The McGraw-Hill Construction World Green Building Trends report found that between 2012 and 2015, the number of organisations that expect more than 60% of their work to be green will triple in South Africa with 51% building at high levels of green by the end of 2015.
Sustainable construction is on the rise and the industry needs to shift its thinking even further to build within robust green principles as South Africa remains far behind countries such as Singapore, United Kingdom and Brazil.
However, there remain significant challenges on the path to the sustainable building economy — the price perception, lack of legislative and government support and resource availability.
“There is an absolute and pressing need to change the status quo of our consumption of finite resources, destruction of habitat, pollution of air, water, soil and night skies,” says André Harms, sustainability consultant at Ecolution.
“We are living beyond or means and putting unsustainable strain on effectively every resource available.”
For many in the industry, the sustainability movement is a logical step in the evolution of construction – and one that holds enormous potential. The McGraw-Hill research found that South Africa underscored natural resource conservation as its second biggest driver of sustainable construction and that the ethical reasons behind green buildings are a key factor driving green.
The research highlighted that South African firms are not as familiar with the benefits of green and that the market is likely to shift even further if given deeper insight and information.
“Over the past few years there has been a slight shift in thinking, where some developers have come to realise that the building industry in South Africa needs to revolutionise their building techniques,” says Kerry Henning, marketing manager at Saint-Gobain Gyproc.
“Sustainable construction is not only about the building, it’s acknowledging that it’s a living, breathing entity. Developers are also starting to recognise the benefits in terms of being able to charge higher rental fees for green buildings to tenants whose brand philosophies resonate with the concept.”
Jani Bester, technical specialist at Autodesk, agrees: “We are now seeing a trend in the market for buildings to go green.
The primary reason is that these buildings are environmentally friendly and sustainable.”
South Africa may be lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to percentages in green construction — McGraw-Hill’s report showed that South Africa sat at a mere 16% of firms with more than 60% of work green in 2012 — but the concept is starting to gain significant momentum.
While the expected percentage increase in work green is only set at 52% for the end of 2015 compared with 89% in Singapore or 68% in the UK, commitment from government can potentially turn things around.
The new building of the department of environmental affairs, opened late in 2014, is the first government building to receive a 6 Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBSCA). It includes solar power, rain water harvesting, lighting efficiencies and automatic temperature sensors.
It is one of many steps towards the commitments outlined in the National Development Plan towards a more environmentally sustainable and climate change resilient economy that uses sustainable materials, promotes urban greening and drives both energy and water efficiencies.
“Green building certification is unfortunately far from being a legislated requirement and participation is not as prolific as it could be,” says Harms. “However, the government has made progress towards more sustainable buildings by showing leadership with their new department of environmental affairs head office and by legislating the SANS 10400-XA.”
In a recent analysis by Frost & Sullivan – Analysis of the Green Materials Market for Construction – the market earnings by 2017 are estimated $1.5-billion, but the lack of legislation in South Africa around certain green materials remains a threat.
The report highlighted how greenwashing is a key challenge and that by enforcing the use of green materials, government can accelerate growth in the market. This was further supported by the results of the McGraw-Hill report that saw 40% of respondents place lack of government support and incentives as a leading challenge to be overcome in order to achieve a truly sustainable ethos in the country.
“The SANS 10400-XA has some decent requirements, but is exceptionally lax on the overall maximum energy intensity of a building,” says Harms. “Another concern is that, because the landscape is changing so rapidly clients are not often fully au fait with products, jargon, legislation and so forth, and this opens up the threat of greenwashing.
We need legitimate claims and transparent communication to protect the reputation and success of this industry. There is still a lot of work to do for government and leaders to set even more of an example and to tighten up requirements on energy and other fronts.”
Of course, the perceived price tag attached to the sustainable building remains a problem for many in the industry.
The costs of production and training plus limited access to specific resources are seen as too expensive and the barrier to entry too high. However, the figures point in a different direction.
“There is the perception that ‘sustainable’ is ‘expensive’, but this is just not true,” says Henning. “It is no more expensive to build efficiently and it will be paid back within a very short time after the building is complete.”
The GBSCA found green buildings had 25-50% lower energy and water usage, 5-6% higher rental rates, 11-12% increased property value and a 20% productivity increase.
In 2013, the GBCSA collaborated with IPD South Africa to undertake further research into the benefits of sustainable buildings and construction and found that these results remained consistent with energy-efficient buildings still boasting better occupancy levels and higher returns with greater net incomes per square metre and net income growth than buildings with less efficient ratings.
“The sustainability industry in South Africa is growing rapidly and the GBCSA is a good indicator of the development in this sector,” says Harms. “However, due to the relative youth and limited prominence in the global arena of the GBCSA when compared with its counterparts such as the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and the limited diversity of rating tools has meant that the latter’s LEED rating system is becoming increasingly popular in South Africa.”
Looking forward, however, the industry appears to be on the cusp of significant change and growth. The availability of resources continues to rise and new ideas around sustainability are coming to the fore.
A report by Afrisam looks at another emerging trend in this arena — lean construction. Taken from Japanese principles of lean production, this philosophy examines every aspect of the supply chain in order to minimise inefficiencies, improve quality and deliver on value.
This approach mitigates the concept of cost by ensuring that many of the problems that plague construction are seamlessly managed.
Through collaboration and control this process has the ability to further reduce waste and ensure a more seamless flow of product and resource to site.
“There needs to be a widespread change in the construction industry’s mind-set,” says Henning.
“The challenge and the opportunity facing the construction industry are to meet the current energy crisis and low carbon agenda and this will demand a radical change. A shift is needed.
The industry needs to change the way it conducts business and government needs to take action to meet the scale of the challenge. As an industry we need to take the first steps towards addressing the sustainability issue in all its complexity.”
In South Africa, sustainable construction is driven by the same concerns as anywhere else in the world, but the pressing issues around energy and environment lead the way.
The GBCSA has recently highlighted how energy efficiency has become an urgent problem thanks to increases in electricity costs announced at the 2015 Budget. However, the organisation also sees this as an opportunity for industry to step onto the sustainable bandwagon and drive energy efficiencies as a matter of course.
“There is the opportunity to leverage African innovators that are looking to rural areas and under-privileged areas across the continent for ideas and innovations on sustainable building,” says Bester. “In areas where resources are scarce often innovative ways of addressing issues and challenges can be found.”
The construction environment in South Africa may not be as far along the sustainable path as other countries, but it is experiencing a significant surge in growth and commitment. While the challenges remain, they can be overcome by collaboration and increased pressure on government to step up and take on even more responsibility for the sustainable development of the country.
““It is evident that to address the global priorities of climate change and scarcity of natural resources that the environmental impact of the built environment requires urgent improvement. Built environment professionals need to take the initiative and show green leadership,” says Brian Wilkinson, CEO of the GBSCA.
“The industry in the South Africa has embraced the GBCSA rating system in a large way ensuring that our team are hard at work with applications for new ratings. Green Star certified projects are already reaping the rewards of their green investments all while doing their bit for the environment. There is still a lot to be done to ensure that the environmental impact of the built environment is improved.”