Green shop and office buildings

In May, President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared open Stage II of Sethsiripaya, the government administrative complex at Battaramulla. The 13-storey office block, complete with a state-of-the-art auditorium, has an area of 36,000 square metres and cost Rs 3.5 billion to build.

The new building is to house up to eight ministries, freeing the commercial office space they now occupy in Colombo.

This is part of the government’s urban development policy of relocation administrative offices to the environs of the political and administrative capital at Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, leaving Colombo as the prime commercial centre.

This, the first project of the government’s Urban Investment and Development Company, was a pathfinder in other ways: it utilised modern construction techniques, in accordance with ISO 9000 standards; it was designed to be people-friendly, with wheelchair access and facilities for differently-abled people (such as special toilets); and it was the first large building in Sri Lanka designed from the outset to be green.

Sethsiripaya Stage II is designed to be environmentally sound, is optimised to allow natural ventilation and maximises the use of harvested rainwater. Much of its electricity will be generated using solar panels. In order to minimise the impact of waste disposal, a system has been incorporated to manage refuse.

Sustainable building techniques

Ancient Sri Lankans used sustainable building techniques and architecture which made optimum use of the environment - buildings were cool and naturally ventilated and lit. The European colonialists also used similar techniques, with broad verandahs and high roofs.

Stage II of Sethsiripaya, the government administrative complex at Battaramulla

Unfortunately, in the modern era, most of these technologies were abandoned in favour of less environmental-friendly ‘modern’ practices.

The availability of cheap labour, abundant petroleum and hydro-electricity meant that sustainability was not an issue.

From Colombo Fort to the Peradeniya campus, prodigality in the use of materials, energy and manpower was the defining characteristic of the massive buildings of the time. However, with the energy crisis and rising building material costs, combined with a shortage of skilled artisans (due to the efflux of expert labour to the Middle East and elsewhere), economies became desirable. Consequently, sustainability became relevant again.

The Mahaweli centre was one of the first modern buildings in Sri Lanka to revert to the country’s green architectural heritage.

It was designed from the outset for maximum ventilation and natural lighting to cut down on energy usage. It was a trend-setter, which provided much inspiration for Sethsiripaya Stage II.

Natural ventilation

However, many of the newer commercial shop and office buildings which grace the road frontages of Colombo lack any sort of sustainability. Mostly designed by draughtsmen rather than architects, they have no natural ventilation, but their huge glass facades mean they get extremely hot in the daytime and require additional air-conditioning. Because of high interest rates, initial expenditure is of greater import than long-term cost, particularly given that electricity rates for commercial users are about half those for high-use private consumers.

Hence, there is relatively little compulsion for private developers to ‘go green’, as this merely adds to building costs.

In order to ensure that future buildings are sustainable, the government needs to bring in legislation and regulations to enforce ‘greenness’ on developers. Rules have already been promulgated in regard to rainwater harvesting; similar conventions are necessary in connection with energy consumption and sustainability in general.

However, such measures would only concern new constructions and not affect the existing, considerable stock of commercial shop and office buildings.

It will be essential to create a new policy in regard to older buildings.

An unlikely source of inspiration is New York’s Empire State Building. This was built in the profligate early years of the 20th century using the technology of the time. Until recently it guzzled energy, needing to cool its 270,000 square metres in the summer and heat them in the winter.

Last year, the core measures were completed of a green retrofit programme, expected to save 38 percent of the skyscraper’s energy consumption, equivalent to US $ 4.4 million annually.

Insulated reflective barriers were installed behind radiator units on the outside of the building, saving half the heating - which previously escaped through the walls.

The existing double-hung windows were rebuilt, filling them with inert-gas and incorporating suspended coated films - which tripled the insulating value (reducing both heating and cooling requirements) and enhanced daylight while cutting down on ultra-violet rays.

Smart demand control ventilation was introduced, with variable air volume air-handling units replacing the existing constant volume units.

The resulting lower cooling requirement meant that the old chiller plant could be renovated, instead of a newer, larger plant being installed, thus saving on cost.

Similar retrofit measures are being implemented on the Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower) in Chicago. Window replacement and smart lighting and heating are being supplemented by improved water usage systems (including condensation recovery) as well as by rainwater harvesting, solar heating and wind-powered electricity generation.

Energy-saving methods

Probably more relevant to Sri Lanka, however, is the retrofit carried out on the world’s second tallest building, Taipei 101 (where heating is not so much of an issue). Here improved automation of the building added to energy-saving methods reduced electricity usage by 10 percent, as well as water consumption and waste output.

The government probably needs to create a green rating system similar to Australia’s Green Star, France’s Haute Qualité Environnementale (HQE), Britain’s Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) or the US Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

Legislation incorporating this rating could then be applied to the construction sector in the first place, later to be extended to existing buildings - giving the owners of the latter sufficient time to carry out the necessary energy, water use and waste output audits.

Until this is done, the government will merely be leading by example, an approach which has not proved very effective in the past.