First Smart City block to be 18.5 % more energy-efficient

SCM 01, the first block to be completed at Smart City Malta and the island’s first certified green building, is expected to be 18.5 per cent more energy-efficient than a conventional building, Sougata Nandi, executive director of asset management and sustainable development at Tecom Investments, Dubai told The Times Business.

The 12,000 square metre state-of-the-art block at the Ricasoli knowledge and ICT cluster is expected to be awarded LEED silver certification. Smart City Malta, a joint venture between Smart City (a member of Tecom Investments) and the Maltese government, was entrusted with the construction of the shell and core areas. The units within the building, varying in size from 100 square metres to 1,700 square metres will be fitted out by tenants.

Mr Nandi explained the principle that is guiding Smart City’s international projects is a description of sustainable development made in the United Nations’ Brundtland Report in 1987. It outlines the principle as “a process of developing land, cities, business, communities that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

“Some people interpret green building as lots of solar power; some people have the understanding it is about water recycling,” Mr Nandi added. “Green building is all of these.”

In its guise as master developer, Smart City develops virgin land into holistic infrastructure, including the access road network. To energise the project, Smart City normally constructs some of the buildings in the plan.

“In 2006 we realised that if we were to conduct our entire real estate development business on the guidelines of sustainable development we would be more profitable,” Mr Nandi pointed out. “The driver for Tecom Investments is that sustainable development makes business sense. A major by-product of our activity is high levels of social performance. Our driver is to make ourselves more profitable.”

Tecom Investments was the first company in the Middle East to design a sustainable development policy in its construction operation detailing the specific targets it sought to achieve.

Last January it also became the only company to revisit, upgrade or modify its targets in a realistic assessment of the policy.

Mr Nandi said Tecom had originally planned to reach a 25 per cent reduction in specific energy consumption by 2011 but only 11 per cent was saved. The targets have been revised to 25 per cent by 2015.

The company has been more successful in reducing specific water consumption and surpassed its target by one per cent to 31 per cent in 2009. The target was revised so that the excellent performance is maintained.

Tecom Investments is also committed to construct green buildings that are not solely earmarked for its own occupancy but also for its tenants. Tecom Investments’s most famed construction achievements are four certified green buildings and one green office, its own Leed Platinum-certified management headquarters, the Middle East’s greenest office. Tecom is also responsible for the largest green building in the UAE: 600,000 square metres of built up space.

Mr Nandi said only an additional $150,000 – just 0.07 per cent of the capital expenditure of the entire project – was spent on each to achieve LEED certification. The investment involved in reaching better sustainability targets was actually quite minimal, he said, pointing out that more than half that expenditure went to the US authority to cover administrative fees. All the buildings, in turn, help Tecom save $1 million a year on electricity and water costs.

He stressed the same numbers would not necessarily apply to the Maltese scenario but Tecom was prepared to share its expertise in this area with local players.

Besides the operational expenditure saved by its energy and water conservation policy, Tecom reduced its CO2 emissions by 58,727 tons, saved 63,555 megawatt hours, and lowered its potable water requirement by 180 million gallons by January 2011. Tecom’s achievements have been so significant that the utility company did not need to set up new power plants to satisfy new developments.

Tecom now plans to publish its second sustainable development report this year.

Smart City Malta is driven by the same three-pronged philosophy encompassing green building, electricity and water savings, and renewable energies to in turn increase sustainability awareness.

At Ricasoli, Smart City was responsible for the entire infrastructure leading to the village. While most principles remain the same, the actual deployment of sustainable development measures varies from region to region. Some of the measures taken in Dubai are purely for cost and energy and water conservation. In Malta, other issues like storm water management, become very critical.

Below the central water feature at the heart of Smart City Malta will be a storm water harvesting tank fed by a network capturing 50 per cent of annual rain water and storing 13 million gallons of rainwater a year.

Meanwhile every rain drop falling on Smart City’s zone, whether on the infrastructure or on the rooftops, will be collected at the building level and at the central collection point. After filtration it will flow into the tanks. Formula-based calculations estimate up to 23 million gallons of water can be saved in this way per year.

Smart travel will be the underpinning theme of the transport strategy at the village, particularly as it is envisaged that the jobs created will far outnumber the residential space available within the knowledge village. Several bus stops have been created within the Smart City Malta site. There are storage racks and shower facilities for people who choose to cycle to work and parking spaces have been designated for low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles.

The village’s energy-efficient infrastructure includes LED street lighting. Each fixture’s light intensity can be remotely controlled allowing them to be dimmed when lighting requirements are lowest, even at night, and their energy consumption is monitored.

Smart City Malta estimates it will be able to achieve 64 per cent energy savings for street lighting every year. Solar photovoltaic powered-LED lights around the cark parks means there is no electricity consumption or CO2 emissions. There was also no need for trenching and surface rearrangement for their installation.

Concrete kerbs, pavers and terrazzo tiling, marble, and Maltese stones were selected according to their solar reflectance indexes in a bid to decrease cooling energy consumption and reduce air conditioning use as much as possible.

Smart City Malta should see around 52 per cent reduction in annual water irrigation consumption. There are no fountains and all landscaping is fed through drip and timer-controlled irrigation network. Aloe vera and bougainvillae were among the low-water consuming plants used in the landscaping and soil additives reduce irrigation water requirements.

The US Green Building Council stipulates ideal flow rates for every water-consuming fixture. The project has exceeded those rates to achieve 50 per cent waste water reduction and 42 per cent water use reduction. All captured rainwater and air-conditioning condensation will be used in toilet flushing. Low-level faucets and showers, and dual flush toilets, have been installed throughout the building.

In its efforts to reduce its energy consumption footprint as much as possible, SCM 01 features enhanced building envelope insulation, heat recovery wheels, limited glazing in the building envelope, energy-efficient light bulbs and significantly low lighting power densities. There will be appropriate metering to monitor energy end-use.

To ensure high levels of indoor environmental quality, there is a ‘no smoking’ policy within all buildings and within several metres of entrances. Paints, coatings adhesives and sealants have low chemical content and air conditioning ducts were sealed during construction to prevent dust and other particles entering under an air quality management plan.

In the second phase of its green project, Smart City will now set about tracking the levels of efficiency and savings reached at the site.

“Now that we have captured the technical parameters of how this project can be made green, the next step is a financial analysis of the expenditure involved. In Dubai we noticed that if the green building policy is maximised, there could be additional savings at the design stage. Sustainable development is all about focusing on needs, not wants. In Dubai, if you walk into a commercial enterprise, you will see thousands of lights. They are not needed. In green buildings, design parameters have to be reduced, light and air conditioning requirements have to be lowered to save money at the outset and throughout the project’s life.

“People’s success is measured by the amount of money they make. Countries’ growth is measured in GDP growth which has nothing to do with people’s welfare or their quality of life. Quality of life is not a function of riches. I would not use sustainable development as a marketing tool. Many companies did that in the Middle East when TECOM announced its sustainable development policy. When the recession hit, several companies dropped the policy. TECOM actually intensified it as there was a business driver behind it. Recycling of waste, for example, is a huge money saver. These are elements which have a huge social component, besides an economic one. TECOM prides itself of producing healthy and productive work environments for its tenants that is why we do not charge extra for creating green buildings.”