GREENING the GREY

DONG QUIWAN 33 Co-Founder, Belalang Inovasi

Low maintenance, lighter and more sustainable - these are the kind of green roofs and walls Belalang Inovasi aims to provide to the concrete jungle of Malaysia. Cofounder Quiwan, a Civil & Environmental Engineering graduate, began this journey of sustainable greening when he, while working in the construction industry, was tasked with finding green walls for a project in Damansara. Facing setbacks either due to overpricing of said product or lack of a source that he felt confident in installing, he started looking outside the country and it led him to Singapore, where he met a supplier who worked on Changi Airport. Seeing the ‘garden city’ inspired him and prompted him to ponder, “Why can’t we do this in Malaysia as well?”

“That led us to starting our company with its current vision to green up urban Malaysia, starting with Penang, KL, all the urban centres first,” explains Quiwan of how he and his friends – fellow engineers Karen and Dave – came about co-founding the company in 2018, introducing a soil-less system that employs innovative know-how from overseas and is six times lighter than normal green roofing system.

The company is now working with local academicians and manufacturers to conduct research on the actual benefits of green roof, not just in terms of heat reduction but also of biophilic design. Says Quiwan, “It’s a kind of design we’re trying to encourage in Malaysia. It is already being done by some but there is not enough data backing them up, in the local context.”

“URBANITES OFTEN FORGET THAT WATER DOESN’ T MAGIC ALLY FLOW OUT OF TAPS AND THAT WHAT YOU DO AT HOME, LIKE THROWING USED COOKING OIL DOWN THE DRAIN, POLLUTES YOUR NEAREST RIVER OR LAKE” ASIAH KADIR