This week the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) launched the Green Star Office pilot rating tool for public comment. [disclosure: I helped with the conversion of the Australian Green Star tool for the GBCSA] If you are curious about how this will affect building design in South Africa, have a look at GBCSA Green Star fact sheet, available along with the full tool itself on the GBCSA web site. The comment period ends on 1 September 2008, and there will be a GBCSA convention and exhibition to launch the final tool in November at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The rating tool awards credits for a wide range of design components that reduce a building's environmental impact, but also considers some aspects of building management that aren't strictly about the physical design. And one new credit that has been added, which is not in the Australian tool, addresses 'local connectivity'. As a transport planner, I am particularly excited about this one because it addresses a building's location in relation to other urban amenities, and provides an incentive to locate close to high density residential developments, in order to encourage walking trips instead of car trips. It's tricky for a building rating tool to deal with things that are beyond the direct control of the developer, but the 'local connectivity' credit provides a gentle nudge towards more efficient urban form.
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