A new agency has been launched to help enhance promotion of sustainable green buildings in the country.

Officials say the Rwanda Green Building Council, formed by Rwanda Architects Association in partnership with the government and international partners, including UN Habitat-Rwanda chapter, will go a long way in safeguarding the ambitious stride for Rwanda to become a green economy.

Coletha Ruhamya, the deputy director-general of Rwanda management Authority (REMA), said the new council will supplement the role of Rwanda Building Code and National Housing Policy – adopted in 2015 – and the 2011 National Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy (GGCRS).

Speaking to The New Times, last week, Ruhamya said the council will be advising the government, engineers and property developers on how best the country can respond to risks of climate change, population growth and the ever-rising construction service prices, while managing the environment in a sustainable manner.

"The Rwanda Green Building Council will facilitate the rollout of national programme to establish the green city model, which is one of the components of the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II),” Ruhamya said.

"We are glad it is bringing all construction stakeholders on board to understand the need for green and sustainable building, which will eventually boost our efforts toward environmental protection.”

She acknowledged that the building style in the country is "still wanting,” and that with the establishment of the council, the building sector will go a long way in mitigating climate change.

One of the key priorities of EDPRS II is pursuing a green economy approach to economic transformation. The strategy further elaborates two targets on green urbanisation and promotion of green innovation in industrial and private sectors.

Green urbanisation, clustered under Priority 5 of EDPRS II, include key innovations such as piloting a green city as well as attracting investors in green construction.

Rwanda and climate change

Rwanda has been committed to addressing climate change effect since 1998 when it ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and later, the Kyoto Protocol in 2003.

However, some of the buildings in Kigali and elsewhere the country have not received complementing audits from sustainable building experts and international architects, with murmurs that they are either too glazed to be habitable or too heavy to be sustainable.

Farizan d’Avezac de Moran, a Singaporean and certified Green Mark professional working with UN Habitat, said the establishment of the council is "timely” for Rwanda since the country is on a "remarkable” journey of development.

"Most of the buildings in Kigali are heavy; everything is full of concrete. There is a lot that can be improved in terms of designs, and offering relevant training to engineers and architects, such that every building that comes up from now onwards has to be built responsibly,” Moran said, adding that responsibility for sustainable building involves developers, architects and policy-makers and implementers.

"A good building doesn’t necessarily need to be full of concrete. And full-glassed building doesn’t depict modernity. Green building is about a building that functions well, that mitigates carbon emissions and is well habitable. We need to iron quality and sustainability at once,” she said.

Moran challenged Rwanda Green Building Council to lobby and advocate for the use of sustainable building materials, which could be locally available and mitigate carbon emission.

The shift to green economy

Eng. Didier Giscard Sagashya, the director-general of Rwanda Housing Authority, said the country is currently shifting to a green economy and so they are encouraging property developers to go green.

"All our buildings should be green; they should use minimum energy, facilitate natural lighting and air-conditioning as much as possible, provide for water harvesting mechanisms, and cater for artificial lighting and ventilation, among others,” Sagashya said.

"In so doing, we will mitigate climate change, which also caters for energy efficiency and reduced cost of housing in the long run. The council should be able to audit our buildings and advise us on how best we can implement green building principles.”

However, Sagashya disputed claims that all glazed buildings in Kigali are not green, saying such a conclusion can only be arrived at after the buildings have been audited.

Eudes Kayumba, a local architect and the vice-president of East Africa Union of Architects, said about 90 per cent of finishing materials such as glasses, fittings and paints are shipped from abroad.

He is optimistic that the council will help in sensitising property developers to turn to locally-made building materials, which he claims are as good as imported brands.

"The council will regulate our operations. Our primary goal as architects is to ensure that all buildings are green and affordable, and a green structure is cheaper than a mechanical building. We also need to design buildings that are sustainable yet creative and beautiful,” Kayumba said.

Kayumba said the main challenge toward ensuring green building was in convincing clients of the need to build sustainable structures with renewable energy using non-conventional construction materials since the attitude is deep-rooted.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw