Situated in Nasrec, Safa House has been equipped with a solar water heater (SWH) for its canteen, which is the biggest hot water consumer in the building, in a drive to make the building more energy efficient.

Safa House is headquarters for the South African Football Association (Safa), where the FIFA 2010 soccer World Cup local organising committee (LOC) is also currently housed.

With its soccer-ball shaped dome, SAFA house was designed as an example of modern, appealing architecture, however, it became apparent that it was not a good example of energy efficiency.

The LOC carbon offset working group and the Central Energy Fund (CEF) thus launched an initiative to transform Safa House into a greener building.

As part of the initiative, changes were made to the electrical system of the building, including changing and installing controls for lighting and energy-efficient light bulbs.

AllSolar was approached by CEF, inspected the site, and proposed Schüco SWH solutions from Germany. In the first phase of the project, AllSolar completed the installation of a 300 litre Thermosyphon SWH unit feeding the existing industrial type geyser for the canteen.

AllSolar technical manager Martin Ost explained that this type of unit was selected from the range of products, as it did not require any electrical connections for pumps or auxiliary heating and could be installed with minimal impact on the existing environment of the building.

"The canteen geyser was singled out as the biggest consumer of electrical energy for hot water, which is why we opted for this installation first, to maximise the impact," said Ost.

AllSolar sponsored the first unit, but other units would follow to cater for washrooms and an action soccer pitch, planned for construction at the site at a later stage.

In December, AllTube with its division AllSolar launched a programme for the training of SWHs installers at the Builders Training Centre (BTC) in Soweto. This initiative, supported by the German Development Organisation (DEG), the German Chamber of Commerce in Johannesburg and the German solar systems manufacturer Schüco, aimed at providing an add-on qualification for plumbers, to empower local emerging plumbers to expand their skills base, and their businesses.

Safa House is situated 11 km from the BTC, providing the opportunity for AllSolar to engage the trainers and students of the BTC to perform the installation, said Ost.

The installation allowed participants in the course to hone their skills by testing them out in a commercial building environment, as typically the training course focuses on equipping SWH installers with the skills required for domestic applications only.

Installations at commercial buildings can present many challenges, including the need to service multiple floors, lifting units and tools 12-m high, difficult access through narrow vertical shafts, and working with thick concrete slabs, conditions for which the training course does not prepare its trainees.

The installation at Safa House presented an opportunity for participants on the training course to analyse the conditions and find feasible solutions for real-life challenges of SWH systems installation.