Green buildings in spotlight as COP 17 looms

The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) will be taking advantage of South Africa's hosting of the United Nations' COP 17 climate change meeting to promote "green building". The GBCSA will have a visual and active presence at COP 17, to be held in Durban on 28 November to 9 December 2011.

Bruce Kerswill, executive chairman of the GBCSA, urged local industry, business and the government to work together to embrace greening the built environment to help mitigate the impact of climate change. "With the international community poised to arrive in South Africa for the COP 17 climate change talks in Durban, we must showcase green building and thereby set an example for the rest of the world," he said, adding that the GBCSA was working hard to develop and provide tools to facilitate necessary change in the built environment.

The GBCSA launched the Green Star SA tool in order to enable industry roleplayers to minimise the environmental impacts of their developments and to receive recognition for their efforts. The tool has been designed for use by owners, developers and consultants - architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers, and building contractors - to influence the design of buildings. So far, the GBCSA has awarded ratings to five buildings in South Africa.

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