SA Affordable Housing November / December 2017 // Issue: 67 | Page 23

FEATURES
Going green and being
sustainable
Being environmentally friendly is highlighted in many industries and
affordable housing has hopped on the bandwagon.
By Ntsako Khosa
Enhancing natural lighting to come into the home in the design stage can help reduce energy consumption.
W
ith the birth of Excellence in Design for Greater
Efficiencies (Edge), a green rating tool that is
specifically for the residential market, going
green affordably is possible.
Miles Kritzinger from International Housing Solutions
(IHS) says that it is a market that is leading the way. The
sector has seen a few projects that have been awarded
green certification, projects such as Candlewood in
Boksburg and Fourleaf Estate in Port Elizabeth. The IHS is a
real estate investment manager focused on the
development and management of residential projects
being affordable to the fast-growing middle-income
market. It states that it has a growing number of units that
meet the Edge criteria and it has set a target of 5 060
green homes. They have a total of over 6 500 units
approved ‘to be greened’ investments.
The Design Indaba 10x10 Low-Cost Housing Project, The
Butterfly Housing Project and the Cato Manor Green Street
retrofit are other examples of affordable housing projects
implementing green initiatives. “These demonstrate how
re-thinking our approach to the design of affordable
housing projects really can work in our country,” he says.
GOING GREEN ON A SMALL SCALE
Going green can be done in a small or large capacity. For
the affordable housing market your approach to going
green may be a little different to conventional methods as
they can be a little bit pricy.
Eloshan Naicker, green star accredited professional (new
building) and Edge-accredited professional and expert
from Creative Axis Architects, says that this approach is
two-fold.
“Green initiatives can be approached in two ways on
affordable housing projects to make them homes and in
the greater sense, communities. On a micro scale, simple
design and construction methods are easily achievable,”
he says.
Things such as appropriate orientation on site to
promote natural daylight warms up homes significantly in
winter and reduces the risk of flooding.
AFFORDABLE
SA HOUSING
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2017
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