Construction World June 2016
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The Streetlight School project has been registered for a 4-Star Green Star SA Interiors rating with the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) by leading Johannesburg sustainability specialists, Solid Green Consulting. If the rating is awarded, it will be the first Green Star-rated school in South Africa. The site for the first Streetlight School is Jeppe Park Primary, near the Johannesburg CBD. The carpet tiles, donated and installed by KBAC Flooring, were uplifted from a project for which the company had supplied new Inter- face carpet tiles. Interface – exclusively distributed in South Africa by KBAC Flooring – has won global acclaim for internationally leading the way in sustainable flooring. Lesley Fidrmuc, interface consultant for KBAC Flooring, arranged the donation after an approach from Solid Green Consulting with which she had worked closely on sustainable flooring projects in the past. Jessé Hamman, interior green consultant at Solid Green says that sustainable flooring is essential in achieving a Green Star SA Inte- riors rating. “Emphasis is placed on using certified flooring products manufactured in an ISO14001-responsible factory, or on reused flooring products, or products that have a product stewardship in place, such as a take-back scheme. The responsibility lies not only with the supplier but also with the design professional to ensure that responsibly manu- factured materials are used in such projects,” Hamman explained. Fidrmuc says the donation to what could become the country's first Greenstar-rated school, is in line with KBAC's local adaptation of Interface’s ‘Re-entry’ programme which in Europe aims to prevent carpeting that has become worn out, outdated, or no longer regarded as fashionable, ending up in landfills by recycling the old carpet tiles into the production line for new flooring. “Due to the high costs of shipping used South African flooring over- seas to be included in the Interface Re-Entry programme for recycling at the factory mills in the Netherlands, a local ‘Re-Use’ initiative – which also has strong social responsibility elements – has been created by KBAC Flooring. Maybe SA’s first GREEN SCHOOL? KBAC Flooring has donated about 800 m 2 of used Interface carpet tiles to South Africa’s first Streetlight School which opened in Johannesburg in mid-January this year. > Despite such contributions that the Built Environment has, students who graduate in this field every year struggle to get employment. Some of the students complete their studies and register as candi- dates with the SACPCMP but in their respective workplace, they do not get exposure and experience for all required competencies and thus delay them in becoming professionals despite having the formal qualifications. According to the Construction Industry Development Board (cidb) report of October 2015, South Africa’s unemployment rate currently stands at 25%. The construction industry is an important player in job creation, not only in the construction sectors, but in other sectors of the economy. >
A classroom at the first Streetlight School with carpet tiles supplied by KBAC Flooring.
It is hoped that Jeppe Park Primary School, just south of the Johannesburg CBD, will become SA’s first Green Star-rated school.
“Carpets dumped in landfills are not bio-degradable due to the high oil content in the nylon fibres and backing used to produce the carpets. So, to keep old carpets from landfills, KBAC Flooring now seeks needy organisations and institutions – such as Streetlight Schools – that can utilise the still very usable carpeting, and donates the uplifted flooring to them as part of our Re-Use programme," Fidrmuc added. Neil Duncan, chief financial officer of KBAC Flooring, said the company had no hesitation in donating the 800 square metres of Interface ‘Cubic’ Sunflower colour, carpet tiles to the Streetlight School. “KBAC Flooring also installed the carpet tiles free of charge, using a low VOC adhesive. We are extremely proud to have contributed to this admirable initiative and hope to continue providing assistance as the concept is rolled out further. In fact, Hannetjie Smit, sales consultant for KBAC, has already secured a donation by Tuffloor of some of the company's black interlocking tiles which KBAC installed free of charge in the open area outside the school's classrooms to further assist the Streetlight Schools initiative,” he added.
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MASSIVE STUDENT CHAPTER ROADSHOWS
All these problems create serious challenges in the transformation of the industry. In fact, the numbers of registered persons within the SACPCMP still do not reflect the current South African demographics in spite of the 1994 democratic breakthrough. The SACPCMP thus is taking practical steps to address this anomaly which has not changed despite the huge investments that government
CONSTRUCTION WORLD JUNE 2016
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