Garden Cities, the nearly 100-year- old Cape residential development company that has taken a leading role in establishing an overarching Green Building methodology, has begun to roll out its series of comprehensive guides, Greening our Supply Chain.
Designed both for use within the company and externally via its materials and service suppliers, the guides set out a vision for sustainable green communities and define recommended focus areas for Green Building, according to the environmental sustainability themes: Water, Energy and Materials.
Garden Cities has long been a leader in its field, adjusting and evolving to constantly changing development conditions including being compliant with SANS 10400 XA and other building code regulations well before their release. The development of its own Green Policy resulted in the earlier publishing of a dedicated handbook with guidelines for homeowners. And now the three further handbooks are being introduced to suppliers, consultants and contractors, to encourage their buy-in. A successful programme of workshops has been initiated to introduce the guides which are available to be read on the company website
The objective is to ultimately ensure that the cumulative effect of the company’s Green Policy is achieved, with ‘zero waste to landfill’ as the goal. With a dedicated guide for home owners, and the creation of an environmentally sustainable development code for contractors, suppliers and consultants, Garden Cities aims to set new benchmarks for the development industry and its market.
Garden Cities’ leadership in green development thinking, has for instance, resulted in innovative ways of exploiting grey water opportunities with each new residential break. It is meeting the challenge from the City of Cape Town to find alternative water sources and adapting landscaping to be less water dependent while retaining the Garden Cities’ core green characteristics.
The initial workshops have been received enthusiastically and the company is positive about the further development and growth of the handbooks and the incorporation of the guides into its entire supply chain and development philosophy.
Garden Cities is building homes and whole communities that can adapt to the increasing sustainability challenges facing the Western Cape and the entire planet. With an almost 100 year legacy of rising to meet the needs of citizens of Cape Town, Garden Cities knows the importance of residential development that is appropriate to society both now and into the future.
