South Africa has been listed as one of the top adopters of green building technology in the world, reporting the highest percentage of green building projects currently under way that employ the World Green Building Council as a research partner.
This is according to the 2016 ‘World Green Building Trends’ report, published in February, which reported that green building was forecast to double globally by 2018.
The report indicated that South Africa’s commitment to green building was not triggered by regulatory requirements, as was the case in many other jurisdictions, but by the country’s commitment to “doing the right thing”.
It showed that, in South Africa, respondents believed green activity was laying the groundwork for an overall shift in the market and that, if the country’s commitment to green building stayed strong, South Africa would be a leader in the global green market in the next three years.
Respondents in South Africa indicated that 41% of their work was already green with Green Building Council South Africa CEO Brian Wilkinson explaining that, “South Africa will continue to outperform with almost two-thirds of respondents expecting more than 60% of their projects to be green by 2018.”
He added that it was a clear sign that green building practices were gaining significant momentum in South Africa, along with an acknowledgment that green-star-certified projects were not only innovative, but benefited people, the planet and profits.