British High Commission in partnership with cities of Tamale and Sekondi-Takoradi to address flooding issues - HE Harriet Thompson reveals at the 5th Ghana Green Building Summit, 2022

The 5th Ghana Green Building Summit organised by Yecham Property Consult was held from October 5-6, 2022 at the green certified CalBank Head Office in Accra and opened by its MD, Mr. Philip Owiredu.

For the second year running, the summit followed a hybrid style that attracted 204 in-person delegates and 1,415 online users who participated virtually from over 30 countries. There was also participation from 35 partner organizations and 27 speakers from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Finland, Australia, Singapore, USA and the UK.

Being a landmark 5th anniversary, there were a few exciting additions this year. During the summit, an EXPO was held where organizations showcased their green innovations, products and services. The summit concluded with a Gala Dinner Awards Night held at Labadi Beach Hotel, to acknowledge key stakeholders and recognize key facilities in the green building space.

Whilst awareness and interest in green buildings have increased steadily in the last few years as a result of this particular advocacy, affordability and other community issues like absence of green social spaces, reliable transportation, robust infrastructure, increased traffic and pollution have been some of impediments to the holistic development of green buildings and creation of livable cities.

Providing practical solutions is what inspired the summit’s theme this: Re-imagining affordable housing and livable cities through green solutions.

This theme cut across many insightful discussions and presentations as speakers re-imagined building materials, construction methods and funding options. There was also a mayors’ roundtable that addressed the challenges and opportunities in creating livable cities.

That panel included Jaewon Peter Chun, President at World Smart Cities Forum (WSCF); Abdallah Mtinika, Mayor Temeke municipality Dar es Salaam Tanzania and Prof. Manuel Antonio Alculete Lopes de Araújo, The Mayor of Quelimane, Mozambique.

The British High Commissioner to Ghana, HE Harriet Thompson who was the Guest of Honour reiterated the High Commission’s commitment to addressing climate change and reducing emissions through UK Aid’s funding for the IFC’s EDGE certificate for green buildings. She also highlighted key contributions of the High Commission in providing solutions at the city level through partnerships.

“We are working to address broader challenges in the built environment, through partnerships with the cities of Tamale and Sekondi-Takoradi to identify urban flooding hotspots and model damage from floods which are being increasingly caused by changing weather patterns and intense rainfall.

“I am pleased to say we recently launched a second phase of this project and will be working with both cities to identify specific solutions to flooding issues – a very live issue given how much rain we have been having” HE Thompson expressed further.

Delivering the keynote address, Hon Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Energy revealed that an Energy Performance Certification Scheme is being developed for public buildings using their specific energy consumption (KWh/m2). "A tool for the assessment and the certification in this respect is being developed. Measures are also being put in place to train the needed professionals for the assessment", the Minister emphasized.

He also pointed out that seventeen (17) new energy efficiency standards and labelling regulations for appliances including those commonly used in buildings such as electric kettles, Television sets/Monitors, Clothes Washing Machines, Rice Cookers. These regulations will be ready soon for enforcement.

Representing the substantive Minister of Works and Housing, the Deputy Minister Hon. Abdulai Abanga noted that Ministry has also initiated the process to establish the Ghana Housing Authority which will have the mandate to regulate, plan, develop and manage housing developments in Ghana.

The Executive Director of Yecham Property Consult and Summit Convenor, Cyril Nii Ayitey Tetteh recounted a few of his organization’s notable milestones over the last five years of advocacy. Some of these include a capacity building program, under which 30 facility managers have been trained to equip them with modern facility management skills to enable high performance and resource efficient buildings, a scale-up program that has just established with an identification of 5 green start-ups that will form the first cohort of an accelerator program to ready them for market.

“We have partnered with IFC EDGE to organize a Green Building Challenge; one meant to build capacity and empower the youth with building and design tools like the EDGE App” Mr. Tetteh shared.

The 5th anniversary celebrations climaxed with a gala dinner awards night where the first Lady, HE Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo as well other key personalities and organizations were recognized for their contributions to the growth of the green building sector.

The Summit was supported by IFC EDGE Program, CalBank, Echostone, Letshego, Saint Gobain, Lakeside Estate, She Grows It (SGI), Business and Financial Times, Joy FM, GhanaWeb, Meqasa, Global Media Alliance, Perception Management Institution (PMI).