Industry News

NEWS PRODUCTS • HAPPENINGS • EVENTS

NEW ALTERNATIVE TO FIBRECEMENT EAVES CLADDING GOVERNMENT GOES GREEN - DPW - EASTERN CAPE PUBLIC WORKS

Saint-Gobain in South Africa has developed an innovative alternative to the dominant fibre-cement eaves cladding solution currently used in the industry. Glasroc® X eaves, is Saint-Gobain Gyproc’s latest and distinctive offering, as it allows for a flush plastered finish in order to resist the rigors of the local external environment.

This exterior cladding board aims to fully address the challenges of unstable climatic conditions, by providing a durable yet flexible solution. Often, the primary driver in the choice of material for this type of system, is that the material and installation must resist large temperature fluctuations and the natural movement of a structure.

“The Glasroc® X Eaves System is a durable external ceiling for use in covered, semi-exposed and exposed areas of buildings,” explains Paul Louw, Product Category Manager, from Saint-Gobain Africa. Glasroc® X is reinforced with a glass-mat on both surfaces, providing outstanding performance in harsh and humid environments. This non paper-faced board is free from cellulose content, and therefore has a strong inherent resistance to mould growth, which is perfect for wet areas and high-humidity environments.

Additionally, apart from its durable properties, Glasroc® X presents an aesthetically pleasing eaves concealed ceiling extension, with no obvious jointing, other than where expansion joints are required. “Adopting this new approach to exterior eaves cladding will support design excellence, improve the aesthetic comfort and simultaneously help us reach our goal of making the world a better home,” says Louw.

This new alternative to fibre cement eaves has already been vigorously tested in the harsh climatic conditions of the United Kingdom, Ireland and mainland Europe – with great success. Due to its design and structure, the Glasroc® X board has a high dimensional stability, making it ideal for large running external ceiling areas that are only interrupted at a maximum of every 15 metres for control joints. A prime example of this is office buildings

By satisfying an array of building configurations in South Africa, the new Glasroc® X board is ready to enter both the local residential and commercial markets. The department is the biggest player in the property and construction sector in the province. It accepted a responsibility of providing leadership in green building and green economy. Duty-bound by its mandate, the department took decisive steps to ensure that the portfolio of state building is reducing environmental impact by making sure that buildings are energy efficient, resource efficient and environmentally responsible.

Informed by international agreements such as Kyoto Protocol, the department was instructed by the Minister and Member of Executive Council forum (MinMec) to adhere to these international agreements of reducing carbon footprint.

The Green Building Policy as it stands is founded on principles such as Leadership, Energy, Water and Waste Management Plans, Green Building Ratings and Green Procurement to mention a few.

Buildings Chief Director, Malikhanye Mduba, outlining department plans said that the focus will be on roof top solar panels that will be installed as well as installing rain water tanks as an ongoing initiative. Motion sensors for water taps in the rest rooms to assist water efficiency in the department. The is a plan to install.

Such bold steps to be undertaken by the department in realising the green buildings ambitions requires that staff be fully capacitated on these new developments.

“We will prioritise energy and water efficiency, alternative water resources, job creation, capacity building and awareness campaigns as key focus areas” Mduba said.

The Green Buildings Policy is a milestone in government path of green building and Green Buildings economy, this further demonstrates the country’s support to on-going local and international commitments

By : Sive Zuzile

35TH COROBRIK STUDENT ARCHITECTURE AWARDS REGIONAL WINNER: UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

Highlighting talent, creativity, innovation, and inspiration, the Corobrik Student Architecture Awards is all about jump-starting careers, building the industry, and designing tomorrow. Regional winners are selected from eight major universities, based on the students’ final theses. These regional winners then go through to the national round, where the top title is awarded, plus a R70 000 grand prize.

Entitled ‘Re[covering] Place: African ways of seeing, thinking and making as a call to rethink and remake places in cities’, Mpho’s thesis investigates issues of recovery and preservation of traditional African knowledge systems, and how these can be translated into making contemporary spaces. “The blanket revealed an interesting cross-pollination of cultures and an ability to embody the tangible and intangible infrastructures that shape the identity of the Basotho people,” explains Mpho.

The project proposes the use of the Basotho blanket as a symbolic artefact of cultural preservation and continuum through architecture. This is explored through its connections to traditional practices such as litema mural practice, communal relatedness, and connection to nature in the creation of symbolic form and space. “I am extremely delighted and honoured to receive this prestigious award. I am even more excited to represent UCT at a national level.” Mpho adds that the Corobrik Student Architecture Awards is a great platform to share ideas on integrating African narratives into students’ work.

“In sponsoring such awards, companies like Corobrik open up new avenues of work and collaboration that propel students into the professional world, where they can take their ideas further. Apart from the exposure, it also inspires other students to perform at their level best, and offers a chance for them to engage with student work from different institutions,” says Mpho.

This year the national awards will again be a hybrid event held in June, following a similar format as in 2021. The 2019 awards ceremony was postponed due to Covid-19, with Corobrik instead announcing the 2019 and 2020 winners at a combined event last year. “We are very excited to celebrate the 35th edition of the awards. It has been an incredibly exciting and richly fulfilling journey,” highlights Corobrik Marketing Support Manager Thilo Sidambaram, who herself has been involved with the awards for two decades.

“Our relationship with the awards goes back some 35 years, and it is one that has proved very enlightening for Corobrik. It has added a lot of depth and enriched the architectural profession by allowing young up-and-coming architects to express themselves and show the kinds of directions they believe architecture should be going in,” comments Corobrik CEO Nick Booth. Since 1986, the awards have placed 34 winners on the architectural map, both in leading practices as well as their own firms.

35th Corobrik Architectural Student of the Year Awards: University of Cape Town

Winner Mpho Sephelane

First Runner Up Hannah Mullins

“I believe deeper investigations of vernacular architecture and traditional building technologies can reveal numerous sources of conceptual solutions through which sustainable systems can be rediscovered and translated in our urban environments. These can offer new ways to empower users at all levels and foster sustainable networks of production in communities in ways that are culturally and contextually specific,” highlights Mpho. Second Runner Up Travors van Breda

Best Use of Clay Masonry Treasa McMillan

Visit studentawards.corobrik.co.za for more information about the Corobrik Student Architecture Awards.

GREEN METHANOL GETS A MASSIVE BOOST

One of the world’s largest oil consumers, AP MOLLER-MAERSK Shipping Lines teams up with six energy firms to jump start the green energy market and ditch fossil fuels.

By the end of 2025 Maersk, the giant Danish company based in Copenhagen, will be able to buy 730,000 tonnes of methanol a year. That is only 3.5% of its current oil consumption but is astonishingly higher than the world’s current global methanol of 30,000 tonnes. In a Catch 22, chicken-and-egg scenario that has thwarted wholehearted crossover to the green fuel market up until now, few energy companies produce green methanol because there is little demand. Ship owners on the other hand are reluctant to build green vessels because there is such small fuel production.

Head of Maersk’s fleet, Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, said “to transition towards decarbonisation we need a significant and timely acceleration in the production of green fuels.” The partnerships have now given Maersk an “important milestone”.

Maersk is the largest shipping line in the world, measured by ships owned. The mega company has set a goal to become carbon neutral by 2040. Shipping on the global scale accounts for 3% of the world’s carbon emissions, and green methanol is identified as the best fuel to cut shipping pollutants under construction right now the Maersk shipyards have twelve container vessels due to come into service. The commitment to 730,000 tonnes of green ethanol will power this new fleet.

The ethanol producers have global operations that will provide the network to serve the ships. All are expected to accelerate production as the global demand increases. They are Danish companies Orsted and European Energy, Chinese companies CIMC, Green Technology Bank and ENRIC, and Wastefuel in USA, and the Swiss firm Proman. The switch to Methanol or Ammonia is expected to raise the operating costs to shipping by 10%, an amount the CEO of Maersk, Soren Skou, says is something the shipping industry can afford to deal with. The company uses 11 million tonnes of oil a year which is about as much as the world produces everyday.

Royston Lamond