Building near Cape Town airport goes to tremendous lengths to generate own power and reduce waste INNOVATIVE IDEAS: Using Cobiax void formers has reduced the amount of concrete required at Hotel Verde, which is under construction near Cape Town International Airport. CONSTRUCTION on Hotel Verde began more than a year ago just outside Cape Town International Airport, with a team of contractors and experts dedicated to creating Africa’s greenest hotel. And the team at Hotel Verde has gone to the greatest lengths yet seen on the continent — from locally sourced suppliers to sustainable practices on the building site to generating their own electricity and reducing waste to almost zero. “We have a responsibility as a company, as an employer and as a visitor on this planet to live as sustainably as possible. This is the only way we can survive long-term and hand over to our children in a responsible manner,” say Mario and Annemarie Delicio of Dematech, the owner of Hotel Verde, which is a part of the recently launched BON Hotels group.
Dedicated and enthusiastic about sustainability, the Delicios have transformed what was initially just a sensible business proposition into a showcase for some of the most advanced environmentally conscious technological installations, as well as construction and operation practices, in the world. “If you look at what can be done from a green angle you look at energy, water and waste reduction,” Mario says. “You then take each of these areas and work out how to implement alternatives, generating your own electricity for example.
Then you need to explore the extent to which you can go. “We have an advantage because we are starting from scratch. We could go from choosing recycled bricks and insulation, to installing a geothermal field, coupled to groundsource heat pumps. When you build new you can plan much more than if you retrofit an existing building.” Andre Harms, sustainability manager and founder of Ecolution Consulting, is a trained mechanical engineer and the expertise behind some of the more technical aspects of the building. Having spent 15 months at the South African Research Centre in Antarctica, Harms knows what it is to value everyday resources and is applying this dedication to each facet of the project. “We have the opportunity to change the status quo here,” he says.
“We have looked at different ways of doing everything, right from the word go.” This includes the photovoltaic panels positioned to provide shade as well as power. They are mounted on the north façade of the building so they generate electricity and create shading for the windows that get the most sun. To dramatically reduce the amount of concrete required, the construction used Cobiax void formers, which are recycled plastic balls placed strategically within the concrete slabs that are required for the floors. They displace the concrete, saving approximately 1, 284 tons of concrete while maintaining the structural integrity.
Hotel \Wide also boasts a sophisticated grey water recycling plant that will contribute towards a 37 percent reduction of potable water use. “We have run a network of pipes through the building to reticulate the grey water, collect it and supply it to the toilets,” Harms says. There will also be a rainwater filtering and capture system to provide water for the car wash and irrigation. The lifts will run on a regenerative drive, which will allow for about 30 percent of the input energy to be recaptured and fed back into the building. Double-glazed windows with spectrally selective glass will filter out hot rays, so less heat enters the building, and reduce the need for air conditioning. To bypass the need for standard air-conditioning systems, Hotel Verde will use ground-source heat pumps made by 100 holes drilled about 76m into the ground, where the temperature is a consistent 19oC. German supplier AGO Energy will install a complex network of piping and equipment specifically designed for Hotel Verde that uses the earth as a heat source in winter and “heat sink” in summer, boosting efficiency and dramatically reducing operational costs.
“There is no other hotel in Africa that has gone to the extent that we are hoping to achieve,” Delicio says. “But going green is not just about the building, it’s about every aspect of the operation.” The hotel will open in May, and will offer guests incentives to save energy and water, such as credit notes and bar tabs for those who use towels more than once, for example, or don’t use the air-conditioning. “It’s important to get customers involved and make them a part of the whole green-thinking philosophy,” the Delicios say. Guy Stehlik, founder of BON Hotels, which will manage and operate Hotel Verde, says it’s an invaluable experience to be involved in a project of this nature, and he expects the lessons learned to benefit future hotels.
“The three cornerstones of BON Hotels are good people, good thinking and good feeling. Hotel Verde and the philosophy behind it is where the good thinking lies. This is definitely one of the most innovative hotels in the country” says Stehlik. The Hotel Verde team are keen to share their convictions with anyone who’ll listen. “We might have the slogan Africa’s Greenest Hotel’ right now, but we hope it won’t be for long,” says Harms. “We want to show the continent what can be done. We want to challenge the industry as a whole.” See www.bonhotels.co.za or www.hotelverde.co.za.
