Simple clay brick construction, the benchmark for all that is good about housing and social
infrastructure buildings in South Africa, goes beyond the important fundamentals of
durable, low maintenance structures with enduring aesthetic integrity to afford comfortable
thermally efficient accommodation in which South Africans live, work and play.
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to heat the SBH”. Certification requires that
insulated ceilings must always be installed.
It is ceiling insulation therefore, and not
the supposed ‘higher thermal rating’ of the
Panel Systems, that lowers the ‘heating’
energy usage to below that of an uninsulated
solid clay brick walled house.
With the highest certificated IBT in Africa
shown up as failing to compare with basic
solid double brick wall construction, it poses
the question as to just how comparable the
walling systems of the 31 other supposedly
better performing IBT walling systems might
be for meeting the challenges of providing
sustainable social infrastructure buildings
any way comparable to that which clay brick
construction has done over the decades.
Thermal Comfort in Context
The Agrément SA certificates only reference
‘heating’ energy and in South Africa heating
energy is only part of the energy consumed
in buildings. There is a plethora of research,
(Chapter: “The true thermal performance
and energy efficiency of different walling
envelopes” - The Sustainable Energy
Recourse Handbook Volume 6) some of
which will be referenced in this article that
highlights the comparative inefficiencies
of insulated lightweight walled buildings in
attenuating indoor temperatures to thermal
comfort levels on summer days.
The ‘unsupported’ superior thermal
performance claims of the proponents of
lightweight IBT for school buildings aside,
the fact of the matter is that 220mm solid
double brick walls provide longest periods of
thermal comfort during day-time. Learners
and teachers who have experienced
both types of learning environments will
confirm that. The extent of this thermal
comfort clay brick construction provides,
relative to lightweight IBTs such as SANS
517 compliant LSFB, is well shown in the
findings of thermal modelling research
undertaken by the University of Pretoria,
Clay Brick
“A thermal performance comparison
between six wall construction methods
frequently used in South Africa”.
This research included the modelling of
three building typologies, the one being of
a 2,000m² office/institutional type building
as tabled below (Table 1).
Clay Brick Outperforms Lightweight
As shown solid 220mm double brick walling
outperforms SANS 517 LSFB by between
10% and 57% de V