8 / 72
6
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
JUNE
2016
>
MARKETPLACE
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carpeting that has become worn out, outdated, or no longer regarded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.
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.
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.
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.
MASSIVE STUDENT CHAPTER ROADSHOWS
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.
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
>