In ‘The Journey to Net Zero’, we explored the drive to net zero carbon buildings and the Living Building Challenge. The first part looked at how the global drive to net zero relates to our local standards like SANS 10400-XA, and how it will influence our work as practitioners in the way that we design our buildings.

A number of our South African cities are part of the C40 global cities network and have committed to ensuring that all new buildings must be net zero by 2030, and that all existing buildings must be net zero 2050. According to the GBCSA’s Net Zero/Net Positive Certification Scheme, a net zero building is “a building that is highly energy-efficient, with the remaining energy requirement generated from renewable energy, preferably on-site or off-site where absolutely necessary.”

This is in line with the Paris Agreement which included a commitment from over 195 countries to limit our CO2 emissions to ensure that global temperatures do not rise more than 2 degrees.

Buildings can play a huge part in this carbon reduction target because, with relatively little money, you can make a big difference – this is unlike other industries such as agriculture and transport.

Buildings and their operations are responsible for over 40% of global emissions. In order for us to meet the target of all new buildings being net zero by 2030 (which is in eight years’ time!), we need to deploy a different design methodology for buildings. This is all outlined in the report Getting to Zero: a guide to developing Net Zero Carbon buildings in South Africa.

As a rule, buildings in South African cities can achieve thermal comfort without mechanical heating or cooling. The first step is to employ all available passive design strategies for the climate the building is situated in. The second is to select the most energy efficient building systems (active design); and the final step is to look at renewable power sources (clean energy).

There are several projects in South Africa that have already achieved their net zero targets, with more in the pipeline:

• Balwin Lifestyle Centres (there are six)
• Balwin Head Office, Corlett Drive
• Legaro: 76 + 78 Corlett Drive
• In2Food Bonaero Facility
• MDA Head Office
• Linden Vleihuis
• Solid Green Offices

The second part of the presentation covered the Living Building Challenge. As one of the most stringent building certification tools in the world, the Challenge take a holistic approach that includes considerations around equity, beauty and health.

Rather than a checklist, the building is evaluated on outcomes and performance. The evaluation criteria are based on the qualities of a flower. While being rooted in place, the building must harvest all its own energy and water, be adapted to climate and site, operate pollution free, comprise of integrated systems, and be beautiful. The Challenge criteria are presented as seven ‘petals’: Place, Water, Energy, Heath & Happiness, Materials, Equity, and Beauty.

A regenerative future for people and planet can only happen with the full commitment of individuals, communities and nations. The CPD Roadshow was key to helping us spread this message.

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Out of the 700 projects that have been Green Star certified by the GBCSA, there are only around 35 buildings that have achieved the highest 6-star rating – approximately 5% in total. If we aim to significantly advance the green building movement and also comply with the coming legislation, it will soon become the norm to design and build high performing 6-star buildings.

For the industry to achieve this, we need to critically look at how we are designing buildings and if we can find better approaches to building design. An innovative design approach is needed in which the team identifies and harnesses opportunities to achieve synergies across disciplines and building systems. Such an approach is called Integrated Design (ID), which is a method used for the design and operations of sustainable built environments.

Read the full article here (pages 28-31):

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Marloes Reinink

The Mail & Guardian’s Greening the Future flagship awards recognises 60 winners in 10 environmental and sustainability categories, and celebrates the dedication of environmental and sustainability trailblazers and heroes who are working towards ensuring that CO2 emissions decrease within prescribed bounds to limit the precarious rise in global temperatures.

View the Green Building category winners here, and read the full Greening the Future supplement here.

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Guest speakers are:

• Climate Reality Leader: Adrie Fourie on ‘Setting the Scene – Climate Reality’
• Living Building Challenge Ambassador: Marloes Reinink on ‘Living Buildings for a Living Future’
• Denise Mall ‘Taking Action – from Sustainable to Regenerative’.

There will be three short presentations, 3x 20min and an hour discussion time afterwards. Drinks and snacks will be provided and the event is for free.  One tree will be planted for every person who attends these events, with thanks to our friends at One Tree Planted.

Please extend the invite to your colleagues or anyone that would be interested to have a discussion on how climate change is affecting our industry and what we can do to change.

The event is free, and CPD available for SACAP & ECSA.

Register here.

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Solid Green has been working closely with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to develop an easy to understand User Guide for Section 37 of the Ghana Building Code. Section 37 of the Ghana Building Code focuses on Green Buildings and sustainability in buildings. We have also developed a training package for architects, consulting engineers and other professionals from the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

The purpose of the training sessions held in October 2019 was to set out the different methods of compliance for future buildings to acquire their local authority approvals. The two methods are the prescriptive route of compliance and the green building certification-based route.

Prescriptive Route of Compliance – Ghana Building Code Section 37

Ghana is revamping its building code and it’s a monumental feat! The Ghana Building Code draft is an adoption of the International Building Code. The 1700-page document was created by the Ghana Standards Authority for the Ministry of Works and Housing and was supported by the IFC with donor funds from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

This progressive code has set a new benchmark in sustainability for buildings in Section 37, which outlines Green Building Requirements. As is widely known, existing buildings account for more than 40% of the world’s total primary energy consumption and 24% of global carbon dioxide emissions. Buildings are also responsible for a huge share of water and materials consumption. The good news is that the building sector has the greatest potential to deliver significant reduction in emissions at minimum cost.

This code shows Ghana’s commitment to mitigating against climate change, as the standard is set relatively high when compared to other countries. Furthermore, the GSA aims to revise the code every three years to ensure a consistently improving benchmark.

The highlights of the new code will include:

Energy Efficiency:

• Minimum efficiency requirements for electric air-cooled systems – Energy Efficiency Ratio of 2.8.
• Maximum lighting power densities and efficient luminaires based on building typology.
• All lighting must have occupancy sensor controls.
• Renewable energy generation is required for homes over 75sqm and commercial/industrial buildings over 5000sqm.

Water Efficiency:

• Onsite stormwater management (with a minimum of 50% permeable or soft landscape required).
• Minimum of 50% of the roof area to be used for diversion to a dedicated rainwater storage tank.
• Metering of all ground water wells.
• Onsite sewage treatment facility must be provided for all building larger than 1500sqm, or with more than 15 multi-family residential units. The treated water must be used for irrigation, cooling towers or flushing.
• All water fittings and fixtures must be below the maximum allowed water consumption.

Waste Reduction and Recycling:

• An onsite enclosed waste collection and separation facility that is at least 1sqm per 250sqm GFA of the building.

Performance Route of Compliance – Green Building Certifications

As an alternative, the GSA allows professionals to submit a green building certification to demonstrate compliance with Section 37. Green building rating or certification systems reward buildings achieving a sustainability performance target. The approved certification systems are:

• Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) Buildings (IFC)
• Green Star Africa (via GBCSA)
• LEED (USGBC)
• DGNB (DGNB Germany)
• BREEAM (BRE – UK)

Our training extended to providing demonstrations on how to make use of the EDGE tool. EDGE, an innovation of the IFC, is a fast, easy and affordable green building certification tool. EDGE provides design solutions that are climate specific. It also supports the ambitions of Architecture 2030 and the World Green Building Council for new buildings to be zero carbon by 2030 and all buildings to be zero carbon by 2050.

It was a privilege to be able to contribute further to the Green Building movement in Africa, and to pass on the skills that we have acquired over the years!

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Chihuly Glass Garden

Hosted by the ILFI (International Living Future Institute) in their home city, the unConference 2019 took place from 30th April to 3rd May. My first event, on the Tuesday, was ‘Demystifying the Materials Petal: A workshop on Achieving Certification’. The Material Petal from the LBC (Living Building Challenge) standard is arguably the hardest credit to achieve as it asks so many questions that have never been asked before about the constituent elements of buildings. The LBC uses the precautionary principle that all materials must be proven safe BEFORE they can be used, which is in stark contrast to the way in which most products are used. The workshop dealt with the technicalities of the credit, what tools to use to make it easier, where to find resources, and gave us a few exercises to test out what we had learnt – a very valuable workshop indeed!

From collaboration workshop

On Wednesday, Marloes and I toured the Bullitt Centre in the morning and then attended the International Summit in the afternoon. The summit was a small group of LBC Ambassadors from many countries around the world – including the UK, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Mexico and, of course, South Africa. Through meeting the other participants and discussing challenges in different markets, it was interesting to see how some things we find very hard are very easy for other countries, simply because of the way geography and historic development have taken place.

The Opening Reception was later that night and the main speaker was renowned environmentalist, author, and journalist Bill McKibben, followed by a ‘15 Minutes of Brilliance’ presentation featuring climate change activist Jamie Margolin. McKibben shared his views on the world today, where we are heading and what we can do about it. His new book, called ‘Falter. Has the human game begun to play itself out?’, is definitely on my reading list.

15 minutes of brilliance speakers

Margolin is a 17-year-old climate and social justice advocate from Seattle, and the founder of Zero Hour. She spoke about the need to include historically marginalised communities in the climate challenge to ensure that they are not left behind by progress and that they are not the ones to bear the brunt of the negative consequences of our ecological, societal and economic history.

Thursday started with group yoga, followed by a morning keynote by Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of the ILFI, and a ‘15 Minutes of Brilliance’ presentation featuring Sara Sanford. Sturgeon updated everyone on the progress of the ILFI, the industry and goals for the future. Sanford, the founder of GEN (Gender Equity Now), runs the GEN certification which rates how companies perform with regard to gender equity. She spoke about the challenges and successes she has seen and what work is being done to achieve more gender equity.

The first session of the day was ‘Collaborative Intelligence for Sustainability Project Teams’. The idea behind this session was to create more ideas, faster, and more creatively in design charrettes. We ran through the theory of different approaches and tried them out in practice. The approaches tried to deal with common group work problems; and the session was uncomfortable, fun and very useful.

‘Creating a Zero Carbon City: Putting Policy into Practice’ was a panel discussion that addressed the challenges of implementing new policies to address climate change and resource protection. ‘Lifting the Lid: Designing and Delivering an Effective LBC Tour’ was quite an informative session given by people that run building tours on a regular basis for LBC certified projects. As Public Education is a credit in the LBC, this is an important aspect that projects need to address.

The Friday morning keynote, again after yoga and breakfast, was given by Mary Robinson and the ‘15 Minutes of Brilliance’ featured Mark Chambers. Robinson is the former (and first female) president of The Republic of Ireland and has done a lot of work for environmental and social justice causes around the world. She is founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation, which focuses on climate justice, and has written a book called ‘Climate Justice’.

Chambers, the Chief Sustainability Officer for New York City, spoke about the two major challenges facing the city – climate change and social inequality. New York has been experiencing more frequent and damaging extreme weather events, and the people that are worst hit are those who are least equipped to deal with the consequences. NY has launched several projects to clean up its energy, make the city more efficient and support the people who need help by improving public infrastructure and access to resources.

‘A Celebration of the Senses’ covered the idea that we do not currently design our spaces using all of the available aspects of human experience – Geometric/Tectonic, Light, Thermal, Acoustic, Olfactory, Haptic, Personal, and Cultural aspects. These spaces should be designed so that people can move around to experience and be stimulated by variations in light, sound, texture and temperature.

‘Delivering the World’s most Sustainable Shopping Centre’ explored the Burwood Brickworks in Melbourne, a new shopping centre built on the site of an old brick yard. The vision was industry leadership in terms of sustainability and innovation; and the goal was to achieve an LBC rating while achieving the same financial returns as on other projects – with the intention that this way of developing will become the new normal.

‘If You Can Only Do One Thing: Using the COTE Toolkit to Elevate Every Project’ looked at the COTE Top Ten Toolkit, a new resource that documents design best practices along the broad spectrum of sustainability measures. The idea is to get the right information delivered to the right people at the right time, as an incredibly effective way to improve performance. The tool is designed to save professionals time and address the most important aspects of sustainable design.

Every evening of the unConference featured a networking party held at various locations across the city. Quite a nice surprise was that vegan options were provided at all breakfasts and lunches, via local food trucks in the hotel car park. A definite highlight was meeting Amanda Sturgeon, Jason McLennan and all the wonderful staff at the ILFI with whom we have been conversing via email for so long. Both the unConference and Seattle were inspiring – I will be back!

Local craft resturant

Old Stove Brewery – final night function

Mount Renier seen from the plane

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4th SAWIPA National Awards: Marloes Reinink named Business Woman of the Year: Entrepreneur.

The national event is a culmination of the regional awards which took place in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg in August. The regional winners in each category then went on to become finalists at the national awards.

Reinink is founder of Solid Green Consulting, the largest dedicated green building consulting firm in South Africa. Under her leadership, Solid Green has achieved over 55 green building certifications and has begun to create a footprint in countries like Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana and Namibia. As director, Reinink has been responsible for the growth of the business over the last 8 years, from the initial three partners to fourteen Green Star Accredited Professionals.

Solid Green Consultings’ Marloes Reinink.

“It is crucial that cities grow in a sustainable manner,” Reinink says. “Cities today face numerous challenges, but at the same time they are nodes of opportunity to move green design beyond the building scale into the public realm.

It is a great privilege to be acknowledged as SAWIPA’s Business Woman of the Year: Entrepreneur against such high-calibre professionals. The South African Women in Property Awards offers a platform for celebrating not only gender equity in our property industry, but also the important advances that the sector is taking to align itself with best practice worldwide.

An architect by training, Reinink holds two Master degrees for her work in developing the Sustainable School Design Tool for the design of schools in rural areas in South Africa, and Energy Efficiency Labelling Programmes for South Africa. After completing these studies, she joined the CSIR where she worked on the Sustainable Building Assessment Tool (SBAT) and the Green Building Programme for Africa.

In 2007, Reinink went into consulting at Green by Design, which in 2008 became part of WSP, a leading multi-national engineering consultancy. She was the sustainability consultant and Green Star expert on the ground-breaking Nedbank Phase II in Sandton, which received the first Green Star SA Office v1 Design and As-Built rating; as well as Villa Mall Pretoria, which received the first Green Star SA Retail v1 Design rating.

A proven pioneer in her field, Reinink founded Solid Green in 2010. Her unwavering focus on reversing the effects of climate change through better buildings and her passion for sustainability have won over the entire construction industry, and she is now easily the most recognizable face in green building consulting.

The Solid Green team.

She has also ensured that the business invests in its staff by providing a healthy work environment and a healthy work culture. Solid Green’s own office, the first project in Africa to be featured on the Biophilic Map, was awarded a prestigious LEED Platinum certification for Commercial Interiors and the first 6-Star Green Star SA Interiors v1 certification in 2016.

Says Chilufya Lombe, Reinink’s business partner and director at Solid Green:

The company is continuously evolving and has never been allowed to become complacent in any way. Under her leadership, new service offerings such as green building education, policy work for African countries, and the development of energy building regulations have set the firm apart. She also has a keen interest in advancing the skills of others to continue the fight against climate change, and her advocacy work includes mentoring Masters students with an interest in sustainability.

Marloes and Chilufya Lombe.

Reinink reached the pinnacle of local Green Building success in 2013 when she won the Green Star SA Leadership Awards’ Established Green Star. Since then, she has taken on new challenges and is currently the only ambassador in Africa for the Living Building Challenge, possibly the most rigorous green building certification programme and sustainable design framework in the world. She says:

This work keeps me motivated and realistic that there is still a long way to go in terms of greening the built environment. Solid Green is very excited to be working on two residential projects in Cape Town that are registered to be Full Living Buildings under the Challenge.

Reinink has also been proactive in addressing the lack of knowledge on green building matters by co-founding GreenED in 2017, an online platform that provides affordable online courses on sustainability in the built environment. The aim is not only to reach professionals in the building industry but also students in universities, effectively creating a grass roots programme for the green economy.

The Solid Green team.

The SAWIPA Awards not only recognise the achievements of individuals but also their contribution to the broader industry, to encourage transformation and women’s participation in the sector. The full list of winners is below.

NATIONAL WINNERS:

YOUNG ACHIEVER
Tshepiso Kobile – Commercial Executive Infrastructure, Tongaat Hulett Developments

BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE YEAR – ENTREPRENEUR
Marloes Reinink – Owner, Solid Green Consulting

PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR – PRIVATE SECTOR
Charmaine Schwenn – Founding Partner, Schwenn Inc Attorneys & Conveyancers

PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR – PUBLIC SECTOR
Gisela Kaiser – Executive Director, Informal Settlements, Water & Waste, City of Cape Town

LISA BLANE AWARD
Dr Thandi Ndlovu – Executive Chair, Motheo Construction Group

NATIONAL JUDGES:
Peter Levett, Managing Director, Old Mutual Property
Amelia Beattie, Chief Executive Officer, Liberty Two Degrees
Jackie van Niekerk, Chief Operating Officer, Attacq
David Green, Director and Founding Shareholder, ProAfrica Property Services

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This is according to green building consultant Marloes Reinink of Solid Green. “Cities today face numerous challenges, but at the same time they are nodes of opportunity to move green design beyond the scale of individual buildings.” She adds that the impacts of unsustainable development include a rise in global temperatures, the urban heat-island effect, a lack of resilience to natural disasters, air and noise pollution, concerns around food and water security, and increasing socio-economic inequality.

Urban sprawl

According to Reinink, one of the biggest challenges is suburban sprawl. This is characterised by isolated residential developments, separate business parks and islands of retail with big parking lots that are mainly accessible by car, despite 80% of the population being pedestrians. This disconnected way of urban planning takes up valuable land space that could be used for agriculture, increases pressure on resources, and requires extensive transport infrastructure. And, according to an American study by The Smart Prosperity Institute on the cost of sprawl, it is almost three times more expensive to maintain these wide-spread sprawl areas than high-density, inner-city living areas.

Well-designed cycle and pedestrian path around Cape Town Stadium (Credit: Zendré Compion)

On a personal level, people have to spend more on transport and waste a lot of time sitting in traffic – thus missing out on vital physical activity which, in turn, may lead to health issues and higher medical expenses.

Learning from the Past

Reinink highlights a number of strategies to create sustainable cities that are both in line with New Urbanism principles and draw on the lessons of historical cities that evolved over time – resulting in compact, connected, mixed-use and walkable neighbourhoods.

• Compact, mixed-use precincts: Taking the idea of a 20-minute neighbourhood, developments should comprise a good mix of uses that are all connected so that residents can easily walk or cycle to where they need to be.
• Human scale: Probably the most important objective is to plan for the end user by designing to a human scale, with a focus on sidewalks with ground-level activity where people feel safe walking. This would exclude big open parking lots, closed facades along walkways, and multi-lane roads in predominantly pedestrian areas.
• Activate street edges: Design for vertical mixed use (commercial and residential), with restaurants, retail and leisure activities encouraging pedestrian movement at street level, connected by safe, shaded pedestrian walkways and places for social interaction.
• Mixed-mode transport infrastructure: Providing cycling lanes, continuous sidewalks and connections to suitable public transport could significantly change people’s behaviour, just as the Gautrain did. Reinink observes, “In Gauteng in general we have extremely low densities, which makes it really difficult for public transport to work efficiently, but that is beginning to change.”
• Integration and connectivity: Most malls and offices in South Africa are very difficult to access on foot or by bicycle. Rather, these retail and commercial opportunities should be integrated with the surrounding neighbourhoods through interconnected blocks and multiple pedestrian entrances and exits.
• Create walkable cities: Urban planner Jeff Speck has identified four characteristics of a walkable city: (1) users should have a reason to walk (close amenities); (2) the walk must be safe (continuous sidewalks); (3) it should be comfortable (shading); and (4) the route should be interesting (providing access to shops, public art/furniture and rest areas).

Sustainable Precincts

The new Green Star SA Communities tool has recently been launched, with Solid Green consulting on four of the thirteen projects that will be piloting the tool – Oxford Parks, Sandton Gate, Metro Precinct and Menlyn Maine.

Menlyn Maine Pegasus (Credit: Boogertman+Partners.)

The Green Star Communities vision is to: enhance liveability while creating opportunities for economic prosperity; foster environmental responsibility; and embrace design excellence while demonstrating visionary leadership and strong governance. The tool looks at the shared attributes of Infrastructure, Buildings, the Public Realm, People, Ecology, Economy, Governance, and Services.

Reinink concludes:

While several high-density, self-sustaining city developments have been developed, such as Melrose Arch, Waterfall Estate, Menlyn Maine and Oxford Parks, we need to ensure that these developments are connected and that there will be a sustainable means of transport between these developments to ensure the sustainable growth of our cities. Walkable cities are healthy cities, and we have to look more pragmatically at how we can adjust to make cities function in a more sustainable way.

Bryant Park, NYC (Credit: Zendré Compion)

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Located on the second floor of an existing mixed-use commercial building on Tyrwhitt Avenue, the 180 sqm premises have been designed to accommodate 15 employees in a 120 sqm double-volume studio space, with an additional interlinked 60 sqm workspace and boardroom at mezzanine level. The public facilities – a meeting nook and kitchenette – lead onto an outdoor terrace on the southern side which is used as a chill-out and entertainment zone.

Environmental quality

Marloes Reinink, Director at Solid Green, says:

We spend about 90% of our time indoors, either at work in our offices or at home. It is therefore only logical that we should focus more on how these interior spaces can support our healthy living by improving the air quality of our indoor spaces.

Accordingly, a strong emphasis was placed on the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) of the company’s offices in order to support employee well-being and comfort. Full-height windows and glass sliding doors at both entrance and mezzanine level, together with strategically placed window sections, mean that natural lighting and ventilation are optimised. Materials and finishes have been carefully selected for improved thermal and acoustic comfort, and to reduce the occupants’ exposure to pollutants. Jessé Hamman, Sustainable Building Consultant at Solid Green, says, “The main focus was on enhancing the interior features of the space to make it not just function better within the different zones, but also more comfortable for the employees.”

Reinink adds:

There is also a growing recognition of the benefits of including biophilia in our building designs, which centres around the fact that humans have an innate attraction to nature. Connecting with nature reduces stress, enhances creativity and improves well-being. Research suggest that workers in office environments with natural elements report a 15% higher level of well-being; and are 6% more productive, and 15% more creative.

This philosophy is carried throughout the spaces with indoor and outdoor planting: a green wall leads from the entrance into the main workspace; plants are located through the open plan work areas; succulents form sculptural elements along the north-facing balcony overlooking the street; and small-scale urban farming is planned for the open-air terrace. The company’s signature green is also subtly incorporated into various furnishings and fittings, giving the spaces a bright, attractive quality; and the staircase connecting the entrance and mezzanine levels is a lightweight, sinuous vertical element.

For maximum energy efficiency, radiant cooling and energy-efficient equipment (laptops and printers are Energy Star rated) have been specified. All light fittings are energy efficient LEDs with occupancy sensors; and a 1.8 kW thinfilm solar PV system has been added to the roof, which takes the office to net zero energy on an annual basis. Rainwater tanks and water-saving fittings are planned, as well as rainwater harvesting for irrigation of the exterior vegetable garden.

Solid Insight

A key feature of the refurbishment was the installation of Solid Green’s own Solid Insight – a software platform that generates accurate live-metering data that can be accessed from any device with an internet connection. By integrating with the office’s smart-metering systems, the application enables automated billing for energy and water consumption, while environmental reporting is also handled automatically.

“Solid Insight is like internet banking for your energy,” says Warren Gray, Director at Solid Green. “When users are provided with clear, real-time insight into the workings of their buildings, they are able to pursue sustainability goals as informed and responsible agents.”

Interior furnishings

All office furniture is reused or refurbished, with the exception of a few new ergonomic office chairs. Anglo American donated 20 desks following their own refurbishment; the boardroom tables were bought at an auction; and the boardroom chairs from antique stores. Feature seating (foops) in the meeting nook was made from recycled 2-litre plastic bottles and recycled partitioning material, while the love-seat bean bag was made from upcycled T-shirt materials.

Transport

As the offices are centrally located in Rosebank, Solid Green’s employees have easy, walking-distance access to public transport, including the Gautrain Rosebank Station, taxi rank and bus station. In addition, the company’s senior management have ensured that alternative transport modes are also available during office hours. These include: an electric car and electric bicycles with charging facilities; car-sharing; and cyclist facilities with a shower.

“Solid Green is one of the initiators of the Decongest Sandton movement and so there is a big push for our staff to minimise private car use and explore alternative modes of transport,” Reinink emphasises.

We are currently in the process of setting up an incentive programme for the staff to encourage non-private car use. As our own client, it has been insightful to understand the cost implications of creating a more sustainable space.  We have learned to keep a close eye on what is actually happening on site, and to establish processes to minimise change. We understand that there is always time pressure involved with projects and with interior projects even more so – and we therefore encourage our clients to allow for as much design time as possible.

By achieving such a significant milestone for green interiors in the redevelopment of its own offices, Solid Green has succeeded in demonstrating, once again, its commitment to sustainable building design, practice and innovation.

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Starting from initiation, design and construction, Solid Green‘s service offerings extend right through to operation and maintenance of a project. Marloes Reinink, founder of Solid Green, says:

Ideally, green-building consultants should be involved from the initiation and design stages of a project to maximise the cost efficiency of green-building initiatives. This includes working with the client to create a green-building brief that encompasses the vision for the project. Services then extend to: green-building workshops and project-strategy sessions; setting targets for environmental performance and/or benchmarking of sustainable design, construction and operations; energy, thermal and daylight modelling; and Green Star aspiration.

Solid Green Consulting has tailored its service offerings to meet the needs of its clients in this environment, taking into account the best building practices, the long-term financial and operational benefits of going green, and the increasing demand for systems that benefit occupant health and productivity.

Solid Green is specialised and experienced in both Green Star and LEED green-building certification, offering certification for offices, multi-unit residential projects, retail centres, industrial developments, existing buildings, interiors, and public and education buildings. All team members are Green Star SA Accredited Professionals, with key team members also holding LEED AP accreditation.

Certification services

• Certification workshops, courses and education.
• Strategy and risk assessments for certification projects.
• Certification consulting and management.
• Specification and material review.
• Peer review of certification submissions.

To enhance its offerings, Solid Green has developed an innovative web app called Solid XA to take the hassle out of completing and submitting SANS10400 XA Rational Assessments. For the operational phase of a project, live-metering software has been developed to display real-time energy- and water-consumption information online.  Building user-guides are then also made available to tenants and the public via a website – ensuring that building occupants understand the importance of the green initiatives that have been implemented.

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