Sekai Manyere
Herald Reporter
CONSTRUCTION professionals have been undergoing training to design buildings that consume less energy and water, use fewer materials and produce less waste, as the country steps up efforts to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change.
The training programme, launched by the Green Building Council of Zimbabwe in partnership with Solid Green Consulting last week, sought to build local expertise in sustainable construction and promote environmentally conscious building practices.
The initiative comes as the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities reviews the 1977 Model Building By-laws, creating an opportunity to strengthen environmental considerations in the country’s built environment.
Solid Green Consulting director Mr Chilufyn Lombe said the two-part programme was designed to help professionals across the construction industry understand and apply green building standards.
The programme comprised EDGE Expert Training and Design for Greater Efficiencies (DFGE), which address different aspects of sustainable building design and performance.
“Neither of the training programmes is specifically for one group of people. Architects, engineers, project managers and clients can all benefit, depending on their responsibilities,” he said.
Mr Lombe said EDGE Expert Training introduces participants to green building certification and how the environmental performance of developments is assessed.
“That one can be done by anyone with an interest in green building. It’s not specifically to say it’s only the architect,” he said.
DFGE, meanwhile, focuses on the technical aspects of designing buildings to improve resource efficiency, including calculations and engineering considerations.
Mr Lombe said sustainable building design required collaboration among all professionals involved in a project, as decisions made during planning and construction affect a building’s long-term consumption of resources.
“In a building, you’ve got an architect, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, clients and project managers.
“It is meant to increase understanding of some of the more technical aspects of how we design buildings to use less water, less energy and fewer materials,” he said.
He said buildings account for close to 40 percent of global energy use and carbon emissions, making the construction sector an important area for climate action.
With African countries continuing to expand their building infrastructure, Mr Lombe said adopting sustainable practices now could help minimise future environmental impacts.
“In Africa, we are still building all our new buildings, so the idea is that if we start now, we can make sure that whatever we build in the future uses less energy, water and materials, and produces less waste, helping to reduce the impact of climate change,” he said.
He said the training was intended to give professionals the knowledge and practical skills needed to contribute to lowering emissions through better building design.
“The point of the training is to get people to start understanding and learning so that they can be part of that reduction,” he said.
Green Building Council of Zimbabwe head of secretariat Mrs Clara Mapokotera said the programme sought to build local capacity to mitigate climate change by reducing emissions from buildings.
“We are mainly looking at buildings first because that is where everything happens,” she said.
She said the DFGE course would strengthen participants’ understanding of climate issues and equip them to design resource-efficient structures that support the transition to a low-carbon built environment.
Junior project manager Mr Ronaldo Chiureki said the training was particularly relevant because it considered the country’s circumstances instead of relying solely on approaches developed for other countries.
“For most of the things that apply in South Africa or Dubai, some might not be applicable in Zimbabwe. This training looks at what is happening in Zimbabwe currently, then asks how design can optimise water usage, energy usage and materials,” he said.
