Encouraging green building as standard for tomorrow’s built environment
Amidst global calls and campaign for environmental protection and sustainability through greening initiatives coupled with concerted efforts at bridging the 17 million housing demand-supply gap in Nigeria, both public and private sector operators in the nation’s built environment should consider and encourage green building as a global standard with immense benefits, writes CHUKA UROKO
In today’s world of changing climatic conditions and rising household energy cost due to growing sophistication and changing tastes, greening is increasingly becoming a phenomenon and a veritable index in global initiatives for measuring standards of the built environment.
Greening the environment by way of landscaping, planting trees and ornamentals, creating gardens and parks are no longer enough, hence the need for sustainable, energy efficient structures commonly called green buildings, not just for residence but also for business, commerce and sundry purposes.
By definition, green buildings are those with increased efficiency in the use of energy, water and materials with capacity to reduce the impact of construction or operational activities on human health and the environment through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and demolition.
Put differently, green buildings are structures that have been constructed, incorporating aesthetics, technologies, and materials that are environmentally friendly, responsible and resource-efficient with less dependence on fossil fuels to minimise its negative environmental impact throughout its life-cycle—from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and even demolition.
Unlike in other societies, green building still exists almost at the level of an idea in Nigeria and questions are frequently asked whether it is a myth or reality, probably on account of its relative challenging construction modes and cost-implications in the short term.
In a presentation titled ‘The Evolution of Green Building in Nigeria : A Myth or Reality’, Shina Oliyide, the general manager, technical services in Alpha Mead Facilities & Management Services Limited (AMFacilities), gave insights into green buildings, explaining why it is yet to develop in Nigeria.
Nigeria is a country with very low electricity generation—about 4,000 megawatts for a population of 170 million people. Energy is therefore, a problem and, according to Oliyide, an average of 40 million litres of petrol/diesel is used per day in Nigeria for private generation of electricity.
Transportation is also a big issue in Nigeria because of the poor state of infrastructure and lack of impactful investments. This goes hand-in-hand with poor waste management which, he explained, has remained so because environmentally sustainable waste disposal is still very low in most parts of the country with the exception of Lagos State which has a fully implemented waste management strategy.
Oliyide, who made the presentation at a Facilities Management Roundtable organised by his company as part of activities marking this year’s Facilities Management Day in Lagos, submitted further that green building is hampered by design and building innovation, explaining that the government is yet to introduce policies and champion the implementation of green buildings and private sector buy-in is low.
Information about green building with its immense benefits is still relatively little and this was the crux of the FM Roundtable which had as its theme, ‘Towards Optimal Performance of Critical Infrastructure and Real Estate Assets in Nigeria’.
AMFacilities is Nigeria’s leading light in the facilities management, maintenance and services industry and has, frequently, through seminars, roundtables and other forms of advocacy, canvassed the need for practitioners to up their game to meet changing demands by international and local clients.
Femi Akintunde, AMFacilities MD/CEO, sees every need for Nigeria to embrace and encourage the development of green building as a global initiative that is critical to sustainability of tomorrow’s built environment.
Akintunde is a chief exponent of global best practice in all spheres of Nigeria’s national life, especially in real estate and the facilities management and maintenance industry and so, urges the development of green building as a global standard for the present and the future.
Placing green building side by side with non-green building, it is easily seen that there are reasons why the government especially should encourage its development as a better and more sustainable alternative. Whereas green building’s energy is low, it high with non-green building.
Similarly, indoor environment quality is very good in green building, but just good in non-green building; emissions are low in green buildings, but high in non-green building; waste management is very efficient in green building, but just efficient in non-green building; building materials are environmentally friendly in green building, but not so in non-green building, and while project practices are sophisticated in green buildings, they are normal in non-green buildings.
Oliyide notes that globally, trends in green building is getting not only exciting and rewarding, but also demanding, pointing out that there is increased adoption of greener business practices by facility managers and real estate consultants, while globalization is reinforcing and accelerating sustainable property developments and operating trends.
He adds that major corporate clients are seeking greener facilities in a bid to attract and retain workers, differentiate their products, improve their image to consumers and satisfy stakeholders, just as greener business practices are being driven by increasingly prescriptive government regulations, while the need to reduce operational cost across the life cycle of buildings is driving the requirement for green buildings.
It is pertinent to point out that cost and maintenance issues can inhibit the development of this model in poor environments like Nigeria where daily income for most of the populace is a little above a dollar.
The German technology called Huf Haus, is one of the few advanced building technologies for green building development and this, according to its promoters, targets high end buyers and users of their products, thus shutting out a significant segment of the society that equally needs a ‘fresh breath’.
Though Thomas Geimer, Huf Haus Managing Director, says in the Huf Haus philosophy, luxury lifestyle and eco-friendly living should not be mutually exclusive, Tunde Fagbemi—the company’s Country Representative in Nigeria, adds that their houses are generally high end products, targeting the super-rich who, he said, need them as a prize they give to themselves as a celebration of successful living.
However, Oliyide points out that in spite of the cost, there are over-riding benefits, explaining that cost of green may be initially high, but life cycle costs will reduce, adding that green buildings have lower life cycle cost and there is also energy, water and indoor environmental quality.
There are extraneous factors that inhibit the development of green buildings in Nigeria and Oliyide lists them as lack of institutions to formulate policies and set guidelines, lack of information about green products and high performance building systems, human resource and client knowledge, low level expertise and awareness with regard to sustainability issues.
These notwithstanding, Nigeria’s first green building—The Heritage Place—is already in advanced stage of construction and it is situated at the crossroads of Lugard Avenue and Kingsway Road, Ikoyi Lagos. It sits on 4,110.72 square metres of land, has an allowable site coverage of 40 percent with 18,000 square metres total gross build area (GBA), and promises 3 per 100 square metres of net rentable area.
Actis, an international private equity investment firm, is leading this development with Primrose Development Company (PDC) and Laurus Development as partners. The office complex, which will rise 14 floors, promises 15,600 square metres of lettable office space.
According to the promoters, this ultra modern, eco-friendly building is Nigeria’s most advanced development, employing the latest building principles and state-of-the-art finishes; it is set to become one of Lagos’s most recognisable and accessible buildings. Carlo Matta, Laurus CEO, says that apart from its positive impact on tenants’ bottom line, the building also has the advantage of reducing operating cost by guaranteeing over 20 percent less energy cost.
It is against this background that Nigeria as a country and as a government should encourage the development of green buildings, recognising it as the standard of tomorrow’s built environment. “Going green is a global initiative and green building tax incentives from federal, state and local governments can encourage its development,” Oliyide recommends.