New office block goes green for efficiency

A NEW office block on the site of the Karl Bremer Hospital promises to set new standards for efficiency, but Public Works Minister Nathi Nhleko says it will be some time before any of the 95 000 buildings the government occupies become “green”.

Nhleko visited several sites in Cape Town yesterday with all nine of South Africa’s public works MECs, in town for their monthly meeting with the minister, informally dubbed “MinMEC”.

The building will house 320 Health Department officials, in charge of managing the hospital, along with officials from emergency services and their colleagues from metro district health services.

Along with requirements to achieve a Green Star SA rating, the building features several innovations which include:

*A blackwater treatment plant. All fixtures and fittings will discharge into the plant and no blackwater will be discharged into the municipal sewer system.

*The treated blackwater will supply recycled water to the building’s airconditioning towers, annually saving 1.1 million litres of potable water.

*The building features a rooftop solar photovoltaic installation, reducing reliance on Eskom’s electricity supply.

In total the project cost R192 million from its conception in 2013 to its completion last month. Officials will move into the building at the end of this month.

Nhleko said applying similar standards to government buildings in future depended on cost effectiveness.

“We should always look at better ways and means to utilise resources. As time goes on we might require this (improving efficiency standards) from landlords from whom we lease buildings,” said Nhleko.

Getting all 95 000 buildings that the government uses up to “green” standards would be “quite a task”.

“We haven’t reached a point; we have old stock of buildings. It’s going to take us quite some time to reach the (green) levels for these buildings,” said Nhleko.