Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa November/December 2013 | Page 24

Mario and Annemarie
Delicio of Dematech
are the owners behind
Hotel Verde – Africa’s
greenest hotel

“We have an advantage because we are
starting from scratch. We could go from
choosing recycled bricks and insulation, to
installing a geothermal field, coupled to
ground-source heat pumps. When you build
new you can plan much more than if you retrofit
an existing building.”
Andre Harms, Sustainability Manager and
founder of Ecolution Consulting, is a trained
mechanical engineer and the expertise behind
some of the more technical aspects of the
building. Having spent 15 months at the South
African Research Centre in Antarctica, Harms
knows what it is to value everyday resources and
is applying this dedication to each facet of the
project. “We have the opportunity to change
the status quo here,” he says. “We have looked
at different ways of doing everything, right from
the word go.”
This includes the photovoltaic (solar) panels
cleverly positioned to provide shade as well as
power. “They are mounted on the north façade
of the building so as to not only generate
electricity but create shading for the windows
that get the most sun.”

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Another is to dramatically reduce the
amount of concrete required by utilising Cobiax
void formers –  recycled plastic balls placed
strategically within the concrete slabs that are
required for the various floors. They displace the
concrete, saving approximately 535 m3 or 1284
ton while maintaining the structural integrity.
Hotel Verde also boasts a sophisticated grey
water recycling plant that will contribute towards
a 37% reduction of potable water use.
“We have run a network of pipes through the
building in order to reticulate the grey water,
collect it and supply it to the toilets,” Harms
explains. They will also be utilising a rainwater
filtering and capture system to provide water for
the car wash and irrigation. The elevators will
run on a regenerative drive, which will allow for
about 30% of the input energy to be recaptured
and fed back into the building and doubleglazed windows with spectrally selective glass
will filter out hot rays, so less heat enters the
building reducing the need for air-conditioning.
In order to bypass the need for standard airconditioning systems, traditionally one of the
biggest energy consumers, Hotel Verde will

Hotel Verde