when looking at the HVAC, we can look at how dynamic the system can be.

In hotels and shopping centres, where you have a lot of people coming in and out, a very reactive system is needed that can understand the use of the building and can predict human behavior; and adjust accordingly.

That is where the BMS (Building Management System) of an HVAC plays an important part, for the HVAC to learn from its experience. We have weather forecasts, building usage forecasts, and from that we can predict the right indoor air temperature, humidity, air quality and so on.

Energy efficiency would in a sense contribute to the indoor air quality because a system that is not efficient does not have the same capability to adjust to the building’s use. Having the right system, products and controls aims to give building owners the flexibility to reduce their electricity bill, but also boost the comfort of its occupants.

How can working with Systemair be of value to the design team in these respects?

Systemair as a group owns all of its production facilities and researches and develops its own products according to the current needs of the market. We invest heavily into our capacity to provide the right products for today and tomorrow’s needs, priding ourselves in being at the forefront of energy efficiency. From the South African perspective, we are directly present here with our recently increased manufacturing footprint and are one of the only companies that can supply a complete range of products for residential, commercial or industrial application, covering every letters of the word HVAC. We understand what energy efficiency is; we understand the challenges of operating a building and can offer a tailormade solution. The benefit of working with Systemair is having a partner for one’s complete requirements - we have complete expertise over the full system and differentiate ourselves by providing the right solution for the each building we work with.

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TECHNOLOGY

The battle with Covid-19 has dramatically increased our motivation to manage the indoor environment to protect us from viral respiratory diseases. It is also a useful catalyst for permanently improving many conventional practices to create healthier spaces, particularly in mechanical ventilation systems.

WORDS Michelle Ludwig Pixabay

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A recipe for

HEALTHY INDOOR AIR

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TECHNOLOGY

“O

nce we have an effective vaccine for Covid-19, will we forget about the importance of indoor air quality (IAQ) in buildings for protecting us from infectious respiratory viruses?” asks Dr Stephanie Taylor, a practising physician who obtained a Masters in Architecture and now employs both disciplines as an infection control specialist. While protocols of social distancing and mask-wearing will likely diminish over time, other illnesses are clearly related to the indoor environment. “The understanding that indoor air should be managed to reduce diseases and actually improve our health is an attitude I hope is here to stay,” she adds.

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems play a key role in managing indoor air and therefore significantly contribute to healthiness – or not – of indoor conditioned spaces. “HVAC systems can help contain the spread of a contaminant but if not carefully designed, and carefully commissioned and maintained, they can worsen the scenario,” cautions Andre Harms, founder of Ecolution Consulting and senior mechanical engineer. As an example, he references a study1 analysing a super-spreader event from a restaurant in China, where a single infected restaurant patron further contaminated many others, exacerbated by the air conditioning system.

When the contamination impacts were tracked and modelled, it indicated that the aircon system played an integral role in increasing the spread since it was a system that recirculated the air but supplied little to no fresh air or filtration. (please see below)

EVOLVING HVAC Controlling contaminants and improving air quality in general works best as a multi-layered approach.

Mechanical and technological approaches involve applying layers of interventions which include dilution, filtration, disinfection, humidification, supplementation, and proper maintenance. Used in conjunction, these strategies create a recipe for success and healthy indoor air quality.

DILUTION Fresh air quantities combined with filtration can reduce airborne exposures. Air stagnation may concentrate airborne viruses or dust, so it is critical to keep indoor air as refreshed as possible. Research has shown that increased ventilation in a building can reduce the chance of influenza – a study published in 2019 found ►►

HVAC systems can help contain the spread of a contaminant but if not carefully designed, and carefully commissioned and maintained, they can worsen the scenario.

Aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Simulated dispersion of fine droplets exhaled from index Patient A1 (magentablue), which are initially confined within the cloud envelope due to the zoned airconditioning arrangement. The fine droplets eventually disperse into the other zones via air exchange and are eventually removed via the restroom exhaust fan. Other infected patients are shown in red and other noninfected in gold color. Only a single human body is used to represent all patrons.

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TECHNOLOGY that ensuring even minimum levels of outdoor air ventilation reduced influenza transmission as much as having 50-60% of the people in a building vaccinated.2 In addition to avoiding things that make us sick, health-related impacts of providing fresh air have also been shown to include significant improvements in cognitive function such as information usage, strategy, and safety decisions.3 This is why most green building certification schemes, such as Green Star, promote and recognise increased ventilation rates.

Richard Humphrey, the senior mechanical engineer at HFW Consulting, however, asks: “Why should increased fresh air be reserved just for green buildings?” When applying many building standards, keep in mind that they are minimums. Rather consult guidelines such as ASHRAE Indoor Air Quality Guide: Best Practice for Design, Construction and Commissioning,

Installing a higher quality air filtration system has rapidly increasing benefits to societyat-large, which culminates in quantifiable financial impacts. suggests Humphrey. He points out that the South African National Building Regulations standard level for ventilation is outdated, and calculated on densities that are not as typical today and much lower than many best practice codes.

Providing higher rates of fresh air dilutes the concentration of any pollutants or airborne contaminants, thereby reducing exposure. Beyond just a safety intervention, provision of more fresh clean air also improves many human body functions.

Montgomery, James & Reynolds, Conor & Rogak, Steven & Green, Sheldon. (2015)

FILTERING FRESH FINANCE

More fresh air is a start, but the next level is to ensure that air is clean. The quality of the air we breathe determines the health of the lungs as well as other organs. Dust, pollen, tobacco, and mould in polluted air, have been linked to increases in death rates. Ventilation systems typically have some sort of filtration for particulate matter (PM), however filters come in varying degrees of filtration and typically rated with a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV). MERV ratings are on a scale of one to 20 depending on the minimum size of the particles a filter can be expected to capture. Low-efficiency filters have been typically used to keep lint and dust from clogging the heating and cooling coils of an HVAC system.

Medium- and high-efficiency filters are required to address smaller particles such as pollen and bacteria.

Studies of improved filtration levels have demonstrated net benefits – all the financial benefits to society – benefits to the healthcare system, benefits to employers and individuals – across cities with

Top: Respiratory aerosol properties Middle: Respiratory aerosol dynamics Bottom: Financial implications of modifications to building filtration system.

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TECHNOLOGY widely varying outdoor air quality, Harms explains.

“Installing a higher quality air filtration system has rapidly increasing benefits to society-at-large,” which culminates in quantifiable financial impacts. The study4 further summarises: The monetised health benefits of filter installations outweigh the operation costs by up to a factor of 10 – the net benefits of improved filtration were greatest for the highest efficiency filters.

DESIGNED FOR DISINFECTION

The average office is not designed to a very high IAQ compared to other typologies such as a hospital. And the industry is seeing trends towards less expensive, thus simpler, HVAC systems such as split cassette systems, explains Edward Hector, founder and CEO of HVAC systems services company SFI Group. Average filters target particulate matter sized at 10 microns but this is not sufficient for microscopic contaminants such as pathogens.

To target smaller particles, Hector recommends also employing UV-C lights that emit part of the UV range of light useful for germicidal irradiation. “The UV-C light inactivates viral, bacterial, and fungal material, disrupting the functioning and ability to replicate.”

HVAC systems can be designed with UV-C lights within that disinfect the air as it passes through, as well as assist with keeping the cooling coils clean from biofilm buildup. These can be retrofitted to existing systems in many cases, Hector points out, but in all cases needs to be carefully designed and calibrated.

HUMIDIFICATION

Damp and humid air leading to condensation and mould is well understood, however, studies show to air that is too dry is also detrimental to health. In repeated studies of hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates, many factors of transmission were investigated and relative humidity (RH) was found to be the most influential factor. There is also evidence that humidity can play a role in the survival of viruses such as Covid-19.5 According to Taylor: “If the relative humidity is below 20%, the average person becomes clinically dehydrated and the human body suffers from its systems being compromised. Bad pathogens love it.” She highlights indoor air hydration – a mid-range humidity of 40-60% RH – is a powerful medicine that is essential for buildings that protect our health.

SUPPLEMENTATION

Supplementing existing HVAC systems with interventions and various technologies can also be effective, especially where retrofitting is limited. For example, when looking at the typical aerosol spread inside a conditioned office environment, using local air purifiers can control the spread and reduce concentrations by more than 50%.6 So, should there be an infected individual, this would greatly reduce the risk to others.

Viral load is a very important factor in whether people get infected. Harms explains: “Just because one is in a space that might have some infected aerosol does not necessarily mean one will automatically get infected. It depends upon the intensity or the concentration, and duration, therefore these types of mitigation measures become important really quickly [to reduce occupants’ exposure].”

MAINTAINED MAINTENANCE

Keeping systems running optimally is key to healthy indoor air quality. After efforts of designing, procuring, and calibrating an effective HVAC system, it can all be undermined if it is not looked after and operated appropriately. “HVAC design can only contribute to wellness in buildings if correctly implemented and operated as ensured by robust commissioning processes,” Harms points out. After initial commissioning, HVAC systems need to have ongoing periodic maintenance to check on things such as the cleanliness of the coils and ducts, the filters changed out per manufacturer recommendations, and monitoring of effective performance.

AFTER COVID-19

Before airborne pathogens entered our headlines, and attention spans, indoor air quality have been considered of paramount importance for health. A silver lining of the Covid-19 experience may be the additional focus directed towards creating and staying healthy in indoor spaces, not just for green buildings but for all.

Mechanical ventilation systems can be a detriment if implemented and operated poorly. Alternatively, with consideration of employing multiple strategies, good design and operation, HVAC systems can be highly useful in keeping us healthy, safe and productive for the long term.

1 Yuguo Li, et al. Evidence for probable aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a poorly-ventilated restaurant, medRxiv 2020.04.16.20067728; doi:https://doi. org/10.1101/2020.04.16.20067728 2 Smieszek T, Lazzari G, Salathé M. Assessing the Dynamics and Control of Droplet- and Aerosol-Transmitted Influenza Using an Indoor Positioning System.

Scientific Reports. 2019/02/18 2019;9(1):2185. doi:10.1038/s41598- 019-38825-y 3 “Associations of Cognitive Function Scores with Carbon Dioxide, Ventilation, and Volatile Organic Compound Exposures in Office Workers: A Controlled Exposure Study of Green and Conventional Office Environments,” Joseph G. Allen, Piers MacNaughton, Usha Satish, Suresh Santanam, Jose Vallarino, John D. Spengler, Environmental Health Perspectives, October 26, 2015, doi: 10.1289/ ehp.1510037 4 Montgomery, James & Reynolds, Conor & Rogak, Steven & Green, Sheldon.

(2015). Financial implications of modifications to building filtration systems.

Building and Environment. 85. 10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.11.005.

5 Kim SW, Ramakrishnan MA, Raynor PC, Goyal SM. Effects of humidity and other factors on the generation and sampling of a coronavirus aerosol.

Aerobiologia. 2007/12/01 2007;23(4):239-248. doi:10.1007/s10453-007- 9068-9 6 2020. ASHRAE presentation: Bemis P. Applied Math Modelling

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ADVERTORIAL

PLASMA AIR IONIZATION PROVEN TO REDUCE CORONAVIRUS SURROGATE MS2 BACTERIOPHAGE BY 99% IN INDEPENDENT SPANISH TESTING Successful certified testing conducted in a building facility proves NPBI virus destroying power

L

ight Ray, is a South African company, involved in the design, distribution and installation of products and systems for air and space purification in built environment. Light Ray has partnered with Plasma Air in order to make available to the South African market a very well established and important technology named Needle Point Bipolar Ionization (NPBI).

Testing carried backed by the Spanish Ministry of Defense Biological Laboratory in Spain has proven the effectiveness of Plasma Air Ionization technology in the reduction of MS2 Bacteriophage, a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), in indoor environments.

There is mounting research to suggest that clean, disinfected air plays a vital role in preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19.

While respiratory droplets are considered the primary transmission route, aerosols are being considered by many health authorities as a possible mode of infection transmission along with surface contact. This suggests that viral particles can remain suspended in the air for long periods and can be inhaled.

The experiments took place in simulated ICU hospital rooms This environment was explicitly designed to test air ionization on small aerosolized viral particles.

The laboratory analysis was carried out at a nearby operations center of the Spanish Ministry of Defense from May 4th to May 14th.

The Plasma Air ionizer was chosen to suit the specific airflow and installed in the entrance to the fan coil unit of the supply Air Duct test space. The bacteriophage MS2 was then nebulized into the test space. During the two distinct phases of the test, the supply air entering the test room was ionized using Plasma Air's bipolar ionization system. In contrast, during the second phase, the supply air into the room was untreated. A reduction of approximately 2 log units of the Bacteriophage was obtained in the air that was ionized by the Plasma Air system. This corresponds to a 99% reduction after only 10 minutes of exposure to ionization.

In addition to the Spanish Government ministries, the experiments also involved academics in the fields of engineering, microbiology, and computational fluid dynamics, along with Spanish Government appointed testing labs.

The tests also included using manikins to simulate ICU patients. The manikins were equipped with specialized filters to measure the amount of Bacteriophage that was being breathed in with and without air ionization. The levels of MS2 Bacteriophage and associated particle counts were measured using Electrical Low-Pressure Impactors, and swabs were

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taken from walls and surfaces for analysis.

The level of airborne MS2 Bacteriophage was measured using the Spanish authorities calibrated equipment for detecting biothreats. Results from this test showed a reduction in the order of 0.70-0.85 log pfu/cm2 corresponding to nearly 80% reduction in surface MS2 Bacteriophage after 10 minutes between the test with and without ionization.

"Coronavirus is a global crisis and nowhere more so than inside built environments such as transport hubs and work environments," explains Chris Russell, Vice President of Plasma Air. "The effective elimination of airborne virus is a major breakthrough that can make workplaces, transport, entertainment and educational facilities safer for employees, commuters and students."

"We were very motivated to facilitate these critical tests at our laboratories here in Madrid, and we are extremely impressed by the results achieved," Lieutenant Coronal Juan Carlos Cabria, the Technical Director of the biosecurity laboratories of the Ministry of Defense, stated.

ABOUT PLASMA AIR Plasma Air is the leading innovator in indoor air quality by manufacturing HVAC and air purification products that result in healthier, more productive indoor environments in institutional, commercial, residential and industrial applications. The Plasma Air HVAC purification systems use highly efficient bipolar ionization technology to kill harmful airborne viruses and neutralize indoor air pollutants.

Plasma Air systems have been proven in thousands of applications to provide the highest level of air quality improvement for airports, train systems, schools, hotels, casinos, arenas, offices and homes.

ABOUT LIGHT RAY SOUTH AFRICA Light Ray is a specialized air purification company based in Johannesburg, South Africa Founded in 2019, it provides the most advanced technologies available for the fight against pathogens in the built environment.

Light Ray is in the business of giving you back the certainty of a safe and joyful living experience within built environment.

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CASE STUDIES: GREEN BUILDING SERVICES, MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES Sigura Water

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Polyflor

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Thermguard

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PAMSA / Paper Manufacturing Association of South Africa 117

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Harvey Roofing Products

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Rigifoam

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Isoboard

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Koen and Associates Architecture

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O NS IN WATER TR EATMENT

4/9/20

ECONOMICAL WATER TREATMENT SOLUTIONS TO MAKE EVERY LITRE COUNT

17:52:46

I

TM

nnovative solutions in water treatment can help to manage the impact of water scarcity in South Africa by reducing capital costs and water consumption.

Water reuse and alternative water treatment systems have gained significant traction over the past decade as opportunities to optimise water usage. However, most of these options in the current market are known to be capital-intensive with payback periods of up to eight years.

The converse of capital-intensive operations are labourintensive alternatives which pose their own challenges, especially when aiming to maintain a consistent water quality.

Sigura™ specialises in water treatment solutions that are easy to install, require minimal chemical handling and operator interference whilst keeping environmental care and safety at top of mine. The focus of the Sigura™ product range lies in disinfection and microbial control in many water applications such as drinking water, biofilm management in cooling towers and algae control in surface water bodies.

The majority of the Sigura™ product range is supplied in a convenient solid form which holds several advantages over similar products in liquid form. Solid chemical products generally require less storage space, does not require handling of heavy liquid-filled containers and spillages that do occur are much easier to contain and clean up.

Several of our product solutions can easily be applied in the residential and commercial construction industry to optimise water treatment and reduce the demand of fresh water.

Commercial swimming pools at property developments, hotels, lodges, and resorts are characterised by inconsistent bather loads and water treatment demands. During peak holiday season, these pools require more chlorine due to an increase in swimming pool use. Our automated systems are equipped with probes that constantly monitor free chlorine and pH levels in the pool water. Subsequently, only the necessary amounts of chlorine and acid needed to maintain these parameters at the required levels are added. Not only does this provide a constant free chlorine level in the water, but also prevents the overdose of chemicals which could have safety and cost implications. Our HTH Scientific® automated systems are supplied as fully assembled skids complete with dosing pumps, probes, and a controlling unit to automatically maintain swimming pool parameters at required levels.

Our Applied Biochemists™ surface water products have a long history of success in the treatment of water in fountains and ponds at residential estates. Few things

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CASE STUDY SIGURA

Ad GEJ FA ctp.pdf

affect the aesthetic of an estate like a smelly water pond full of algae mats. The presence of aquatic wildlife and plants along with constant sunlight exposure create the perfect environment for algae to flourish.

The efforts for removing algae from the water can in severe cases require the draining of the entire pond and employing physical labour to remove accumulated sludge at the bottom. The Sigura™ treatment process involves dosing any of our Cutrine® algaecides along with BactiKlear™, a blend of beneficial bacteria strains, to break down any organic matter in water ponds. An ongoing maintenance dosage controls algae growth, keeping the pond in mint condition.

One rarely pays attention to the cooling systems responsible for the operation of air conditioners and refrigeration systems in buildings – until they stop working. Small cooling towers are usually located in obscure places, out of direct sight, such as building rooftops or alleys making them a hassle to treat and maintain. However, when left untreated, a cooling tower can fall prey to scaling, corrosion and biofilm that can house dangerous bacteria like Legionella. Sigura™ offers a full portfolio of cooling tower products that can help maintain an environment conducive to minimal corrosion, scale, and biofilm formation. The Scientific™ C range for cooling towers includes a biocide, corrosion, and scale inhibitors as well as a bio-dispersant – all in a convenient solid form. The scale and corrosion inhibitors are dosed automatically with the Scientific™ Ultra-S dosing unit and has been successfully installed and operated in cooling towers on manufacturing plants and shopping centre rooftops. Treating the water in the cooling tower leads to increased cycles of concentration and subsequently less water lost due to routine water blowdowns.

Through targeted product offerings, Sigura™ strives to minimise labour-intensive tasks and high capital investments associated with water treatment. A midway is possible with our solid chemical solutions and advanced automated dosing technology to provide consistent water quality, making every litre of freshwater count. Contact our sales office for a free site survey to determine your water treatment requirements.

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PRODUCT RELEASE POLYFLOR CASE STUDY THERMGUARD

A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION, FROM THE GROUND UP

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olyflor SA, aspires to be as carbon neutral as possible, and has adopted a “cradle to cradle” approach that includes a product lifecycle analysis.

Sourcing of new materials: Polyflor’s homogeneous range of products use up to 85% sustainable materials, with the average being 71%.

Manufacturing: Vinyl’s manufacturing process is the least energy intensive of all flooring products, and embedded energy is further reduced when recycled material is used in place of raw materials.

Packaging: Recycling of various elements of packaging waste is organised on site, with recycled packaging used where possible.

Distribution and transportation: Vinyl flooring is lighter than other flooring materials, allowing reduced fuel consumption in transit, Polyflor SA ensuring sustainable transport of goods.

Installation: Polyflor develops and improves installation methods for its flooring ranges, with increased use of solvent-free adhesives and adhesivefree vinyl flooring. Adhesive-free flooring can be recycled and re-used.

PROTECTING YOUR HOME, PROTECTING THE FUTURE

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hermguard has successfully insulated buildings across South Africa for more than 35 years, using cellulose fibre, which has many advantages in making homes more comfortable, quiet and energy efficient. Insulation assists in keeping a space cool or warm depending on the season, thus reducing energy and electricity requirements and costs, and its excellent acoustic properties aid in reducing external noise from neighbours, traffic, and aircraft. Thermguard is also a passive, yet effective form of pest control.

GREEN FROM START TO FINISH As a “green” solution, Thermguard offers significant benefits to the environment. For starters, Thermguard Cellulose Fibre Insulation is made from recycled newsprint; thousands of tons of which would otherwise be filling up landfills. This is milled into a light cellulose insulation product with optimal density, which is blown onto the ceiling in the roof. The nonrecycled, fire-retardant additives are non-toxic and natural salts and minerals which are used: in agriculture to promote plant health; to stop and prevent wet and dry rot in timber; and also have various uses in the household and medical fields. Borate additives are harmless to humans and pets but will irritate insects and rodents such that they will not live in the material or use it to build a nest.

The embodied energy of Thermguard is also by far the lowest compared to other commercially available insulation products. Furnace-made insulation materials 116

Maintenance: The “in-use” phase of any flooring accounts for 80% of its environmental impact.

Most Polyflor products have a Polyurethane (PUR) reinforcement coating which ensures superior cleaning benefits, enhanced protection and optimum appearance retention.

Durability: Vinyl offers excellent durability. The longer a product lasts, the less the energy and other resources are needed to make, deliver and install a replacement.

Air quality of the product: All Polyflor ranges have passed key international standards with regards to VOC emissions.

Disposal of the product: Polyflor South Africa also offers a ‘first-of-its-kind’ recycling initiative for vinyl off-cuts.

Currently, in South Africa, no technology exists that can separate glue residue from vinyl flooring, making recycling difficult. However, we have just received positive test results approving rip up vinyl (contaminated) to be used in the manufacture of Envirobloc bricks which is an exciting development.

(fibreglass and polyester) require around ten times more energy to make compared to cellulose fibre. In addition, no heat or water in used in the manufacturing process. Thermguard is 100% biodegradable and will not negatively affect ecosystems or wildlife. With Thermguard being delivered in reusable bags there is the assurance that every aspect of the product has been considered from a sustainability perspective.

A DIY OPTION

Now, home owners can take care of the insulation process themselves and not use a sub-contractor, should they wish to opt for Thermguard’s DIY option. The installation is quick and a team of two can easily install 300m² in one day, with one person operating the machine (which can be rented or purchased from the Thermguard factory, currently limited to Gauteng) and the other directing the hose in the roof space.

THERMGUARD www.thermguard.co.za

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CASE STUDY PAMSA

THE CARBON STORY OF PAPER A LESSER KNOWN FACT ABOUT THE WORLD’S OLDEST TECHNOLOGY

CO2

CO2

Sustainable forestry and forest products and their role in carbon storage

CO2

CO2

1.2 million hectares of commercial plantations in South Africa, at various ages and rotations.

Approximately 6% of SA’s plantation area is harvested annually.

Annual replanting

Mondi

CARBON CYCLE

Sappi

Planted trees provide products that we use every day, from the essential and conventional – like timber for construction, toilet paper, packaging, office paper and books – to the obscure such as cellulose for use in sponges, fabrics, pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs. There are several by-products from the pulp and paper – making processes that also find function in daily life.

Over-mature trees release more CO2 than they absorb and may be more susceptible to threats such as fire, pest and disease.

Over-mature trees

Continuous cycle of planting and harvesting ensures that plantations remain 'carbon sinks'

Products made from wood will continue to store carbon

Abiotic and biotic threats to tree health

Process waste and by-products can be beneficiated for commercial or own use Sustainable forestry ensures that products made from wood are a renewable, carbon-storing resource

Carbon capture Carbon emission

CO2

Sustainable forestry Partial salvage of disturbed plantations

CO2 Carbon locked up in products (until decay or incineration takes place)

Timber products (longer life span)

Pulp, cellulose and paper products

Carbon sequestration in wood products

The carbon cycle showing how sustainable forestry and forest products play a role in carbon storage.

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aper has a fascinating history. Developed centuries ago, it has been through the mill – literally and figuratively – in terms of what it is made from. It also has many interesting side stories, one being how it is made today and how it stores carbon.

What many people don’t realise, is that even when planted trees are harvested for their wood – for timber construction or for paper, packaging and tissue – the carbon remains locked up in the wood fibres and stays there for the lifecycle of those products. It is another reason why recycling is important – it keeps the carbon locked up even longer.

To understand why paper and wood products are vital to a lower carbon footprint, we can borrow from Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman’s assertion that trees do not grow from the ground, they grow from the air. Many of us first learned about photosynthesis in primary school: how plants absorb sunlight and carbon dioxide (CO2) to make food.

Trees take in CO2 from the air, and water from the ground ‒ which, incidentally, also came from the air at some point ‒ and convert this into growth (trunks, roots, and leaves). Oxygen is returned to the atmosphere.

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This carbon cycle is why trees of all kinds are such a vital part of keeping our planet regulated, offsetting greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change.

In South Africa, trees could be divided into two groups – indigenous trees in natural forests and commercially and sustainably farmed trees in plantations.

The latter were introduced some 100 years ago to protect natural forests, by providing wood for productive purposes.

The best part? Not only do paper and other wood products from sustainable products keep carbon locked up as long as they’re around, but new trees are planted in the place of harvested trees, keeping the carbon cycle going and making paper and wood the Ultimate Renewable™.

Harvested wood products have significant potential to mitigate climate change by locking up carbon emissions from the atmosphere.

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PRODUCT RELEASE HARVEY ROOFING PRODUCTS 118

REVOLUTIONARY GREEN ROOFING

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oof tile design has seen minimal innovation in centuries. Thick, heavy concrete or clay tiles are simply stacked upon one another and held down by their considerable weight. This in turn dictates strong, heavy and expensive roofing structures to cope with the load. These heavy roof tiles are hard and brittle, which results in up to 10% breakages on installation and further threat of damage from hail, wind and being walked upon. There had to be a better way.

Harvey Roofing Products sought to resolve these functional challenges by solving another pressing issue: sustainability.

The breakthrough came in the form of Harvey EcoTile® Harvey EcoTile® is a proudly South African, revolutionary breakthrough in roof tiles. By utilising 98% waste material, Harvey EcoTile® is 100% recyclable yet provides superior functional benefits to concrete or clay roof tiles.

Harvey EcoTile’s® technological design advantage ensures an interlocking, lightweight tile that is low on maintenance, and is weatherproof and virtually unbreakable in normal use.

The Harvey EcoTile® roof tile has the ability to eliminate 29-million, 2 litre used plastic milk bottles from landfill sites in South Africa. Each tile utilises the equivalent of 3.8 recycled bottles and is 100% recyclable. In addition, the product input does not require any water resource, an increasingly scarce commodity in South Africa. With recent focus on the effect that discarded plastic products have on ocean

life and our natural rivers and dams, Harvey EcoTile®’s development could not be more timeous.

Harvey Roofing Products General Manager Sales & Marketing, Albie Jordaan says the innovative product has been developed to outperform conventional clay/ concrete tiles in every way. “Harvey EcoTile® is four times stronger yet three times lighter than concrete tiles. Combining these advantages makes it possible to transport four times more Harvey EcoTiles® as opposed to conventional roof tiles, limiting transportation cost and on-site breakages. We estimate that breakages can be reduced by up to 10% in the full value chain. Most importantly, endless maintenance on horizontal roof ridges will be a thing of the past.”

For more information on this innovative product, contact Albie Jordaan, Harvey Roofing Products on (011) 741 5600. (e mail – albie.jordaan@Macroofing.co.za)

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Historically modern chapel well insulated When St Alban’s College in Lynnwood, Pretoria, was looking to build its new chapel, it turned to specialist contractors who were able to understand the authenticity of the venue, maintaining the historical value of the buildings while providing a functional, high-performance and aesthetically pleasing audio and visual solution.

Chapel music Founded in 1963, this prestigious school has a rich history, steeped not only in academia but also music, with the St Alban’s College chapel choir attending their first World Choir Games in 2008. Keeping this in mind, the planning and building of the new chapel onto what was historically used as a cowshed was undertaken.

This part of the St Alban’s chapel had monument certification and being protected by the National Monuments Act, parts of it could not be disturbed – challenging all involved as the completed facility had to be well insulated and adhere to modern building standards.

Playtrium Thanks to GPL Projects and its managing director, Eric Lange, the Rigifoam product line proved to be the perfect insulation choice during this challenging project. The refurbishment and enclosure of an additional five unused spaces to the existing building – the Playtrium, or place of play, meeting and gathering, as it was known – was the main component and also the biggest challenge.

The space to be enclosed was tapered, being wide in the rear and closing towards the front.

With an especially flat slope due to space limitations below the existing building’s roof and tops of the old windows facing into the Playtrium, castellated lightweight beams were installed on columns over the existing basement, which required a further weight reduction. As the space would ultimately be used as a place of gathering, insulation was of utmost importance.

Tailormade boards Saving weight and space below the roof and to keep ambient temperatures as low as possible, meant that a between-purlin Lambdaboard installation had to be used. This installation was used as the rear of each member received a lip on which the board would rest and then dropped in from the top, as the members formed part of the structural frame keeping the columns in place during construction.

Consequently, the Lambdaboard insulation had to be installed before the roof sheeting, with each board chamfered and tailormade to its location within the structural frame.

To adhere to the required thermal or R-values, the installation of 80mm Lambdaboard was specified. This, in turn, required the modification of the structural frame to enable the installation of the Lambdaboard by way of installing offset aluminium T-sections and fixing them to the underside of the purlins, before inserting the Lambdaboard longitudinally.

The boards then had to be shortened to take into

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CASE STUDY RIGIFOAM

THE PERFECT INSULATION CHOICE

consideration the installation of the ventilation and extraction systems after completion.

Clad to completion Electrical and sound equipment lines were then laid in very tight spacing between the boards and the roof sheeting. The structural steel frame was clad with 12mm MDF super wood over steel trusses for aesthetic purposes and then clad to edge the Lambdaboard with Vinyl faux wood.

All wall sections which were externally clad with Chromate sheeting also had to be insulated and 40mm Lambdaboard was installed to the structural frame before being clad and painted. The board and aluminium T-sections were then primed and painted, after all the services and aesthetic enhancements were installed, completing the all-round appearance.

Those who sat at the first dedication, after completion of the original chapel (the old cowshed), shared a deeply emotional and historic event. With the new chapel in full operation, the faculty and students can embrace this new chapter of their journey whilst reflecting on the beauty of the old.

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

Project: Tom Hamilton Wellness Centre – St Albans College Pretoria Architect: B oogertman & Partners – Pretoria Lambdaboard – over purlin application Details: With the unique design of this project, the ceiling insulation the roof design incorporated a singleplane design that ran through the wellness centre and continued outside to the covered pavilion for the swimming pool complex, Lambdaboard was the perfect choice to allow for brilliant thermal performance for the interior space and excellent finish for the ceiling.

RIGIFOAM 011 421 0313 www.rigifoam.com, www.lambdaboard.co.za

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CASE STUDY ISOBOARD

REPURPOSING BUILDINGS: NEW LIFE FROM SOLID STOCK

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ome buildings have their lifetime’s design calling: cathedrals: monuments, hospitals and palaces. Some are homes, renovated and refreshed from time to time. And others once had a particular purpose; long forgotten as the needs of the community changed.

As an example, in Somerset West we have what was once perhaps a light industrial workshop or warehouse, now reinvented as a chic interior design showroom – The Mood Collective. A large walled space with mezzanine, ideal for displays, with offices, and lovely natural light beaming through the high industrial windows. With a lot of love, effort, tears, and perhaps some money, the industrial building has been refreshed into a stunning showroom, where interior specialists showcase their wares to interior designers and homemakers.

ADDING PASSIVE COMFORT

Amongst the challenges to be overcome in preparing the building was adding passive comfort, to allow patrons to browse at their leisure. While the building has some aspects which contribute to occupant comfort, such as cross-flow ventilation and high thermal mass solid walls, it was built in an era when limited thought was given to the disposition of occupants, and the effect of discomfort on patronage and energy efficiency. The 300m2 asbestos fibre roof was completely uninsulated, meaning high temperature loads in summer, and a cold interior in winter.

While one option would have been to remove and replace the roofing after installing thermal insulation, because there was opportunity to work from within the empty structure, the decision was made to solve from within. In addition, this saved replacing the roof sheets.

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The solution chosen has been to add proven thermal insulation, in the form of 30mm thickness IsoBoard panels, directly adhered to the existing roof sheets.

IsoBoard panels were factory painted per specification, glued to the asbestos sheeting between the existing purlins, and finished with a trim piece. This intervention has made a considerable difference to the interior comfort and the aesthetic appeal of the showroom, while preventing any shedding of asbestos fibres.

A NEAT, QUICK AND RELATIVELY AFFORDABLE SOLUTION

The installation team of four took a week to install the IsoBoard roof lining panels, working from scaffold platforms. The adhesive forms the permanent bond between the roof sheets and interlocking IsoBoard panels, making use of no mechanical fasteners at all.

The key to this installation is having dust and oil-free surfaces on the sheeting and boards, allowing the water-based adhesive to bond. The recommended adhesive allows IsoBoard panels of up to 2 400mm in length to adhere almost instantaneously, enabling the installation of the next and subsequent boards without dislodging the initial board. Pre-painting the boards saved time, mess and disruption on site.

Overall, this has been a neat, quick and relatively affordable solution, delivering a comfortable and appealing environment for occupants, without affecting the integrity of the roof system.

POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

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esearch studies prove that the impact of the open-plan office on humans has a significantly positive influence on office function and interaction.

The mix of spaces also highlight other amenities such as conference and training areas, private spaces where formal meetings are held, collaborative spaces where informal meetings take place, as well as the need for open workspace in jobs benefiting from team work and or knowledge/skills sharing (Kendra Cherry, 2019).

Our Client, Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA) had recently turned a notable 186 years, where they have been successfully providing insurance for the South African mining industry. To celebrate their achievement RMA appointed Koen & Associate Architecture to “reinvent” the traditional office space at their new home located at 10 St Andrews Parktown.

Koen & Associates Architects is an award-winning design and build infrastructure development company who pride ourselves on innovative design and the implementation of new typologies. Koen & Associates Architects aims were to renovate the typical office environment from its previously mundane, separated layout; to one which is open, integrated and where programmes flow effortlessly, encouraging an energetic and symbiotic relationship between “WORK – PAUSE – COLLABORATE”. This environment is inclusive of all individuals yet collectively represents the client, RMA as well as all it stands for: “Caring, Compassionate, Compensation.”

Eliminating the culture of enclosed offices and cubicles results in enhanced collaboration and relationship-building allowing for future flexibility.

Construction costs for the project were reduced by using a modern industrial design, exposing all previously hidden services like AC units, lighting and cables.

The building is set to be given a “green facelift”, green systems such as a monitoring system will log trends against consumption and alert facilities’ management via email if there is an excess in consumption. The lighting power density achieves an energy use of less than 1.5W/m²/100lux for 98.1% of the office usable area using the Green Star recommended method of calculation. Amongst other concepts, water-saving sanitaryware including sensory low-flush systems assist in the conservation of water in the building.

POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

CASE STUDY KOEN & ASSOCIATES

KOEN & ASSOCIATES

PROGRAMME The space allows for freestanding office desks, private meeting areas, collaborative spaces as well as lounge settings. Studies show that it is important for the brain to rest and reload, pause areas allow for this while the lounge settings promote socialising and strengthening amongst the team, illuminating the need for rigid time control and giving the employee a sense of responsibility and empowering them to manage their time in an unconstrainted manner.

MATERIAL The various floor and wall finishes are applied to define spatial function doing away with the traditional solid wall. This promotes open space and allows access to natural light and sensory artificial light in occupied spaces. Decorative acoustic panels and bulkheads will serve both an aesthetic and sound buffering purpose.

FURNITURE A combination of textures and colours set a mood that is both calm and vigilant, while primarily being connected to the company’s corporate identity. Flexible furniture was specified to allow for future changes and reorganisation. The traditional walled office with its pyramid organogram is outdated. The new openplan space works for a more modern collaborative workforce who share, like and tweet. The current layout allows a flatter chain of command in new business with spontaneous sharing of information.

The new move to a new space is indicative of why RMA as a company has manged to maintain its 186 years of success. Keeping up with the current trends and needs of its workforce and consumers.

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IMPACT THE CONVENTION ISSUE 2020

With the Green Building Council leading the way when it comes to sustainability in the building and construction industry, there is so much news, advocacy and project information to be shared.

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+IMPACT MAGAZINE FREQUENCY Issue 0.9: December 2020 Issue 10: February 2021 Issue 11: April 2021

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