UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF THE BULT ENVIRONMENT

RESEARCH PROJECT
(BQS 2017)

TITLE: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE POSSIBLE WAYS OF

GREENING CONVENTIONAL BUILDINGS.
CASE STUDY: COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS IN UPPER HILL AREA,
NAIROBI COUNTY.
B66/1001/2014
WANJIRU CAROLINE WANGARI

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AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE POSSIBLE WAYS OF
GREENING CONVENTIONAL BUILDINGS.
CASE STUDY: COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS IN UPPER HILL
AREA, NAIROBI COUNTY.
INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background of the study

A key global challenge of the twenty-first century is how to tackle climate change and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions (United Nations,2007). With buildings estimated to
account for approximately half of all annual energy and greenhouse gas emissions, one
potential solution is to ensure that the design, construction and maintenance of the built
environment is environmentally sustainable (Brown, Southworth & Stovall 2005;
Commission for Architecture and the built environment, 2007). Sustainable or green
buildings have a strong business case with a substantial body of work outlining the
economic, environmental and social benefits; an example is a recent survey of over 800
green building owners, developers, architects, engineers and consultants in Canada and the
USA who concluded that green was good for asset value. Green buildings are also
perceived to outperform conventional commercial buildings in terms of occupant well-being,
building value and return on investment (Davie, 2005).

In the last decade, there has been significant international interest and support from
governments, the construction and property development industry, private organizations and
the general public for fostering a sustainable and climate-friendly built environment through
building green, carbon-reducing buildings.

Green building is a term used to describe a building that is more energy and resource
efficient, releases less pollution into the air, soil and water, and is healthier for occupants
than standard buildings. These are buildings which by an integrated and holistic approach to
location, siting, design, specification and use of energy and resources, seek to minimize their
environmental impact. Crucially, through the integration of innovative and efficient
technologies, sustainable design approaches and environmentally sensitive site planning
practices, the ecological footprint of new buildings is significantly reduced at a minimal
financial cost (Kozlowski, 2003; Lucuik, 2005).

The history of green building dates ways back in the pre-20th century. The architects and
builders during those times understood the entire design building lifetime process of
buildings. They had passive design of solar systems, simple mechanical systems to heat, cool
and light. These designers also were sensitive to the site, used local materials in building and
meeting their needs of lifestyle. The Pueblo Indians for instance, built their shelters from

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natural elements such as caves which operated using entirely natural means. The barns lived
in communities and had houses with natural ventilation. They also used local materials, had
daylighting, chimneys and permeable floors which facilitated drainage and helped maintain
clean interiors (Ferrier, 2010).

In the early 1900s, buildings were built in conjunction with railway lines. They were situated
around existing towns and cities. During this time, there was an increase in transport which
translated to increase in demand for building materials. Housing the was still very affordable
and had underground sewage pipes which were much healthier than what we have today.

In the 1930s through the 1960s, new technologies transformed the urban landscape. The use
of air conditioning, structural steel, reflective glass was on the rise. Reliance on non-
renewable energy increased tremendously. There was also regressive movement in
architecture in that design began to ignore climatic issues and their effect on the
environment. It became easier for designers to alter environments rather than adapting
designs to the changes in climate thus William McDonough said Most conventional
practitioners of modern design and construction find it easier to make buildings as if nature
and place did not exist. In Rangoon or Racine, their work is the same.

Around the time that the glass box style, high rise had become the icon of the American
city and others around the world (Circa 1970), a forward thinking group of architects,
environmentalists and ecologists were inspired by the growing environmental movement and
the higher fuel costs that were prevalent during the 1970s. The genesis of these two
scenarios ultimately resulted in the modern build green movement (White paper on
Sustainability, 2006).

When the green movement started, a need appeared to rate practices and products in order to
compare and contrast best practices (Bisher, 2013). These would lead toward sustainability
in construction through a series of principles aligned with the International Council for
Research and Innovation in Building and Constructions (CIBs) seven principles of
sustainable construction: reduce resource consumption; reuse resources; recycle use
recycled resources; protect nature; eliminate toxins; economics apply lifecycle costing;
and quality focus in creating high performance buildings (Kibert, 1994). The
implementation of these principles required a method for assessing the application with an
open mind to innovation and experimentation, as well as rating the process and final product
(Jawali and Fern`andez-Sol`is, 2008).

Kenya has not been left behind by the green movement. Steady growth and sustainable
development are key issued considered in the Kenya Vision 2030 and the constitution of
Kenya. The Constitution recognizes clean and healthy environment as a basic human right
and provides for sustainable exploitation, utilization, management and conservation of the
environment and natural resources. Vision 2030 on the other hand aims at achieving an
annual growth of 10 percent per annum and transforming Kenya into a globally competitive
and prosperous country with a high quality of life by 2030.

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Through the Kenya Green Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan (GESIP) of 2015, the
Kenyan government developed a green economy strategy to support development efforts
towards addressing key challenges such as poverty, unemployment, inequality,
environmental degradation, climate change and variability, infrastructure gaps and food
insecurity. Kenyas key policies and programs supportive of a green economy include
investments in renewable energy, promotion of resource-efficient and cleaner production,
enhanced resilience to economic and climatic shocks, pollution control and waste
management, environmental planning and governance and restoration of forest ecosystems.
Kenya has, therefore, taken several steps towards greening the economy and seeks to
consolidate, up-scale and embed green growth initiatives in national development.

Private investors have also taken steps into moving the country forward in terms of green
building. With developments such as the learning resource center of the Catholic University
of East Africa, Vienna Court, an office located along State House Crescent in Nairobi City.
These structures have all been recognized by the Green Africa Foundation (GAF), a local
non-governmental organization in Kenya, which has developed a Green Mark standard for
buildings and will provide guidelines in best practices for environmentally friendly designs.

Despite the evident efforts and the progress in achieving various social-economic
development targets, there still are challenges facing the Kenyan economy. The economys
growth rate is relatively slow since 2008 and the average growth rate remains far below the
10 percent target. This is due to the various shocks the economy suffered including
fluctuating global oil prices, slowdown in global growth and terrorism, insecurity and
unpredictable weather.

The country however, despite the challenges encountered is committed to undertaking a

transition to a green economy. This evidenced by the outcomes of the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) held in 2012. The outcome document of
the Rio+20 summit, The Future We Want. (UNCSD, 2012) highlighted transition to a green
economy as a means towards sustainable development.

2.0 Problem Statement

Currently, there is a green movement in the construction industry worldwide. Investors are
striving to obtain certifications which show they have addressed the environmental impact of
a building. Liu and Wang (2013) asserts that green building is now an inevitable trend of
the construction industry because of its propensity to furnish low power consumption, high
environmental protection and in harmony with nature among other advantages. McMullen
(2001) observes that many companies are pursuing sustainability because they are finding
business value in it. Miller et al (2008) after investigating over 2.4 million properties
determined that tenants are willing to pay higher base rents for greener buildings.

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Inherent in green construction is the concept of sustainability in the sense that green
buildings need to be self-sufficient in terms of energy conservation, water use and
conservation, health and safety issues, ventilation and general and operations. It has been
reported that companies will innovate to greener processes (RICS, 2004) if incentive are put
in place. The incentives being provided in the construction industry range from financial
incentives such as higher rental rates or property tax rebates reputation in the community.
According to GESIP (2015), there are several challenges to a green economy in Kenya. The
chief challenge is the enforcement of enacted laws and regulations. Currently existing green
standards are too few and little information on green technologies exists, causing difficulty
for many people to access and adopt them. The set-up cost for green technology is also high.
This simply means that more funds are needed in order to transition to green technologies.
Little research has been done with regard to the possible ways that conventional can be
converted into green buildings and as such the researcher sought to address the existing
knowledge gap. The researcher suggests that one of the ways of ensuring steady greening
in the construction industry and the economy as a whole would be to find ways of
greening these conventional buildings, both residential and commercial, which make the
largest part of the total buildings in the country. It is said that the difference between a
conventional building and green building is marginal but the difference in performance is
quite significant.
With the green movement steadily gaining novelty in Kenya, yet very few buildings are
boasting green status, serious questions on the steps taken to ensure steady transformation in
the construction industry. First and foremost, what criteria is used to determine whether a
building is green? Are there laid down benchmarks in the design and construction process
for a building to qualify as being green? Most importantly, are there ways through which
existing conventional buildings could be converted into green? Are these methods viable?
Will converting conventional buildings help the country in making progress towards green
building? Based on these questions, the is a need to examine the possible ways of converting
conventional buildings into green buildings. Upper Hill area in Nairobi has had a boom in
the construction of commercial buildings over the years. The area being located in Nairobi
County the capital city of Kenya, most of the local companies have their headquarters here
and multinationals equally have their regional offices here. The County has had an increase
in the number of construction projects over the hence the need for investors to consider
constructing green buildings, property owners and managers greening existing conventional
buildings and their maintenance because they are beneficial in terms of performance, cost
effectiveness in the long run and may get rewards such as carbon credit which improves
their corporate image.

1.2 Research Questions

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1. Has green building been adequately adopted in the construction of commercial buildings
within Nairobis Upper Hill area?
2. What are the various possible ways of converting conventional buildings within Upper
Hill, Nairobi, into green buildings?
3. What are the benefits and challenges of greening conventional buildings?
4. What recommendations can be made in relation to the findings of the study?

1.3 Research Objectives

1. To verify that green building has not been adequately adopted in the construction of
commercial buildings within Nairobis Upper Hill area.
2. To establish the various possible was of converting conventional buildings within Upper
Hill, Nairobi, into green buildings.
3. To identify the benefits and challenges of greening conventional buildings within Upper
Hill Nairobi.
4. To make appropriate recommendations in relation to the findings of the study.

1.4 Research Hypothesis

There are no possible ways of converting conventional buildings within Nairobis Upper Hill
area into green buildings.

1.5 Significance of the Study

It is hoped that this research will develop awareness amongst the stallholders in the
construction industry in the design of green buildings. More importantly that the property
owners and managers will consider implementation of strategies developed to enable
greening of conventional buildings. This will in turn enhance energy efficiency and other
sustainability initiatives through green operations thus cutting down operational costs and
enhancing productivity.
The findings of the study may also be used by lobbyists of the green movements to push
for legislation for mandatory greening of conventional buildings.
In addition, the findings of the study will also be a springboard for stakeholders in the
construction industry to dive into the pool of sustainability literacy and awareness.
To the academicians and professionals in the construction industry, the research will help
them understand the need for sustainable professional practices that safeguard peoples lives
and their future.

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