The Department of Public Works on Tuesday said that it has completed the energy-efficiency retrofit of some 4 000 public buildings in South Africa, and was also taking seriously the challenge of water efficiency and recycling.

Addressing delegates at a green building convention in Sandton, Deputy Minister of Public Works, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, noted that the department needed assistance from green building professionals so that it could do more in this regard.

Integrating green building into the rehabilitation projects of public buildings, and facilities management thereof, was said to be a priority.

“We are in an era of renewal,” she said, referring to the new government administration, and added that this included the built environment, as the government sought to provide green and sustainable cities, human settlements and amenities.

She further noted that participating in green building, and making use of innovative green technologies would hopefully have the added benefit of creating so-called ‘green jobs’.

The South African government has indicated the need to create some 500 000 jobs. It was expected that about 10% of these jobs could be ‘green jobs’.

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