+IMPACT MAGAZINE ISSUE 26

INSIGHT
INSIGHT
The Leadership category aims to
recognise and celebrate innovative
ideas that fall outside the scope of the
Green Star framework.
inspiring others to follow their lead. Coville warns that
not every “novel” concept will qualify as an innovation.
Initiatives would have to add value to the South African
context that the credit is being adapted to respond to. He
says teams must demonstrate that the proposed market
transformation meets the following: has a guaranteed
outcome; delivers a long-lasting impact; demonstrates an
impact at significant scale; proves that the initiative has the
potential to transform the industry; and provides benefits
to both stakeholders in the industry and the general public.
Without these standards, the concept of a “Market
Transformation” might seem quite vague, but the credit
provides structure and guidance. “It’s about making sure
that you can respond to these questions, because that would
imply that there’s an environmental benefit to what you’re
claiming,” Coville says.
The other credit, LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES,
combines elements of the previous “Environmental
Initiatives” and “Exceeding Greenstar Benchmarks” credits.
The concept of a long-term, lasting and measurable impact
comes to mind. Coville uses an environmental initiative
as an example: “The intention is to grow a database of the
innovative initiatives to serve as guidelines for other projects
to be able to implement similar processes or systems.” He
emphasises that potential leadership challenges will have to
be assessed for validity as a Leadership Challenge ahead of
the project being submitted for assessment. This is because
they must carry the weight of applicability beyond that
specific project. “The reason for this is to make sure that it
is justifiable in terms of being applicable to other buildings
too – so that as an outcome, that credit can be used and
applied by others on their projects.”
The intention is to grow a database
of the innovative initiatives to serve
as guidelines for other projects.
as the calculators – and use them early on in the design
development phase, rather than looking at them towards
the end of the project.” Retief agrees, saying these tools
will help teams to plot their journey, and avoid confusion
in cases where it is applied as an afterthought.
There are three levels to the OTHER CARBON credit.
Its three focus points consider refrigerants, operational
energy offset and upfront carbon offset. Projects teams
aiming for the first level of points must identify refrigerants
used in the building, as well as their carbon impact – and
then offset that.
The second and third levels tie in with the credits of
Energy Use and Upfront Carbon, which, according to
Retief, cover the full lifecycle of these processes. “For both
of these levels, there may still be a carbon impact,” explains
Coville. “In buildings where there is a carbon impact,
project teams would need to quantify the carbon through
It’s time for the industry to take on
a productive role by generating power
and using regenerative materials.
the calculators provided, and offset it.” Gooljar adds that
there is an opportunity for meeting some elements of the
LEADERSHIP category in terms of offsetting emissions
from construction activities.
By making the whole process more accessible, Gooljar
believes the tools and structure of this category are
democratising the way project teams think about modelling
and calculating energy and water use – “whether you’re big
or small, complex or simple – and for everyone with various
levels of expertise.”
LEADERSHIP CATEGORY
CATEGORY DIRECTOR: N/A
MINIMUM CREDITS: None
CREDITS: Market Transformation; Leadership Challenges
Previously known as “Innovation”, the LEADERSHIP
category calls on the sector’s frontrunners and game changers.
“It aims to recognise and celebrate innovative ideas that fall
outside the scope of the Green Star framework,” says Coville.
Project teams are encouraged to identify initiative(s) in their
project, or flowing from their project, that are not included
in the Green Star categories. “If it can set a precedent that
addresses a valid environmental concern, exceeds Green Star
benchmarks, or be considered a pioneering initiative, process
or strategy, it could become something that is available as
guideline for all future projects,” he adds. A prime example
is how the industry is designing and building staircases to
minimise the use of lifts.
Although the rating structure of the category is still
being finalised, it will likely have two credits, drawing
from the Australian tool’s “Leadership Challenges” and
“Market Transformation” credits. According to Coville,
10 points, aligning to 10 initiatives, will be made available
initially. “Over time, we’ll be able to open up that threshold,
in line with the Australian tool, once we’ve built up a bit
more of a library of these innovations that projects can
choose to target.”
MARKET TRANSFORMATION is going to be similar
to the current INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES AND
TECHNOLOGIES credit, and encourages project teams
to demonstrate that they are pushing the boundaries, and
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