THE SUSTAINABLE BUILDING ASSESSMENT TOOL ASSESSING HOW BUILDINGS CAN SUPPORT SUSTAINABILITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

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1 THE SUSTAINABLE BUILDING ASSESSMENT TOOL ASSESSING HOW BUILDINGS CAN SUPPORT SUSTAINABILITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Jeremy Gibberd Facilities Planning and Management, CSIR, Division of Construction and Building Technology P O Box 395 Pretoria 0001South Africa Tel: / 2550, Fax: , jgibberd@csir.co.za ABSTRACT The Sustainable Building Assessment Tool (SBAT) is being developed as a way of supporting the implementation of more sustainable practices in the building and construction industry in developing countries and in South Africa in particular. In order to reflect the priorities in developing countries the tool places a strong emphasis on social and economic aspects of sustainability as well as environmental issues. The tool also aims to develop awareness and support for sustainability among building stakeholders, including clients, building users, facilities managers and design teams. The paper describes the SBAT and shows how this can be used to integrate sustainability into the design, construction and management of buildings. This process is illustrated through a number of examples from projects that CSIR has been involved in including low cost school buildings, mixed use developments and office buildings. INTRODUCTION In the last 10 years there has been a shift policy in emphasis from environmental issues to the wider concept of sustainable development (1). Sustainable development can be defined as development that meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs and aspirations (2). This policy shift is the result of two main factors. The first is the increasing precision in the quantification and attribution of the causes of global environmental degradation and resource depletion. This demonstrates significant differences between countries and suggests that over consumption in some countries needs to be reduced while basic human needs in other countries still need to be met (3). The second factor is the realisation that the extent and urgency of global environment problems will require a concerted and integrated effort, internationally, and across social, environmental and economic sectors. The building and construction industry has a significant part to play in supporting sustainable development (4). The industry plays a pivotal role in structuring levels of resource consumption and environmental pollution through, for instance, the design and management of the urban environment and buildings. It also plays an important role in addressing basic human needs through the provision of housing and social infrastructure such as schools and hospitals. Paper presented at the Built Environment Professions Convention Hosted by: ASAQS, SAACE, SABTACO, SAIA and SAICE: Produced by: Document Transformation Technologies 1 3 May 2002, Johannesburg, South Africa ISBN Number: X Organised by: Currint Events

2 However the role that the construction industry needs to play in order to support sustainable development depends on the context. In developed countries, most basic human needs have been met and in many cases have actually been exceeded (5). The emphasis therefore in these countries has been to try and maintain standards of living while reducing resource depletion and environmental damage (6). In the construction and building industry this approach is reflected in the wide range of building environmental assessment methods and guides such as BREEAM (UK) (7), LEED (USA) (8) and the GBTool (Canada) (9). In developing countries however, the average standard of living is far lower than in developed countries and in many cases basic human needs are not being met. The emphasis here, it is argued, should therefore be on development that aims to address these basic needs while avoiding negative environmental impacts. In South Africa a wide range of policy and initiatives has been developed by government to support this approach. These include: The Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy, the State of the Environment Reports, Driving Competitiveness: An integrated Industrial Strategy For Sustainable Employment and Growth, the New Partnership for Africa s Development, the White Paper on Integrated Pollution and Waste Management, the White Paper on Environmental Management Policy, and the South Africa Human Development Report (10). Within the building and construction industry in developing countries there is relatively little to support the implementation of this approach. The Sustainable Building Assessment Tool is being developed to try and help address this gap. The tool reflects urgent social and economic priorities that exist in developing countries by trying to understand, and assess, how buildings can contribute to sustainable social and economic development as well as environmental sustainability. This change in emphasis can be used to help develop a definition for sustainable buildings which describes the role buildings and construction may be able to play in developing countries: Sustainable building and construction aims to maximise beneficial social and economic impact while minimising negative environmental impacts. This definition however immediately raises a number of questions such as: what are beneficial social and economic impacts of buildings? What are negative environmental impacts of buildings? And, how all of these be measured or assessed? The development of the Sustainable Building Assessment Tool has only managed to answer a fraction of these questions, as these issues are highly complex. In fact the International Standards Organisation suggests that the issues involved are too complex and assessments should not be attempted (11). The SBAT, therefore, at this stage cannot claim to provide a comprehensive assessment of the extent to which buildings can support sustainability. It aims to provide an indicative guide to the performance of buildings in terms of sustainability through the collection and interpretation of a number of simple performance indicators. It is based on the premise that the urgency and scale of the problem warrants the development of support for sustainability in the building and construction industry, even if this area is not yet fully understood. THE SUSTAINABLE BUILDING ASSESSMENT TOOL The tool suggests that there are 15 main areas in buildings that need to be assessed in order to establish a picture of the extent to which a building supports sustainability. These areas are arranged under the headings of Environmental, Economic and Social, and are as follows:

3 Environmental Water Energy Waste Site Materials & Components Economic Local Economy Efficiency of Use Adaptability & Flexibility Ongoing Costs Capital Costs Social Occupant Comfort Inclusive Environments Access to Facilities Participation & Control Education, Health & Safety Local contractors These areas were established through a process of describing, and understanding, buildings in terms of their relationship to social, economic and environmental systems (12). Different systems have different levels of sustainability and the approach used to develop the SBAT aimed to assess not only the performance of buildings in terms of sustainability but also assess the extent of the building s contribution to supporting and developing more sustainable systems around it. This aspect can be illustrated through the example of the Local Economy component of the Tool (listed above). This suggests that a strong and diversified local economy is important for sustainability. A local emphasis supports sustainability in a very simple way by reducing the need for transportation and therefore limits the consumption of non-renewable resources and pollution. A more subtle aspect of this concept is the way it draws on the connections between people and their environments. The local emphasis encourages people to adopt more sustainable practices by ensuring that people experience, and suffer the negative consequences of their actions. (13) The tool suggests that buildings can have a positive impact on the economy of an area by being designed, constructed and managed to stimulate and support a local, diversified economy or an adverse effect when this can be weakened or even destroyed. In order to establish the extent and type of impact a building makes on the local economy 5 criteria are assessed. These are: Local Contractors: The extent to which local contractors and labour is used to construct the building Local Building Material Supply: the extent to which local materials is used in the building Local Components, Fittings and Furniture: The extent to which local components, fittings and furniture are used for the building Small Business Support: The extent to which small business such as contractors, manufacturers or retailers are supported through the construction process (i.e. through construction and business administration training) or in the completed building (i.e. through outsourcing, low or no cost access to space and facilities). Maintenance: The extent to which the building and its system is maintained locally.

4 This method of assessment is identical for all of the 15 areas listed above. A final assessment therefore is based on 75 indicators (15 areas x 5 criteria). This assessment is captured graphically as a web diagram (illustrated below). This provides a simple holistic picture of the performance of the building. The Sustainable Buildings Assessment Tool Local Economy SBAT 5 Materials and Components Efficiency of Use Site and Landscaping Recycling and Reuse ENVIRONMENTAL Energy BRIEF 0 ECONOMIC Adaptability and Flexibility Ongoing Costs Capital Costs Water Education, Health and Safety SOCIAL Comfort Inclusive Environments Participation and Control Access to Facilities BOUTEK Figure 1: A SBAT report, the orange overlay indicates the assessment, the transparent overlay the target. An important part of developing the SBAT was consideration of how this could become part of, and influence, normal design, construction and building management processes. This lead to the development of a 9-stage process (referred to as the Structured Approach) based on the typical life cycle of a building. These stages are illustrated below 1. Briefing* 2. Site Analysis* 3. Target Setting* 4. Design 5. Design development* 6. Construction* 7. Handover 8. Operation* 9. Reuse/refurbish/recycle* * Indicate stages when the SBAT can be used Figure 2: Structured Approach stages

5 In many ways these stages reflect the conventional approach to designing, managing and constructing buildings. It is suggested however there are number of simple steps that can be incorporated into this process, which combined with a tool like the SBAT, can support the development of more sustainable buildings. One of the most important of these steps is ensuring that sustainability is addressed thoroughly, as early as possible, in the development of a building. This enables the concept of sustainability to be effectively integrated into the process as a whole. In order to do this effectively a number of steps have been included before the design of the building. The first of these steps is Briefing. At this stage it is useful to develop a shared understanding about sustainability and develop a strong commitment to addressing this amongst all stakeholders in the project. One way of doing this is to hold a briefing workshop and working through the SBAT areas. This helps to make sustainability an explicit, practical issue, allowing this to be discussed, and agreed upon. The target-setting component of the SBAT enables a target footprint of the required performance to be developed for the building. This footprint can be developed and agreed by the stakeholders as part of the workshop and issued at the end of this to the design team as part of the briefing documents. This is a useful reference document as it helps establish the level of commitment by the client to sustainability at the outset of the project and enables the client to monitor design development against an explicit brief. The CSIR has used this process to assist with briefing for the new MTN head quarters in Johannesburg. The second step is Site Analysis. This stage investigates the site in terms of Social, Economic and Environmental aspects in order to establish the context in terms of problems to be addressed and potential resources that can be used. This approach was used by the CSIR to help select and analyse sites for the Thuba Makote Project. This project aims to develop pilot schools, which support community development as well as providing high quality education. This site analysis approach was used on this project as it helps guide the collection of information from, for instance, site visits and interviews, in a way that aims to establish social, economic and environmental problems as well as potential resources at each site. The third step is the Target Setting Stage. This stage is used to develop detailed sustainability performance targets for the building. This draws on a range of information. It uses outputs from the briefing workshop to establish the level of commitment by the client to sustainability and the capacity and understanding within this area by the design team. The site analysis is used to provide a description of the local context in terms of problems and resources. Finally benchmark performance figures for similar buildings in similar contexts are required. All of this information is then used to develop a detailed set of achievable, but challenging performance targets for the building. This document provides a detailed reference document, which is then used to guide many aspects of the projects such as the design, selection of procurement method, type of construction process and facilities management policies. This type of document was developed by the CSIR with Arup to support the development of a sustainable hotel by the Ritz Carlton at Spier. This approach requires the design to be tested back against the target document during the Design Development stage. This enables the performance of different designs and strategies to be evaluated and the best options chosen. The SBAT can be used at this stage to support the rapid evaluation of different decisions as enables the performance of an approach to captured readily.

6 The Structured Approach as currently developed does not include extensive monitoring of site and construction processes. It suggests that sustainability issues should be addressed in tender documents and covered by the contract and a detailed briefing to the contractor. This enables the contractor to understand the requirements of the project and provides recourse if these requirements are not met. During and after the design development it is suggested that the design team prepare potential users and managers of the building for occupation of the building. This preparation would normally occur through briefings on buildings and its systems, the development of a building user manual, and new employee induction training and material. This enables the building and it s systems to be understood fully and managed effectively to achieve high performance in terms of sustainability. During the life of the building this approach suggests that it is important to ensure that performance of the building and it s systems are maintained at high level in order to support sustainability. At the CSIR this is done through the Green Buildings for Africa programme, which provides ongoing support to building users and facilities managers in order to maintain performance levels. Finally, at the end of it s useful life the structured approach suggests that, where possible, the building is refurbished and reused. Where this is not possible, as much of the building as possible should be recycled or reused. Ideally, this process of deconstruction would be assisted through reference to the building user manual, which would provide the information required to enable the process to happen easily with a minimum of waste. CONCLUSION The Sustainable Building Assessment Tool combined with the Structured Approach shows considerable potential as a way of supporting the development of buildings and processes that support sustainability in South Africa. It is likely that the Tool and the approach will continue to evolve as a better understanding sustainability, and it s implications for developing countries, and buildings, is developed. REFERENCES 1 A. Yates, R. Baldwin, N. Howard, S. Rao, BREEAM 98 for Offices, pub Construction Research Communications Ltd, Watford, UK p.4 (1998) 2 World Commission on the Environment (WCED) Our Common Future, pub Oxford University Press, London, UK (1887) 3 J.Loh, (ed) The Living Planet Report 2000, pub WWF, Gland, Switzerland, p1 (2000). 4 A. Yates, R. Baldwin, N. Howard, S. Rao, BREEAM 98 for Offices, pub Construction Research Communications Ltd, London, UK p.4 (1998) 5 J.Loh, (ed) The Living Planet Report 2000, pub WWF, Gland, Switzerland, p1 (2000). 6 Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. Indicators of sustainable development for the United Kingdom pub HMSO, London, UK (1994) 7 A. Yates, R. Baldwin, N. Howard, S. Rao, BREEAM 98 for Offices, pub Construction Research Communications Ltd, Watford, UK (1998) 8 LEED, pub US Green Building Council, USA (2000) 9 GBTool, pub iisbe, Canada, (1999) 10 Information on these policies and initiatives can be obtained from the South Africa government website: 11 ISO 14020:2000 Environmental labels and declarations General principles, pub International Standards institute, Switzerland (2000) 12 J. Gibberd, Building Sustainability: How Buildings can support Sustainability in Developing Countries Continental Shift IFI International Conference, September 2001, Johannesburg (2001) 13 P. Ekins, Wealth beyond Measure: An Atlas of New Economics, pub Gaia Books Limited, London, UK p. 35 (1992)

7 THE SUSTAINABLE BUILDING ASSESSMENT TOOL ASSESSING HOW BUILDINGS CAN SUPPORT SUSTAINABILITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Jeremy Gibberd Facilities Planning and Management CSIR, Division of Construction and Building Technology P O Box 395 Pretoria 0001South Africa Tel: / 2550, Fax: , jgibberd@csir.co.za Jeremy Gibberd is an architect with the CSIR, Division of Building and Construction Technology in Pretoria. He specialises in Education and Sustainable Buildings and is involved in range of projects including piloting 9 sustainable schools, the development of the Sustainable Building Assessment Tool, and carrying out design evaluations on, and preparing sustainability guidelines and briefing documents for new office, educational and hotel buildings.