African Built Environment must use modern green building techniques

The President/CEO of the Africa Continental Engineering & Construction Network, Mr. Daniel Kontie has said that African Built Environment must be placed in a position to transition from the current brown construction techniques to Green building technologies.

“Like it or not, the reality is that, new trends are transforming the way the industry operates, from the design phase to the actual construction process, particularly at this time that the whole planet faces eminent dangers of climate change by virtue of our old industrial actions and inactions that has brought us to this global climate emergency situation”, Mr. Kontie added.

Mr. Daniel Kontie said these in his welcome address at the Africa Continental Engineering & Construction Network summit held at De-Icon Conference Grand Arena, East Legon, Accra, on Thursday, December 14, 2023.

The President/CEO added that Africans have always argued that Africa’s contribution to the current climate change catastrophy is insignificant compared to the West, that is true, however, what we fail to appreciate is that the problem was significantly created by the West but the solution lies in the hands of Africa and this is another 21^st century industrial revolution for Africa to take advantage of.

Speaking on the theme: “Integrating Sustainable Built Environment Industry for Socio-Economic Transformation Through the use of Digital Twin Technologies”, the Immediate Past President of the Federation of African Engineering Organizations (FAEO), Ing. Mrs. Carlien Bou-Chedid said, the use of Digital Twin technology creates a virtual or digital replica of physical objects, processes or systems to allow for real-time monitoring, analysis and optimization. She explained that by leveraging Digital Twin Technology in the built environment, stakeholders can make more informed decisions, reduces costs, improve sustainability and enhance overall performance through the lifecycle of structures and cities.

She gave examples of these digital twin technologies as Autodesk BIM 360, which is a cloud-based platform for construction management; Dassault Systemes CATIA, a software suite by Dassault that supports product design and engineering, which is often used in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry to create digital representations of buildings and infrastructure. She also mentioned Cityzenith 5D Smart World, which supports urban planning, infrastructure management and smart city initiatives. She added that Esri Urban Observatory also provides tools for creating digital twins of cities.

Ing. Mrs. Carlien Bou-Chedid explained that Digital Twins rely on a network of sensors and devices strategically placed within the built environment to measure parameters, such as temperature, humidity, energy usage, water flow, air quality and more.

She mentioned that Sustainable Built Environment is one that protects people, places and the natural environment. It also involves creating safe and welcoming spaces and designing for longevity, flexibility, recoverability and reuse.

“Sustainable Built Environment also reduces building and urban infrastructure emissions for the long-term resilience of both people and planet. It is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and tackling the climate crisis”, she concluded.

Making a presentation on “Refocusing Ghana’s Flood Preparedness and Response for Socio-Economic Transformation through the use of Digital Twin Technologies”, Prof. Divine Ahadzie, Centre for Settlements Studies at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), Kumasi said, Ghana experiences major floods every two years for the last 20 years but our preparedness is not getting any better. On recent VRA flood, the Prof. Ahadzie suggested that VRA should enhance their engagement with the communities by strengthening the use of twin-technologies plus to other community based technologies. He proposed a simplified community flood resilience framework to comprise the Chiefs, Assemblymen, MPs, NADMO, District Assembly, among others.

Engineering, Construction and Logistics firms exhibited their modern technologies to the participants at the exhibition center as part of the summit. STEM students from Kumasi Academy SHS, made an impressive presentation of their Smart Urban Gardening Initiative, a Green technology revolution. According to the students, the Smart Urban Gardening project integrates advanced technology and sustainable practices for urban agriculture.

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