Green Building: Water
Holistic approach underpins sustainability Words and photographs by Gareth Griffiths
From Spier to cradle: Iconic hospitality, agricultural and wine company wins Nedbank Green Award while working for the environment for the good of all. Over the past decades, Spier, an iconic leisure, agriculture and viticulture undertaking based in the Stellenbosch winelands along the banks of the Eerste River, has evolved into a multi-faceted business. At her office, SA BUILDING REVIEW spoke to Heidi Newton-King, Spier’s sustainability director, about the holistic approach that Spier has taken, which includes its handling of waste as a resource. It is evident that Spier’s programme enshrines the Braungart cradleto-cradle approach. By coincidence, Dutch scientist, Professor Michael Braungart was a keynote speaker at the Green Building Convention 2015, and presented his cradle to cradle paradigm. Thanks to a concerted effort, Spier recycles 97% of the waste generated by its operations; and the importance of waste is key to the induction and ongoing training of each Spier employee. In the spirit of the cradle-to-cradle philosophy, the company supplies usable waste such as PET to a local Tree-preneur project. The programme is conducted by local community members who grow indigenous trees at their places of dwelling and then barter them for livelihood support. The concept was started by the Wildlands Conservation Trust of KZN (www.wildlands. co.za) that has worked closely with Spier for the Stellenbosch operation. Seedlings are cultivated by Spier employee, Lesley Joemat, who is dedicated to the project. Joemat’s operation is based at a decommissioned waste water treatment plant on the Spier property. Seedlings are planted into recycled containers culled from sorted waste streams from Spier’s leisure and hospitality operations. Once viable, seedlings are handed over
to the custody of the Tree-preneurs who care for them until they are 15cm tall. Thereafter they are handed back to the programme in exchange for barter. Finally they are planted, significantly to replace alien vegetation that has been removed from the banks of the rivers. The goal is to care for the rivers in the catchment area, especially the Eerste River that flows through Stellenbosch and Spier. Spier has also helped with the establishment of the Stellenbosch River Collective consisting of a diverse mix of public and private bodies, significantly also representing the largest commercial entities in the river basin.
Living water
As a major user of water, Spier decided to install a ground-breaking waste water treatment plant as far back as 2007. This plant recycles 100% of the waste water from the Spier complex – winery, hospitality, conferencing restaurants and farming. ‘Water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource in the Winelands,’ says Newton-King. The design and installation was carried out by HWT, a water treatment engineering company that strives to use appropriate technology to allow ease of operation and cost efficiency. Grey and black waste water streams from the buildings and services on the property are mixed with effluent from the winery. According to Andrew Hulsman from HWT, winery effluent is low in pH, low in nutrients and presents a variable and often high organic load. He also says that typical wineries use between one to 10 litres of clean water to produce one litre of quality wine. ‘This is
Photo credit: Gareth Griffiths Imaging
Above: Spier’s farm manager, Orlando Filander, with Engineer Andrew Hulsman at the award-winning wastewater treatment plant. Above right: pier’s wasterwater plant – ornamental pond.
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2016/01/14 1:07 PM