At Solid Green, energy is approached differently. We see energy as a human, systems-based challenge and an opportunity to demonstrate what sustainable development looks like in practice. Energy is not a conceptual element; it is something we can manage and conserve. We are making our office into a living laboratory for energy resilience, innovation and continuous improvement.

Leading by Example: Energy Independence in Practice

Solid Green’s offices have long embodied our core values of innovation, performance and purpose. Our previous workspace achieved both LEED Platinum Interiors and 6-Star Green Star Interiors certifications which is the highest standard in sustainable interior design. These milestones affirmed our belief that the built environment can lead change rather than respond to it.

When we moved into our new Parkhurst office, we deliberately set the bar higher. The space now operates completely off-grid, powered entirely by on-site renewable energy. In a context of increasing energy instability, this decision was about more than environmental performance. It was about resilience, autonomy and responsibility. The office demonstrates that clean energy is not a future aspiration. It is a viable, reliable solution today when sustainability is embedded at the design and operational level.

Beyond Net Zero: Reimagining what “Positive” looks like

Initially we wanted to go beyond certification and focus on actual performance. As time has passed, and through minor upgrades on the system over the years, we are finding ourselves generating more power than we use.

With our systems performing as designed, we began asking a critical question: what comes after Net Zero?

The GBCSA’s Net Zero / Net Positive framework defines net positive buildings as those that generate more renewable energy than they consume, typically by exporting surplus energy back to the grid. But our building is not grid-connected. It is entirely self-sufficient.

Rather than seeing this as a limitation, we saw an opportunity to rethink what positive impact could mean.

Clean Energy meets Clean Mobility: Expanding the System Boundary

That opportunity emerged through mobility. Two members of the Solid Green team now drive fully electric vehicles, and we have installed an EV charging station at our office, powered directly by our solar energy system. The charging station is available to both staff and visitors, extending the benefits of renewable energy beyond the building itself.

By charging EVs, we are:

• Using surplus renewable energy for clean mobility
• Reducing emissions beyond the building’s operational footprint
• Actively supporting the decarbonisation of transport

This initiative directly links SDG 7 (Clean Energy) with SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), reinforcing the idea that sustainability outcomes multiply when systems are connected rather than siloed.

Measuring what Matters: Our Net Positive Target

To ensure credibility and transparency, we are carefully monitoring the energy used for EV charging, which is a load that sits outside the building’s operational boundary.

Our goal is clear: when energy used for EV charging exceeds the building’s own annual consumption by 5% over a 12-month period, our office will be eligible for Net Positive status.

At that point, the building will not only sustain itself but will actively enable emissions reductions elsewhere in the system.

Making the Journey Visible

Sustainability is most powerful when it is shared. To make this journey transparent and educational, Solid Green will be launching a live Net Positive tracker on our website, allowing clients, partners and the public to follow our progress toward the 5% target in real time.

This initiative reflects our belief that leadership is not about perfection, but about learning, data, and continual improvement.

Energy as a Catalyst for Holistic Sustainability

Energy solutions are most impactful when they support broader social and environmental goals. By embedding clean energy into our own operations, Solid Green demonstrates how the built environment can:

• Reduce reliance on fossil fuels
• Improve resilience in the face of energy insecurity
• Lower long-term operational costs
• Support climate-positive behaviours beyond the building

This mirrors our broader sustainability ethos: true sustainability integrates people, planet and prosperity.

Powering the Future, One System at a Time

At Solid Green, SDG 7 is not a policy aspiration – it is lived, measured and continuously refined. From operating fully off-grid to redefining what Net Positive means through clean mobility, our energy journey reflects a commitment to pushing boundaries and raising expectations.

Clean energy is not just about keeping the lights on. It is about enabling resilient systems, empowering people, and accelerating the transition to a low-carbon future.

This is what energy-focused sustainability looks like in action: bold, practical and forward-looking.

The post From Off-Grid to Net Positive: Powering Sustainable Futures through Clean Energy appeared first on Solid Green Consulting.

When we moved into our new Parkhurst office, we set out to build on that legacy. The new space operates completely off-grid, powered entirely by renewable energy. It’s a living example of energy independence and resilience, a place that demonstrates what’s possible when sustainability is embedded in design and daily operation.

With our systems performing as designed, we began asking what comes next in the journey beyond Net Zero. For us, that next frontier is Net Positive — a space that doesn’t just balance its impact but actively contributes to positive change.

A New Approach to Net Positive

The GBCSA’s Net Zero / Net Positive certification defines “net positive” as producing more renewable energy than the building consumes, typically achieved by feeding surplus power back into the grid. But our building is not connected to the grid — it’s entirely self-sufficient.

That challenge inspired a creative solution. Two members of our team now drive fully electric vehicles, and we’ve installed an EV charging station at our office, powered directly by our solar system. This station is available to both staff and visitors, extending the benefits of our renewable energy system beyond the building itself.

EV charging station at our office

Redefining What It Means to Be Positive

By monitoring the energy used for vehicle charging — a load that falls outside the building’s operational boundary — we’re measuring how much additional renewable energy we generate beyond our own needs.

Our goal is clear: once EV charging accounts for 5% more energy use than our building consumes over a 12-month period, we will have achieved true Net Positive status. In doing so, our building won’t just sustain itself. It will help decarbonise another sector through clean mobility.

Follow the Journey

To make this milestone transparent and educational, we’ll be launching a live tracker on our website so that anyone can follow our progress toward the 5% target.

This initiative is about redefining what sustainability means in practice, using data, creativity and systems thinking to continually raise the bar.

At Solid Green, we believe that sustainability is a journey of continuous improvement. Becoming net positive is the next step in that journey, and we’re excited to share it with you.

Sample dashboard – To be updated with actual data

The post From Net Zero to Net Positive: Solid Green’s Next Frontier appeared first on Solid Green Consulting.

From 1 March, Solid Green will have a physical presence in Cape Town, strengthening our ability to serve clients in the Western Cape. With increasing demand for in-person and local green building expertise, we are excited to have Jennifer Dean positioned in the Cape Town office. Jennifer will be managing projects, building relationships, and driving new opportunities to support the sustainable transformation of buildings across Cape Town and beyond.

Our new Existing Building Performance (EBP) team will also be based in the Cape Town office, bringing added depth to our service offering. Our new office is located in Urban Hub on Dorp Street in the city centre—a beautiful heritage building that aligns with our commitment to sustainability and adaptive reuse.

Strengthening Our Expertise in Existing Buildings

In addition to our geographic expansion, we are reinforcing our expertise in existing buildings – an essential focus area for driving sustainability and operational efficiency. Solid Green is merging with Imbue Sustainability, and we are pleased to welcome Simon Penso and his team into the Solid Green Team. Simon will be joining Solid Green as a director and leading our newly established Solid Green Performance department. This strategic move allows us to offer comprehensive sustainability solutions for existing buildings, ensuring long-term environmental and financial performance.

Solid Green Performance builds on the long-standing collaboration between Solid Green and Imbue Sustainability. This new department consolidates expertise from both teams to focus on the sustainability performance of existing buildings, net-zero strategies, and operational efficiencies across South Africa and beyond. While Imbue Sustainability continues its focus on the implementation and monitoring of renewable energy projects, Solid Green Performance will leverage our well-established market leadership alongside Imbue’s deep operational expertise to offer a holistic, performance-driven sustainability service for existing building stock.

“This is a game-changer for the industry,” says Simon.

By uniting our strengths, we are better positioned to meet the increasing market demand and regulatory requirements for sustainable solutions. Together, we will set the benchmark for excellence in the field.

Marloes Reinink, CEO of Solid Green, adds:

The collaboration between our teams has evolved over the years, with Imbue Sustainability having always been a key partner for Solid Green in the Existing Building Performance space. The formalisation of Solid Green Performance was the natural next step. By combining forces, we will lead the way in shaping a more sustainable built environment in South Africa.

With a strong Johannesburg foundation and a new presence in Cape Town, Solid Green is excited to expand its reach and continue delivering impact-driven sustainability solutions across the built environment. Whether in Johannesburg, Cape Town, or beyond, we look forward to working with industry stakeholders to create a greener, more sustainable future.

Our One-Stop Shop for Sustainability Solutions

As we continue to grow, our vision is to establish Solid Green as the ultimate One-Stop Shop for sustainability in the built environment. Through the integration of Solid Green Performance, we are now uniquely positioned to provide end-to-end sustainability solutions—from new developments to existing buildings. Our comprehensive services cover green building certifications (Green Star, EDGE, LEED, WELL, etc), Energy Modeling and Simulations ESG strategies, energy and water efficiency consulting, carbon neutrality roadmaps, and operational performance optimisation.

By bringing together industry-leading expertise under one roof, we ensure a seamless experience for our clients, enabling them to meet regulatory requirements, achieve sustainability goals, and future-proof their buildings. Whether you are looking to certify a new development, enhance the efficiency of an existing building, or embark on a net-zero journey, Solid Green is here to support you at every step.

For more information about our services or to connect with our team, feel free to reach out. Let’s build a greener tomorrow, together!

Stay tuned for details about our official opening and launch party—we can’t wait to celebrate with you!

The post We’re expanding our Footprint and Expertise! appeared first on Solid Green Consulting.

The journey began with a collaboration between two incredibly talented individuals. The design was crafted by Sindiso Nyoni, a high school friend of one of our directors, Chilufya Lombe. Sindiso is known for his remarkable artistry and impactful designs, and he poured his creativity into this project, resulting in a spectacular mural. Bringing Sindiso’s vision to life on the wall was Yolo, a gifted artist with a keen eye for detail and a passion for public art. Together, they transformed a blank canvas into a vibrant representation of Solid Green’s ethos.

Before

After

“The mural incorporates elements that reflect our dedication to sustainable practices,” explained Chilufya Lombe.

From depictions of renewable energy sources to symbols of environmental conservation, every detail resonates with our mission to promote a greener, more sustainable future. Additionally, the mural beautifully captures the essence of Johannesburg, our home and the heartbeat of our operations. It showcases iconic landmarks and cultural motifs that celebrate the rich heritage and dynamic spirit of this incredible city.

The process of creating this mural was a truly collaborative effort. Our directors Chilufya and Marloes worked closely with our staff member, Jennifer Dean, a brilliant photographer and artist in her own right. It was surprisingly easy for us to agree on the preferred design, a testament to how well Sindiso understood the brief and our business. His ability to capture our vision and translate it into a compelling design made the decision-making process smooth and enjoyable.

Marloes shared her excitement about the project:

This mural is not just a piece of art; it is a symbol of our commitment to sustainability and our deep roots in Johannesburg. It’s been an amazing experience to see it come to life and to work with such talented individuals. The mural has truly brought a new energy to our office.

Jennifer echoed these sentiments, adding, “The collaborative nature of this project has been inspiring. It’s allowed us to express our values in a new and creative way. The mural is a striking and meaningful piece of art that speaks volumes about who we are as a company.”

There was also a unique contribution to the mural from Chilufya’s two daughters. When shown images of the mural, their first question was, “Where are the unicorns and mermaids?” As a delightful addition, if you look very closely, you will see a unicorn and a mermaid subtly worked into the mural by the artists. This charming detail adds a whimsical touch to the artwork, making it even more special.

We hope this mural will inspire everyone who passes by our office. It stands as a testament to our unwavering commitment to sustainability and our love for Johannesburg. We invite everyone to come and see it for themselves, to feel the energy and passion that went into creating it, and to join us in celebrating this milestone in our journey.

The post Solid Green’s New Mural: A Journey of Art and Sustainability appeared first on Solid Green Consulting.

How it started…

… How its going

While we could focus on that here, you’d miss out on all the fun had in between. Empty spaces were filled, plans re-adjusted, plants flourished, and lessons were learnt. And yet it’s still a work in progress that will, hopefully, continue to evolve over time.

A church bench repurposed, along with second hand office furniture

We have consistently prioritised alignment with our company’s mission, vision, and values, ensuring that our actions mirror our principles. In the selection of furniture, we have a number of second-hand and locally sourced gems that work really well, proving that you don’t always have to purchase new to experience quality, style, and functionality. It’s a testament to the sustainability of reusing and repurposing, extending the life of an item, and also showcasing that value and character can be found in pre-owned pieces. And if we didn’t like the colour the furniture came in, well… what else is paint for?

Locker doors painted and decorated by staff

Colour was explored within the established Solid Green colour palette, and low VOC paint was used both to highlight and enhance certain features or elements. The lockers, once a dull shade of beige, have been transformed (with the help of chalk paint) into colourful individual, personalised storage spaces. The splash of colour in bathrooms coincided with covering up the patching of settlement cracks that occurred – we’re nothing if not deliberate!

Hand towel – sun dried

Passive lighting design was given a chance to shine – quite literally, through the introduction of skylights in the bathroom and kitchen areas. A quirky result of this is the repositioning of the hand towel ring onto the “sunnier” wall, using the sun shining through the aforementioned skylight to aid with passive drying. Talk about practising what you preach!

Space has been utilised more efficiently while still offering a variety of spaces for different uses such as standing vs seated desks, quiet break away zones and spaces for retreat. Hot-desking has been one of the most successful strategies that was implemented, with research showing that employees can focus on work without the distraction of a cluttered desk space and, at the same time, gain access to new ideas when working next to different team members.

As people are often creatures of habit, it’s been interesting to see how mini office neighbourhoods have naturally formed over time. Of course, it was fun to watch the competition that ensued when vying for the “hot spots” in winter, but all was fair on a “first come first serve” basis. And the opposite is true in summer, especially with the recent series of heat waves. A set of fans on opposite ends of the office have offered some relief, and investigations are currently underway by our modelling team to improve the thermal comfort of the space. We live and learn!

Other improvements include the addition of raised access timber flooring (for the ventilation system); installing a pump to facilitate irrigation using rainwater from our large tank; and smart plugs on all appliances with an app to make our energy management even easier. Future plans include recycled skirtings and painted feature walls.

View from garden to the office interior

The journey in transforming the office serves as a powerful visual representation of our progress and transformation over the course of the last year, allowing us to explore our commitment to sustainability and the built environment. Our office is a work-in-progress; an evolving, regenerative space for working in. And, if our year end office celebration was anything to go by, well… let’s just say that rumour has it that weddings could be held in it too!

Our second-hand sofa once had white legs!

The post Our Office Chapter 12: Far from Yesteryear appeared first on Solid Green Consulting.

Agile space planning

Looking at the space planning layout, workstations are placed all along the edges – against walls or adjacent to the glass facades – allowing for visual connections with the garden and nature outside. This frees up the central ‘in-between’ space, allowing for more collaborative type seating to be placed between the workstations, resulting in a change in space and scenery for other tasks and activities.

We positioned a trellis for deciduous plants to grow up the east façade and this serves multiple purposes, providing much needed shade in summer, reducing glare and bringing with it dynamic and diffuse light – an important biophilic pattern which helps to reduce stress. The tree-patterned wallpapered wall at the back and the low ceiling help to create a feeling of refuge and focussed attention, and a bench and seating area were proposed to create a space where one can safely relax and retreat.

The flexible meeting rooms (semi-open or closed) and solo work areas on the west were kept, allowing for alternative spaces for those who may have meetings all day long. An additional space of refuge is proposed on the northern facade, an agile furniture design where a workstation pod is protected with a closed back (to the office) and a direct uninterrupted view of the garden on the open side, providing just enough space for solitude or one other person for company. An additional layer of protection for the back could be offered through a low storage unit, with the incorporation of a water feature. This would provide everyone in the office with an additional mechanism to aid in stress reduction, improve cognitive functions and generally enhance mood and positive emotional responses.

Garden renewal

During the December holidays, the garden flourished and became a little overgrown. We embarked on a project to relook at the planting and relocated some of the plants. We have a thriving passion fruit and even some grape vines. We are now growing more passion fruit and grape vines on the trellis on the east façade, and hope to eventually launch a Solid Green Sauvignon Blanc!

The office and garden are now truly a refuge within the busy urban context, a place for focussed work but also for relaxation, reflection and, of course, recreation when the time is right. Our beautiful, bright office now really reflects our ethos and commitment to a regenerative way of working in the built environment.

The post Our Office: Chapter 11 – Embracing regeneration appeared first on Solid Green Consulting.

The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them.

Paul Hawken

 We often use Paul Hawken’s quote to start or end our presentations to clients and project teams. By following this ethos, we believe we can create spaces that are more aligned with nature and can therefore achieve more than we think is possible.

While our goal was always to ensure that our office building adheres to the levels of sustainability we advocate, a bit of misfortune pushed us to really test the boundary of just how much we could align with nature. Our office construction project started just before the onset of the hard lockdown due to Covid in 2020. The site sat with a half-demolished building for over eight months and, in this time, the municipal meter and infrastructure were stolen.

This pushed us to install our solar system much earlier than anticipated and also drove the decision to stay completely off the grid. There is often some confusion between net-zero and off-grid: you can be net-zero without being off-grid. In our case, we are net-zero because we are off-grid. Our only source of power is the sun.

Our office can accommodate all 20 of our staff members. With remote work, the actual numbers vary from 5 to 15 in the space at any given time. Each staff member has a laptop and a screen, and our 4 modelling team members work off desktops with two screens each. Despite this, our installation is smaller than one that would usually be installed in a 4-person home.

Natural Hours of our building

Energy in our office is used primarily for the delivery of our services, namely to power equipment like computers. Not needing energy for lighting or comfort means our building is able to run only on power available from the sun.

 We are an ‘A’ whichever way you look at it.

Energy performance certificate (EPC) benchmarks have recently been updated. This is causing some concern in the industry as the new benchmarks, shown in red, are significantly lower than the old benchmarks, shown in blue. Even taking the new updates into account, our office still outperforms an ‘A’. This shows what can be achieved if energy for comfort and lighting is reduced significantly. Particularly for offices.

The journey is not without its challenges. Our backup is only a 5kWh battery. That is enough to power your geyser at home for only 2 hours. Our original installation was 6,450W solar panels – enough power to turn on the electric element in a geyser. We eventually added additional panels (12 x 180W, they were tiny) that had been taken from our old office. This almost doubled our capacity and improved our ability to continue working on low sun days.

A key problem was that, if the battery was very low, we needed more energy earlier in the morning. We faced the additional panels slightly east to remedy this, ensuring that we get more energy early in the day if the battery was empty from the day before.

The battery is large enough to keep the fridge and security system running overnight with no issues. We have controls that switch off all monitors, TVs, printers and lights at exactly 6-30pm every day. We have always advocated for our team to have a good work-life balance, so we expect the office to be empty by then. External security lighting is all solar lighting that has its own integrated battery.

Our biggest challenge comes if we have two consecutive days of no sun. Even with direct sunlight, our solar panels generate a small amount of power and, because we only need a small amount of energy, this can keep us going through the day with the help of the battery. No sun days, however, means our battery does not charge and so the second day of no sun requires some load management. Like Eskom, we have a few levels of load management (to prevent shedding):

• Stage 1 – Turn off fridge, TV and non-essential kitchen appliances unless using them. Items like kettles and microwaves can be used for a very short space of time because they tend to be high power but low energy.
• Stage 2 – All kitchen appliances are switched off and cannot be used.
• Stage 3 – All kitchen appliances plus all screens are switched off and cannot be used, except for the modelling team.
• Stage 4 – All kitchen appliances plus all screens are switched off and cannot be used, except for the modelling team. When battery gets to zero, go home.

In 18 months of occupation, we have had stage 4 only once. Even stage 1 is rare. We only need the sun to peek from behind the clouds for an hour or so to alleviate any issues.

Challenges and future plans

 Living with nature cannot always be perfect. Johannesburg is cold in winter and, while the passive design interventions employed in our office mean that we have not required cooling in summer, we do need a heating solution for cold winter mornings. Our challenge is that it needs to fit within our current energy budget and we do not want to increase the solar production or battery backup to accommodate heating. We believe we have found a solution that meets this requirement and hope to have it in place in time for next winter.

That will be a story for another day though…

The post Our New Office: Chapter 10 – targeting Net Zero appeared first on Solid Green Consulting.

The main challenge was the roof. It was leaking badly and had a weird maze of parapets. We decide to take off the roof completely and replace it with a new timber structure, similar to the main building. This gave us the opportunity to demolish all the internal walls inside and create new dividing walls. While adding the new roof we were reminded of the difficulty of working with old structures – not a single wall was straight! We had already ordered the window frames and windows, as well as the kitchen, as part of the main building order. So, we made the openings in the building fit the window frames that we had.

The incessant rain this summer did not really help the construction process. The plaster dried slowly, and the planned four weeks had to be extended to six weeks. In the meantime, the team was working from home and Activate Architects was kind enough to host us at their offices for a couple weeks.

We also added a big tank for rainwater harvesting as we hope to eventually move off grid in terms of water supply as well as electricity supply. Of course, we will have to rework our garden again as it took a bit of a knock during construction, but we hope that it will come right in the spring of 2022.

Now that we have done the final leg of the construction we hope to finally settle in the coming months. One of our major accomplishments with the office is that it is running 100% off our solar panels on the roof and is completely independent from the municipal electricity supply. We have had a couple of days in the last 8 months where we had limited electricity due to a number of cloudy days in a row but, overall, the solar panels are sufficient to accommodate us.

We look forward to finally settling in, and to really making 33 6^th street Solid Green’s home for many years to come.

The post Our New Office: Chapter 9 – The Multipurpose Space appeared first on Solid Green Consulting.

Marloes:

As I sit in the garden, I realise how happy this office makes me, and the secret happiness factor is the garden. Over the last three months we have been working on the garden and it is hopefully the beginning of a peaceful heaven that can be used as a stress reliever in hectic times. The garden was pretty much hammered by the ongoing construction and, with the main office building now finished, we are finally regenerating the garden. Starting off with taking stock of what was there – an orange tree and plum tree mainly – and reusing some of the potted plants from our old office’s balcony. The main idea was to plan only plants that are either indigenous, medicinal, or edible. We called in help from Ryo to assist with the design and planting of our garden. We might know a lot about green, but we are not so well versed in landscaping.

One of the important things for me was that we could use the garden to relax, reflect, but also to potentially work – how nice would it be if we can take project meetings outside in the garden? In my experience, being outside reduces stress immediately and makes you feel much calmer. I also love the large sliding doors of the office that open onto the garden and offer a connection to nature even in our urban setting.

Ryoko:

Marloes’s request was very much in her style – thoughtful, inclusive, connected, recycled and sustainable. The design brief was to use ‘useful’ or ‘meaningful’ plants which were to the greatest extent possible, indigenous, with a style that is informal, soft and natural. It turns out that even many plants that we commonly see in our built green environment surprisingly do have some kind of medicinal/edible properties according to sources such as Indigenous Healing Plants by Margaret Roberts (Halfway House Publishers), and we were able to source many of them through Random Harvest Nursery in Muldersdrift.

The edible plants were selected by Marloes based on the vegetables that she felt would be useful to her team. She was insistent on including plants that had been suggested by her team members.

What were the biggest challenges?

Ryoko:

After two long years of construction, when we started the garden, the soil was heavily compacted in its worst sections and, in its best areas, ran its own course, as many transition properties must have during lockdown. Another big challenge that we have had is in finding a lawn replacement ground cover that is simultaneously walkable, useful/indigenous and meets the stark sun/shade conditions.

What is your favourite part of the garden?

Marloes:

The veggie and herb patch is my favourite section and we have a good harvest of spinach and kale already, it is growing madly. It also has the necessary garnish ingredients for G&Ts, different types of mint, rosemary and sage – which is crucial for good office parties. We have also added a grapevine, granadilla vine and an almond tree.

We have hung up two bee hotels, and we are taking part in the Jozi Bee Hotel Project, which aims to ensure equitable access to biodiversity for all city residents. Our worm farm is also back in full swing. I cannot believe the worms survived the move after being neglected for a while, but they seem to be happy again in our new home. All their produce from the last couple of years was used to improve the soil quality.

What were the unexpected successes?

Ryoko:

The hardscape and topsoil were sourced from Parkhurst residents as we rang the door bells of homes that had piles of used bricks and topsoil in front of their houses for disposal. The homeowners were often grateful to have the materials removed, and we were able to create a garden path, patio and driveway entirely from free recycled materials.

Marloes had also lovingly saved all the plants from her previous office and, miraculously, they had survived being left outdoors during lockdown. They also had to find space in the new office garden. Connie, a staff member whose ‘adoption’ of the garden was to become critical in its daily care, would often shake her head smiling and say, ‘Marloes loves green too much.’

Any garden that is planted from an empty lot, especially informal in style, is a challenge as it does not have existing mature plants or a geometric pattern to fall back on for ‘structure’ and backbone. However, Marloes and her team have started an exciting living garden process that will take shape and become layered in the passing of time and, hopefully, give great pleasure to everyone who works in the inspiring environment at the new office.

The post Our new office – Chapter 8: The Garden appeared first on Solid Green Consulting.

Quite a lot has changed since our last update in May. We have installed glass window and door panes to reduce noise nuisance from the road, and to keep the winter chill out. The floor was also still unfinished and, as it was getting colder, we had to do something quickly as the concrete was not very comfortable. With tight budgets, we looked for options.

I had done some research into green flooring options and the ultimate green option would be linoleum (not to be confused with vinyl). Linoleum is made of linseed oil and is therefore a renewable material. This product has a bad branding as hospital flooring but a lot has changed over the years and there are some attractive linoleum products available on the market including a liquid version! However, we decided on a more budget-wise option with the intention of installing our linoleum floor sometime in the future.

We opted for a B-grade carpet option (a carpet which has some manufacturing faults and cannot be sold). We worked with the Belgotex Foundation to find a woman-owned business to install the carpet in our office, thus contributing to the development of a women entrepreneur. Theresa Noluthando of Tamto Dimazana Investments was great and it was a pleasure to work with her. We were obliged to work with the available faulty carpet, but are now happy with our new black, red and blue flooring tiles. Something different from our standard approach to green.

The large sliding doors on the office’s north side open onto a sizeable garden area, and this really does make a huge difference. There is one big evergreen tree which gives shade throughout the year – great in summer! And a porch that receives the winter sun and warms you up in between meetings. We are working on a WIFI extender, which will allow us to take conference calls in the garden, as it is usually so much nicer to sit outside. In the medium- to long-term, we will need to think of a heating solution in the office for winter. Although, at the moment, it’s not an issue as there are not many people in the office at any given time and we have placed desks next to the windows – the sun is the greenest heater.

We are currently working on making the garden “spring” ready by getting rid of building rubble that had mixed with the soil, and enhancing the soil with compost. We are creating a summer hangout spot and a winter sunspot, so we can move through the garden as the seasons change. Obviously, there is going to be a veggie patch and some fruit trees. We discovered a beautiful orange tree in the garden. However, the tree did not get enough sunlight to produce sweet oranges but, by trimming the larger tree, we created more sunlight for it.

I cannot wait till spring comes and life becomes a bit more green again!

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