African Design Magazine ADM #43 August 2018 | Page 47

SOLID GREEN
Q
What inspired you to move into the
green building industry?
M
arloes: From an early age I had the
urge to transform our world into
a better place, combining this with my
architectural background and through
studies and work experience since 2002;
I have been focusing on sustainable
buildings.
C
hilufya: I actually got into
sustainability quite by accident. I
was never really exposed to it during my
university years or in the early days of
my career. During my first year of work
there was a project that required the
learning of an element of building design
called energy modelling. As the newest
employee, I was tasked with the project
of Nedbank Phase 2, the first green star
rated office block in the country. This
is where the green bug bit me and I
started to learn more about sustainability
in general. I have been exceptionally
fortunate to be part of the green building
movement in South Africa from its very
inception.
What are the first steps when Solid Green
is appointed to green a building? Marloes:
Every project is different. Usually we start
with a workshop with the full professional
team. We guide them through all the
requirements of Green Star credits
and establish a strategy to achieve the
required star rating (4, 5, or 6). Based
on this strategy, we individually consult
with the professionals to ensure they
understand how the requirements affect
their designs and that all requirements
get implemented into the tender
specifications.
At the same time, we start modelling the
building in a simulations programme
called DesignBuilder. This program
accurately estimates the project energy
consumption of the building, thermal
comfort in different spaces of the
building and natural daylight penetration
within the building. This simulation
can help the team make decisions i.e.,
“do we need double glazing?”, “can we
reduce the HVAC sizing?”, “do we want
more daylight into the building?” etc.
During design documentation stage of
the project, Solid Green collects all the
documentation to justify the targeted
green star credits in collaboration with
the professionals on the team. Based
on that, we submit the documentation
to the Green Building Council of South
Africa (GBCSA) where it gets evaluated;
and eventually certification will be
awarded.
Q
Tell us about the Solid Green
innovative initiatives?
C
hilufya: Whilst Green Star
certifications are our core work, we
also delved into other related industries
and work streams. Solid XA is the brand
we use for the work we do providing
rational assessments for compliance with
the national energy code SANS10400XA.
We have always seen this as a large
potential market that is still under
serviced. We set-up a website to try and
reach a wider audience where anyone
looking to obtain a quote for a rational
assessment, upload their drawings,
information and project details to receive
their rational assessment report and
council forms without the need for face to
face meetings.
AFRICAN DESIGN MAGAZINE © | AUGUST 2018
47