Foundation promotes green building designs

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 09/24/2007 3:17 PM  |  Life

Sascha Pries, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Environmentalists have long warned of the negative impacts of humans' wasteful way of using natural resources. In a slow process the notions of sustainability have made their way into the mind-sets of public players and politicians. As a result, suddenly everybody wants to save the world.

Developing the first ideas of sustainability into integral parts of state policy in the West took over 25 years. One of the major political issues on a global level today is how to convince developing countries of the necessity of participating in the global environmental network.

Creating this awareness in Indonesia will be a lot of trouble for politicians and the public, but from the points of view of actors in the sustainable construction business it will be worthwhile.

The world market leader for concrete and cement, Swiss-based Holcim Ltd., is one of these actors. The company has advanced from merely providing building materials to effectively supplying pre-cast houses, building materials and designs that are in line with the ideas of sustainability.

""Nobody is happy if you sell him a bag of concrete,"" said Alex Bchi, the manager of Holcim Indonesia, ""but if you sell him a house, he is.""

Holcim's sustainability has many facets, from production and distribution, to education and support. ""We are a company and we want to sell our products and make a profit,"" Bchi said, ""but we want to make our contribution to a healthy environment and society, too.""

The concrete produced by Holcim is mostly made of local materials, like limestone, pebbles and sand. Although the process of burning limestone is highly energy consuming, it has some advantages in comparison with other materials.

Bricks and steel are energy consuming materials, too, and the use of wood poses the problem of deforestation, which in return is responsible for landslides and the loss of groundwater.

Whereas in the Western world and some Asian countries like Singapore and India there are endeavors to implement Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificates that indicate the level of sustainability of a building, in Indonesia there is only a little movement toward certification.

""There is no green building council in Indonesia,"" said Zenin Adrian, the owner of the Jakarta-based Zenin Adrian Design Lab (ZADL), who obtained a master's degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

""The government does not support sustainable construction in Indonesia,"" he said, adding that this, and the fee of US$10,000 for the certificate, might be reasons for the lack of LEED endeavors in Indonesia.

""In terms of sustainability, Indonesia has a 10-year backlog compared to the rest of the world, in comparison to developing countries it is average,"" said Bchi, adding that the Philippines and Thailand were performing much better.

To raise awareness of this matter, there have been three seminars in Jakarta so far. The Environment Ministry and others took part in the discussions, but it appears that companies are still reluctant to take over the ideas of sustainability, because of the higher cost of constructing the buildings.

Training the future users of a building to save energy can considerably reduce the fixed cost of running the building.

According to Holcim figures, savings of energy in the different sectors range from 10 to 30 percent.

It seems it is not expertise that is missing, but the will and awareness to go green. In order to make a change, the Holcim Foundation, an organization that is independent but financed by Holcim, introduced the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction in 2005.

There are two different awards for the regional awards in 2008, the entry period of which started in June and ends on Feb. 29, 2008. The first category is for existing projects in an advanced stage of design only. The new ""Next Generation"" category was introduced to support young professionals and their conceptual visions.

The prize money for the five regional awards (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America) is $270,000 each, which will be shared among the winners. In the ""Next Generation"" awards the prize of $35,000 will be shared among three winners.

The winners from the five regional contests will take part in the international awards with total prize money of $2 million.

""Our goal is to have at least a hundred participants for the awards and one winner in each of the categories',"" Bchi said.

In workshops in Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and Yokyakarta, with about 40 participants in each, Holcim has tried to raise interest among young architects in participating in the contest. ""Awareness of sustainability with architects is at 50 percent,"" Bchi said, ""but only one percent is really in the thick of it.

""As a producer in Indonesia, we have a huge responsibility,"" Bchi said. But implementing the ideas of social, environmental and sustainable construction in the small enterprises in Indonesian towns and villages is no easy task.

""There are approximately six million housing units missing in Indonesia at the moment, and of course we want to fill this gap,"" Bchi said. But for a long time, it was hard to reach the simple housing market in which Holcim has a share of 25 percent.

By establishing franchise businesses with local contractors and design offices that can still offer their old products, Holcim can now do both, sell its products and transfer the ideas of sustainability -- among which are also social regulations -- into the smaller units of society.

Solusi Rumah, as the franchises are called, offers a range of small- and medium-sized buildings that are made of Holcim pre-cast concrete. According to Holcim, these buildings are 10 to 15 percent cheaper when bought in integrated packages and can thus compete with other local products.

""A problem of sustainable construction in Indonesia is that labor-intensive processes are generally ruled out, in order to implement more efficient ways of constructing,"" Leila said. Thus there is a danger of squeezing local workers out of the market.

But Holcim also engages in creating a new generation of masons. In education facilities near Yogyakarta, Holcim has trained about 1,200 bricklayers according to its European standards. This of course, bears some self-interest, too, as the company is highly dependent on skilled masons that can process Holcim's products.

Forcing companies by law to use sustainable construction does not seem like a promising idea, as they are apt to feel patronized and the climate for investment in Indonesia might seem less attractive.

""Incentives from the private or public sector might be better,"" said Zenin, ""a 'soft enforcement' through corporate reputation can have a much bigger effect.""

But in this area also the government should contribute to raising the awareness among society. ""We could use these corporate attempts to place the ball in the government's court,"" said Zenin.

The main problem now is to accumulate more knowledge about easier ways and techniques to create sustainable buildings in the tropics, so contractors, architects and companies can adjust to the new ideas. Holcim says it spends about $ 1 million on research and projects to create knowledge.

As most of the research is still done by scientists in the West, most of the data accumulated by them cannot be translated into useful designs for the climatically very different environment in the tropics.

""From the government's side there is no funding for research,"" said Zenin, ""what we need is a more specific database for the tropics to exchange and enhance our techniques.""

On the web: www.zadl.net www.holcim.com/id www.holcimawards.org

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