eco-logic awards Archives | Solid Green Consulting

Schools of the Future should be bright Green!

Solid Green — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 14:11:51 +0000

Fifteen years ago, the CSIR was tasked by the Department of Education to design a school in each province that went beyond the standard departmental design. The main requirement was that sustainable design practices were applied. Marloes Reinink says, “As part of my masters’ at the time, I assessed how sustainability can be defined for schools. I developed the Sustainable School Assessment Tool which was based on the Sustainable Building Assessment Tool (SBAT) developed by Dr Jeremy Gibberd at the CSIR. The tool looked not only at environmental issues, but also at the social and economic issues of building a school.

Ethekwini Primary School

A school has a large impact on the community it serves; and what you teach the kids will be taken home. For example, one of the eleven schools had a very beautiful and productive garden where a group of ladies was growing vegetables. When we visited the school a year later, we saw that vegetable gardens were popping up at people’s homes around the school.

By the time a child leaves school, they have spent more time in an educational building than anywhere else, with the exception of their home. To this end, the buildings in which we educate our children have a measurable impact on their wellbeing and development.

World Green Building Council (WGBC)

With climate change becoming more and more relevant, and Greta Thunberg representing the youth at high level political forums, it is important that learners at a young age start to understand how it will impact their lives and how they can make a difference. Buildings are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and two of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals are Quality Education (Goal 4) and Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 11). So, it would be extremely beneficial for learners to be taught about sustainable building, health and wellbeing in the classroom.

Research has shown that certain green building factors positively influence learners’ performance at school. The four most important of these are Indoor Air Quality & Ventilation, Natural Daylighting & Lighting, Thermal Comfort, and Noise & Acoustics.

But, can we build green schools at an affordable cost? We live in a country that gives us the best climate to work with to design well-performing schools from a Thermal Comfort and Natural Daylight point of view. We need to go back to basics to fully make use of the climate, good orientation, the right amount of glass and good external shading. If we apply these basic passive design principles, we can design schools that are naturally lit – which is good for student performance and saves on construction and operational costs – and thermally comfortable, without the need for air-conditioning (a costly item to install and operate).

And schools should be self-powered, as they are operational during the day when the sun is shining. Designing classrooms to be thermally comfortable and energy efficient provides enormous financial benefits during the operational lifecycle of the building.

Solid Green has been involved with a couple of school projects over the last few years and is also embarking on two new school projects. Streetlight Schools – Jeppe Park Primary was the first school in South Africa to achieve a 4 Star Green Star SA Interiors v1 As-Built Rating, demonstrating ‘Best Practice’. This school , located in the Johannesburg inner city, hosts some of the city’s poorest children, but they are taught to be proud – of themselves and their school.

Streetlight School Jeppe

At Streetlight, Solid Green donated our expertise and worked closely with the architects to include sustainability within the school. We also paid for the registration fees for the Green Star rating, as we believed it would provide the school with marketing benefits – which paid off when the school was awarded GOLD under the Eco-Build category at the Eco-Logic Awards 2019.

Streetlight School Jeppe

Solid Green is also involved with two new projects – the design of a new school building at St Stithians College in Randburg, where we have been appointed to assist with ensuring that thermal comfort, energy efficiency and sufficient natural daylight are achieved in the classrooms; and the renovation and extension of JL Dube Highschool in Durban for the Cotton On Foundation.

Together with the architects, Fieldworks Design Group , we are starting the journey with an exploration of sustainability goals for the school, which will be inspired by the Living Building Challenge principles and Net Zero thinking. The Cotton On Foundation is funding the upgrades and extension to the school, but also stays involved with the project and assists with improved leadership skills of the Principal and School Governing Body. They further invest in food gardens and a kitchen, to make sure that the children receive a nutritious meal every day.

Sustainability must always be holistic. At Solid Green, we believe that the design and construction of financially feasible green schools is not only possible, but essential. In addition, the lessons around sustainability, in terms of a healthy diet, wellbeing and productivity can only benefit children as they grow. And we believe that teaching children about climate resilience and sustainability will be highly beneficial in the future, as they eventually move into the workplace and make their own decisions that will impact future generations.

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Leading the Race in 2019!

Solid Green — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 14:06:12 +0000

We would like to thank our incredibly proactive clients and all those who are sharing this innovative journey with us!

In 2019, we have been heartened to see the green building movement gaining more traction through the development and adoption of ever-more stringent green rating tools; and we are excited by the increasing global awareness of the immediate need for climate action, especially among young people. This change cannot happen fast enough!

The inaugural events of the Living Future Collaborative South Africa, initiated by Marloes Reinink and Thulani Kuzwayo last year, were part of the ‘24 Hours of Reality: Truth in Action’ global conversation, and sought to drive positive action in moving towards a truly regenerative built environment. This sector-leading approach is something that we bring home every day, and we are incredibly proud that seven of the twenty-five Net Zero Accredited Professionals in South Africa are Solid Greeners!

We have achieved several significant ratings this year, thanks to the vision of our clients and hard work of professional teams. These projects include Sandton Gate’s Sustainable Precincts certification; GEMS Menlyn Maine’s 5-Star Office v1.1 Design certification, which scored very well under Innovation; the new office for MDA Attorneys by Activate Architecture, one of the first buildings in the country to receive a Net Zero Carbon pilot certification; and KFC Newmarket, which achieved a prestigious LEED certification under the LEED 2009 for Retail – New Construction tool.

GEMS Menlyn Maine

MDA Attorneys

Perhaps the most impressive of these achievements is the certification of Balwin Properties residential portfolio under the EDGE tool. Comprising 16,000 units, this is the largest certification of its kind in the world! We are also working on three sector-leading projects that are targeting Living Building Challenge certifications – 4 Rugby Road and 28 Glencoe Road, both in Cape Town (Full LBC certifications); and 76 Corlett Drive in Johannesburg (LBC Petal Certification).

76 Corlett Drive in Johannesburg

Our commitment to driving change was recognised in the awards received by two of our ‘first-of-a-kind’ certified projects – Streetlight Schools’ GOLD award under the Eco-Build category at the Eco-Logic Awards 2019; and 78 Corlett Drive, which won the prestigious OVERALL GREEN AWARD at the SAPOA Property Development Awards for Innovative Excellence 2019.

EcoLogic EcoBuild winners

Our foray into other African countries is also making an impact. In June, Solid Green was represented at the Ghana Green Building Summit by Chilufya Lombe, who spoke and conducted a workshop on high-performance buildings. And, in October, Marloes Reinink and Makhosazana Mthethwa conducted three one-day green building training workshops around the Green Building Requirements within the new Ghana Building Code for the IFC.

Ghana Training

Marloes and Chilu on a Sunset Cruise

We may work hard, but we also play hard! Our year kicked off with three days at the self-catering Blue Sky Lodge in Hartbeespoort, learning, exploring and generally having fun as part of our annual team building event. And, in May, Marloes Reinink and Gavin Westbrook were fortunate enough to attend the Living Future unConference 2019 in Seattle Washington, which included an inspiring visit to the world-renown Bullitt Center – the very first FULL Living Building Challenge certified commercial building. And, of course, let’s not forget the memorable award for ‘Best Dressed Team’ under the theme TRASHION at the GBCSA’s Green Building Convention in October!

Finally, we have been privileged to welcome two new young members to the Solid Green family – Mbongiseni Thwala, Solid Green’s recently appointed office assistant; and Andile Shange, Sustainable Building Consultant who is focusing on Green Interiors. We are so privileged to be able to share our journey with these young people under the guidance of our more experienced professionals.

We would like to thank all our clients and colleagues for your ongoing support and vision, and we look forward to celebrating our 10th birthday with you in 2020 at our new home in Parkhurst, Johannesburg!

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Streetlight Schools wins the Eco-Build Award 2019!

Solid Green — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 12:57:07 +0000

Speaking at the prestigious event, Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy said:

Sustainable development is only possible if it is informed and underpinned by an environmentally literate society. The fundamental message is that environmental management and environmental sustainability is everybody’s issue. We are hearing school children around the world saying, ‘This is our future. We have to have a voice in what this future is going to look like and how we solve the problems that threaten our future.’

The Eco-Logic Awards identify individuals, organisations and communities that positively contribute towards a sustainable world. Established by The Enviropaedia in 2011, the initiative has since grown into South Africa’s most Glamorously Green eco-calendar event, receiving extensive TV, radio, print media and online coverage.

David Fu, Streetlight’s CEO, says:

Streetlight Schools was nominated for an Eco-Build Award by Enviropaedia, and we took first place in our category! The judges were impressed by the fact that we demonstrated that it is possible to build a school in an environmentally sustainable way in a low-resource community, and that the solution can ultimately be scaled up to other communities.

The site for the school, Jeppe Park Primary, is in the heart of Johannesburg’s inner city, within walking distance of Jeppe Station and directly opposite Jeppe Park. The building is naturally ventilated, providing healthy indoor spaces. Clever use of locally sourced materials allows for acoustically designed spaces such as classrooms, libraries, play and social areas suited to educational purposes. School-ground greening allows for various outdoor activities, and nature is included as an integral part of learning and development. The food produced on the development’s rooftop farming project is also incorporated within the healthy diet that is provided for all students at the school daily.

Streetlight Schools focuses on high-quality, low-cost education, and puts the wellbeing of its students first. The holistic development of young learners is supported, including social-emotional skills, identity development and values. And the teacher recruitment and training process enables those without previous experience to become excellent, lifelong educators within two years.