Economic strain, building ratings drive green buildings demand

The economic impact of Covid-19 and the introduction of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) in South Africa are some of the factors driving the growth of the green buildings sector, states consulting engineers WSP Africa building services regional director Alison Groves.

The local market has acknowledged the benefits of green buildings in terms of costs amid the economic climate.

Despite expensive capital costs upfront, “a green building is a quality building in terms of performance” and lower operational costs in the future will compensate for the upfront capital cost, she adds.

“In fact, there’s been a shift in the approach to funding buildings. “It’s not simply the capital cost – it’s also looking at a lifecycle analysis of the building and how it will operate in terms of maintenance and operating costs throughout its life.”

Groves notes that, with technological advances, implementing green buildings projects is becoming more affordable.

“Technology for buildings is improving constantly as green buildings and solutions are becoming more common. “Tenants are also scrutinising their bills more, and a landlord cannot afford to put a tenant in a building that doesn’t perform well, so it becomes a cost of business, rather than a so-called glamour cost.”

She highlights an ongoing study conducted by the University of Pretoria and the Green Building Council South Africa. The study takes account of the cost of building ‘green’ for all rated buildings since 2010 and correlates the cost to the rating performance achieved.

Studies, such as this one, are providing real data to support the idea that developing more environmentally sustainable buildings is not necessarily more costly, she points out.

Further, the introduction of the EPC by government, which is now compulsory for certain building occupancy classes of 2 000 m2 or larger, is contributing to an awareness of the energy consumption of buildings.

Building owners have until December 7 to obtain and display an EPC. Failure to do so could result in a fine of R5-million, five years imprisonment or both.

“The building will be evaluated by an auditor, and the energy performance declared, which will determine the rating the performance of the building would earn. “Building owners are worried that their performance rating will be low, so they’re implementing measures to improve that performance level.”

Groves adds that, locally, efficient energy and water use is also vital when designing green buildings; these are also two of the easiest elements to measure in a green building’s use of resources. They are, moreover, also two resources that create supply challenges in South Africa.

“There is also a greater emphasis on understanding what makes people healthy in a building, how to design for that, and how to use the fewest resources to achieve that comfort level. “Covid-19 has also highlighted the impact of air quality. The industry is being driven by new rating tools that focus on the human experience of buildings, in addition to just the environmental impacts of a building.”

WSP Refurbishments

Owing to the lack of demand for office space and new building projects because of the impacts of Covid-19, there is demand for refurbishment projects that convert old buildings into green, efficient buildings.

“Refurbishment takes existing buildings and reimagines them with a new function, rather than tearing the building down and starting again, which is the least environment-friendly approach to construction. About 98% of our building stock is already existing buildings, so we must improve what we have. We’ve also been involved in doing efficiency ratings for existing buildings.”

Groves highlights that WSP has been involved in two significant green building refurbishment projects in the past year.

The first project entailed the conversion of a warehouse into a laboratory and regional head office space for the South African National Blood Service in KwaZulu-Natal; the second required the conversion of the Towers Main in Johannesburg, Gauteng, into a more efficient and greener building.

“WSP has a strong commitment to green buildings. Our global offices have started a net zero forum through which we collaborate across all continents about what we’re doing to achieve net zero in our building stock. “We’re constantly collaborating with our global peers on new approaches, innovations and technologies, as every country has different challenges towards achieving net zero in a local context,” Groves concludes.