No one can argue that issues of the environment, notably climate change and global warming, are topping the global agenda of issues requiring urgent action. The world is fast moving towards “green recovery”, with governments taking measures to tackle long-term climate change and achieve a more resilient, inclusive, sustainable economic model for the planet.
Egypt is no exception. Among the green recovery concepts currently being embraced is green architecture and building, with a view to better health, environment and economy.
What is green building?
To start with, what is green architecture or building? Samir Tantawy, senior climate change consultant, and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says that green architecture means sustainable design, sustainable construction, and green buildings, all of which involve operation methods that reduce environmental damage and the cost of operating and maintaining buildings.
According to Mostafa Sherbiny, international expert on sustainability and climate, and European Climate Pact Ambassador, a green or sustainable building is a building that, owing to its construction and features, can maintain or improve the quality of life of the environment in which it is located. To do this, Mr Sherbiny says, it is necessary to achieve a high level of efficiency in the consumption of energy, water and other resources, in addition to reducing pollution. Green buildings are designed to reduce the overall negative impact of the urban environment on human health and nature. Building green neighbourhoods, Mr Sherbiny says, makes residents more responsible towards their surroundings.
Chairman of the New Cairo and the New Administrative Capital Developers Association, Mohamed al-Bostany, confirms that adopting smart building systems, renewable energy technologies, reduced power and water consumption, advanced building technology, and sustainable building materials to produce green buildings, plays a crucial role in reducing the carbon footprint of building and construction operations.
Why green architecture?
Building sustainable homes was never a concern for many, especially in Egypt. But with the depletion of natural resources and the escalating effects of climate change, the Egyptian Ministry of Housing and Urban Communities decided to prioritise green building. In 2020, the Ministry founded the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund (SHMFF) which, together with the Housing and Building National Research Centre, and the World Bank launched the Green Architecture Initiative.
According to May Abdel-Hamid, CEO of SHMFF, the first phase of the green building initiative which should conclude by the end of 2024, targets low-income Egyptians, and aims to reach 25,000 housing units answering to the requirements of the Green Pyramid Rating System (GPRS) for social housing; GPRS is an Egyptian environmental rating system for buildings.
“We aim to turn all low-income housing units to environmentally friendly green buildings,” Ms Abdel-Hamid told Watani. This will have a positive impact on the future of housing in Egypt, and will create more opportunities for the private sector, including contracting or building materials companies and financing institutions looking to secure green finance benefits.
Watani talked to Hend Farouh, Professor of Environment and Sustainable Urban Development at the Housing and Building Research Centre, and member of Egypt’s Green Building Council (Egypt GBC). Egypt GBC is an NGO affiliated with the World Green Building Council, and is recognised as an authority on green buildings. “We aim to provide a better quality of life,” Dr Farouh says, “and this hinges on moving from traditional to green building. She commends the step taken by the government in May 2022 to reconfigure Egypt GBC, involving among its ranks representatives from the ministries of housing, planning, environment and electricity.
Green pyramid
Dr Farouh was among the team who worked on drafting the Green Pyramid Rating System criteria. “To empower the idea of green architecture, we needed to have criteria in place for the buildings in question,” Dr Farouh explained. “At this point,” she says, “Egypt had the obvious choice of adopting the American system which is used in many places around the world, but we chose to study various global evaluation systems. Finally, we decided to create our own system that heeds our Egyptian challenges and needs: our local economic, environment, and social challenges.”
The GPRS evaluates environmental credentials of buildings and rates the buildings according to seven measures: Sustainable Site; Energy Efficiency; Water Efficiency; Materials and Resources; Indoor Environmental Quality including temperature, sound and noise, existing emissions, and volatile organic compounds; Management; Innovation and Added Value.
Dr Farouh told Watani that the variable measures of the GPRS are weighted to give a final evaluation score. Energy and water, she says, are weighted at 50 per cent of the score, given that Egypt is already into water poverty and faces huge pressures on its energy resources.
According to Dr Farouh, the reconfigured Egypt GBC was the first step towards seriously activating the GPRS. She explains that among Egypt GBC’s main objectives is development of a roadmap to move towards green urbanisation and sustainable green cities by empowering the Green Pyramid criteria.
Costs and benefits
Construction of green buildings needs to conform with a number of conditions. According to Ms Abdel-Hamid, plants must be grown on the buildings’ façades and rooftops; solar energy cells must be installed on top of each building; gray water system must be implemented; environment friendly materials must be used in finishing, such as using white mortar instead of cement. It is true that building green housing units raises the construction costs by 5 to 10 per cent, Ms Abdel-Hamid says, but the benefits in the medium-term far outweigh the cost; people will reap the fruit of green building in water and electricity bills; energy consumption will be reduced by 24 to 50 per cent, carbon emissions by 33 to 39 per cent, water consumption by 40 per cent and solid waste by 70 per cent.
In addition to the financial benefits, Dr Farouh says, embracing green architecture will improve air quality inside the buildings, and will provide green spaces which will in turn positively impact people’s health. The State too will benefit from embracing green architecture in terms of saving water and energy.
4G cities
Seif Farag, urban development expert told Watani that the Ministry of Housing is constructing green buildings in Egypt’s new 4G cities; he cited the New Administrative Capital (NAC) as an example. NAC is located 35km east of Cairo, and stands on a total area of 170,000 feddans; it is expected to accommodate 18 million to 40 million people by 2050.
According to Dr Farag, state-of-the-art technologies were observed in the design of the new capital’s management systems for infrastructure, landscaping, irrigation of green areas, and energy-saving lighting. NAC has become among the most attractive destinations for investments around the world, he said, pointing out that previous design errors made in other new cities were avoided in its design. The new capital boasts a “green river park” which is set to be a river-bank-like series of large scale urban parks; it is expected to span 35km. A full underground garbage recycling system is also in place, Dr Farag says.
Another model of green architecture is New Alamein, another 4G city in construction on Egypt’s North Coast, some 105km west of Alexandria. The area affiliated to it extends 70km south from the Mediterranean till Qattara Depression in the Western Desert. Besides including a spectacular tourist resort, the city can potentially accommodate some three million people in 40 years, offering them housing and top-class education. Dr Farag says that New Alamein includes smart infrastructure that looks to optimise energy use and rely on green architecture.
Needed: Legislation and incentives
According to Mr Bostany of the New Cairo and NAC Association, the State has allocated USD75 billion for green investment. The Urban Communities Authority is taking steps to optimise energy use, Mr Tantawy of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says. In new cities, he says, rooftop solar energy units and heaters are being installed, solar energy is used in street lighting, bicycle paths that span some 26km are planned, and waste recycling is implemented. All of which, he says, should lead to reduced carbon emissions.
Mr Bostany cannot sufficiently stress the need to teach green architecture and building to architecture and construction engineering students. He calls for reviewing current legislation on climate change, and the current environment law enacted in 1994 which lacks mention of global warming. He says there is a pressing need for enacting new environment legislations that would address pressing issues such as expanding in green spaces; supporting sustainable architecture; confronting climate change; linking building codes with building permits; offering tax incentives for green building. He says it is imperative to implement an incentives programme for companies to adopt sustainability standards, especially given that these standards will translate into additional costs. He suggests tax exemptions, bank facilities, as well as government facilities regarding land purchases.
There are currently 23 buildings in Egypt accredited as pioneers in environment friendly design and sustainable energy, Mr Bostany says, and more buildings should follow especially in 4G cities.
For her part, Dr Farouh agrees with Dr Bostany’s demand for incentives for green buildings, and says that a study is underway to develop an incentives system. She also explained that, among the buildings accredited as green is the Grand Egyptian Museum which is scheduled to open in a grand ceremony later this year.
Carbon emissions
Speaking of gas emissions, Ambassador Mostafa Sherbiny told Watani that the construction sector is the second largest source of greenhouse gases in the world. If buildings can achieve net zero emissions, he said, they will contribute to reducing global greenhouse gases by 25 per cent. He also said that electricity consumption for residential buildings, offices, hotels, stores, schools and hospitals take up a yearly 48.5 per cent of total electricity use. CO2 emissions of residential and commercial sectors mainly come from emissions generated from electricity use, Mr Sherbiny said.
In May 2022, Egypt launched the National Strategy for Climate Change 2050 with the long term aims of reducing emissions in seven main sectors: energy, industry, transportation, housing, trade, environment and agriculture, by 2050. Mr Sherbiny suggested establishing a special digital department to compute the carbon footprint of buildings in the post-design evaluation phase. This department would take into consideration carbon emissions and energy use in the evaluation for environmental effects, along with other factors that should be considered during the preliminary architectural design phases. He explained that these calculations vary from one region to another according to the amount of carbon emissions.
Father of sustainable architecture
One cannot talk of green architecture without the “Father of sustainable architecture in Egypt” coming to mind. That was Hassan Fathy (1900 – 1989), also famous as the architect of the poor. His architectural designs favoured the use of economic local materials and ethnic designs.
Fathy was born in Alexandria to a middle-class family that originally came from Upper Egypt. He graduated in 1926 from King Fuad University (currently Cairo University) with a degree in Architecture. He is known for pioneering the use of “appropriate technology” for building in Egypt, “appropriate technology” referring to processes, materials, elements and tools that are compatible with local socio-cultural, economic, physical and ecological features of an area.
Fathy’s wide knowledge of ancient architectural and town design led him to employ designs, methods, and materials that were well suited to rural Egypt’s environment and economic situation. He used mudbricks and adobe to execute his designs which stood out for their environment-friendly arches and domes that made use of natural ventilation and lighting. He also trained local villagers to make their own materials and build their own homes. In his works he renounced the use of structural steel as well as materials including cement, timber, and glass, arguing that they did not make good economic sense in rural Egypt.
Fathy’s most famous work was the city of New Gourna in Luxor, which he designed in 1945 and which achieved international acclaim. In 1980, Fathy earned the Aga Khan Chairman’s Award for Architecture, and the Balzan Prize.
Watani International
19 July 2023