Estate Living Magazine #liveyourbestlife - Issue 46 December 2019 | Page 39

D E V E L O P
&
I N V E S T
promoting energy efficiency measures both in their
own operations and in their local commercial and
residential sectors.
As C40 Executive Director Mark Watts said during the
10th annual World Green Building Week, in September
2019: ‘The majority of the world’s population lives
in cities, projected to rise to 70% by 2050. As cities
continue to grow, and temperatures continue to rise
dangerously, it has never been more important for the
building and construction sector to be leading the way
on climate action. Because the sector is responsible for
such a large chunk of global emissions, it means there
is huge potential for reduction.’
Mark van Dijk
They, like others around the world, understand that
initiatives like Green Buildings, EDGE certification and
the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment aren’t
compulsory for building developments … but the
benefits of those initiatives are becoming harder and
harder to ignore.
Meanwhile, a handful of individual developers are
already living up to the promises of that Net Zero
They join the Fourleaf Estate residential development
in Port Elizabeth among the green pioneers in South
Africa’s residential development industry. In late 2017
Fourleaf became the first residential project in Africa
to meet the EDGE resource-efficiency standard and
receive EDGE final certification. The estate delivers
significant energy savings through practical solutions
like heat pumps for hot water, aerated low-flow taps,
dual-flush toilets and reduced window-to-wall ratios
and roof insulation.
W
While they’re pointing to numbers like that, the
National Treasury is offering incentives to property
developers, home owners and individuals to
encourage investment in green building. The City
of eThekwini, for example, included a provision in its
2019/20 rates policy that allows rebates or reduction in
property rates on buildings that are in possession of an
‘As Built’ rating certificate awarded by the GBCSA.
‘With EDGE’s complimentary software we now have
a cost-effective planning tool that helps us to build
green cost effectively based on occupant behaviour,
building type and the local climate. Importantly, the
certification provides our environmentally conscious
buyers and tenants with assurance that they are
minimising their own environmental footprint,’ Balwin
CEO Steve Brookes said at the time.
South Africa’s property developers have a role to play
in all of this, too – and not just in those four forward-
thinking metros. The local Green Building Council
(GBCSA) claims that building and construction are
responsible for 39% of all the world’s carbon emissions;
while according to the World GBC, new construction
is expected to double the world’s building stock by
2060, which will in turn cause an increase in carbon
emissions unless building practices change.
Carbon Buildings Commitment. JSE-listed turnkey
sectional-title developer Balwin Properties, for
example, pledged in May 2017 to have seven of
its built-to-sell and three of its rental developments
EDGE-certified (Excellence in Design for Greater
Efficiencies). The rating process covers 10,896 built-
to-sell apartments and 4,688 rental apartments in
developments across South Africa.