SA Affordable Housing November / December 2017 // Issue: 67

COVER STORY Building with light steel helps student deficit Property developer, STAG African, has registered its Tygerberg 3 student housing development in Bellville, Cape Town for Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (Edge) certification. By Brooke Browde Communications Early construction phase of Tygerberg 3, with Tygerberg 2 at the back. B elville’s housing development aims to help address the student accommodation shortage at Stellenbosch University. Built by property developer STAG African using light steel frame building (LSFB), which reduces construction time and maintenance costs without compromising on quality or key student needs. The developers are confident that it will easily achieve the 20% minimum savings in energy, water and embodied energy required for Edge certification. The development consists of 200 bedrooms comprising 25 pods of eight bedrooms and two bathrooms that each feed in to a common kitchen area and socialising room. Grahame Cruickshanks, managing executive for residential at the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA), says that the STAG project is exciting in more ways than one. “This is the first student housing project to be registered for Edge certification in South Africa and is also the first to use LSFB. It’s encouraging to see innovators such as STAG targeting Edge certification and going beyond the defined categories of the rating system to address flexible construction systems, community building and other innovations.” Sustainability features include an 89% reduction in the cost of heating and cooling of the buildings due to the design, optimal orientation and the nature of the materials used. LSF walls, which were used in the construction, have a mass of only 10% of walls built out of brick and mortar, resulting in significantly reduced truck trips and, therefore, emissions; and 87% of the steel used is recycled. 14 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2017 AFFORDABLE SA HOUSING Students outside Ubuntu House, Tygerberg 1.

SA Affordable Housing November / December 2017 // Issue: 67 | Page 16