6_6 February 2002

UGF_masthead.jpg (170323 bytes)

Contents for February 2002

EDITORIAL
Comment on letter from Gauteng's DACEL

UPFRONT
News

LETTERS

TREE OF THE ISSUE
Jean Wouters chooses the Tree Fuchsia

WORDS ON WASTE

FEATURES

Vegetative rehabilitation

A new development paradigm

Community building
Sustainable building technologies at Lynedoch, Western Cape

-----

EDITORIAL

Comment on letter from Gauteng’s DACEL
The letter from Gauteng’s Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs (DACEL) on page 10, in reply to the comments made by landscape designer Patrick Watson in the last issue of Urban Green File (Nov/Dec 2001 - Editorial) makes a number of relevant points about the damage that harvesting plants from the wild can do. It is a pity, however, that DACEL did not get someone who knows the journal and is aware of its large percentage of informed readers in the fields of conservation, impact assessment and environmental management in general to write the reply. There should never be any question about taking plants from sites before the Record of Decision based on the EIA has been made.

Information given in a report undertaken by the Institute of Natural Resources for the SA office of TRAFFIC cites Agapanthus africanus as being within the top six priority species threatened by the medicinal trade because it is extensively used for many different medicinal purposes - and because the roots contain the medicinal properties, the plant is destroyed when it is harvested. (See article on ‘Plant species threatened by medicinal trade’ in Urban Green File Nov/Dec 1997 issue). This seems to fly in the face of the statement in the DACEL letter that Watson’s assumption about Agapanthus possibly being threatened by the muthi trade is “quite incorrect..... and that if there has been a slow decline in population size it is more likely to be related to the species popularity in the horticultural trade”.

Clearly “plant rescuers” (in inverted commas) are considered by DACEL to be a dubious breed. Urban Green File has been invited to visit and report on a plant rescue being organised by Operation Wildflower at Annesley Mine in Sekhukhuneland and will be interested in getting comments from Nature Conservation officials in the Northern Province about the event and their opinion on plant rescue in general. The article on rehabilitation of the Lebalelo pipeline in this issue (page 22) deals with the same area, near Burgersfort, which is a declared Centre of Floristic Endemism.

It would be interesting to know how many of the 6 000 permits issued timeously by Gauteng in the past year had anything to do with plant rescue, when the letter indicates that the Department is loth to issue such permits. Maybe because of this people simply do not bother to apply and should take note of DACEL’s encouragement to interested people to approach the Permit Office.

Another contradiction in the letter is that although DACEL recommends adopting “a policy of sustainable harvesting through cultivation” (which Watson supports) no suggestion is made of how the seed for cultivation should be obtained.

One piece of really good news contained in the letter is that within the year, hopefully, DACEL will be implementing its ridges policy. Such a pity that we have had to lose so much of our invaluable ridge environment, as Watson says, because the previous ridges and rivers policy was ignored. The disastrous housing development overlooking the Witwatersrand Botanical Garden comes to mind immediately (see comment in Urban Green File Jul/Aug 1998). The Wits Garden is being threatened with further development along the same ridge. It would be a really worthwhile action for DACEL to get involved and put a stop to this threat. Urban Green File supports the comment in the letter that “the public should engage with the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs with regard to their policies of allowing mining of ridges and koppies”.

-----

UPFRONT

Environmental protection at Private Estate on Knysna cliff tops
Property developers Keith Stewart and Clive Venning of the Pezula Private Estate, which is positioned on the cliff tops adjacent to Knysna’s eastern Head, are determined to restore the site which falls largely within pine plantations to its original fynbos vegetation and to preserve the indigenous forests on the property as a nature reserve. A portion of the site called The Cove has already been given planning permission, while the rezoning application for the rest of the development is underway, with environmental consultant Cathy Avierinos of Hilland Associates responsible for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The site borders on the Sparrebosch Golf Club which has been bought by Stewart and Venning and membership of the prestigious golf course, which was designed with a strong environmental emphasis, has been opened up to non-residents through a public company share purchase programme.

According to the developers, no part of the Pezula Estate will be visible from Knysna and its surrounds - the homes will be visible from out at sea but tucked into the site. Only 250 homes are scheduled for the 630ha of land and the ‘zone of development’ (area zoned for house, garden, swimming pool) on each erf will be about one seventh of the total erf: 1ha of a 7ha property, for example, can be developed while the rest will be restored to fynbos and managed by the Estate. The erven will range between 4 000m² and 30 000m² in size. Ninety percent of the total site will be either left entact or rehabilitated. The developers are offering a living environment within the natural ecosystems of the area.

No part of the skyline may be broken from any part of the property and building height restrictions in The Cove will be 6,5m, while on the larger properties 8,5m will be the limit. Only single storey houses will be allowed along the cliff top area called The Ridge and natural building materials will be a requirement throughout the development - slate roofs, walls of local stone, rough plaster and a colour palette which blends with the fynbos environment. The Knysna aesthetics committee will approve all the building designs for the Estate.

Public access will be allowed through an area of indigenous forest on the Pezula Estate, leading down to the beach. The access will be in the form of a walking trail which will link up with an existing trail through the neighbouring provincial nature reserve and will be controlled by a permitting system. Venning added that the Estate would contribute to the development of a community centre in the near future and that an environmental fund would be set up for the on-going clearing of invasive alien vegetation on the property. A percentage of the money from each property sold will go into the fund. He said that local contractors would be utilised for the construction of amenities and that the training of unskilled workers from the area was another aspect that was built into the EIA. The Estate will be patrolled by rangers with environmental and conservation training.

Urban Green File will be visiting Knysna as Pezula develops and the journal also intends reporting on the on-going management and maintenance of the Sparrebosch course which is based on the environmental ethic introduced by the original developer.

Mondi Wetlands Project launches sustainable use programme
A programme focussing on the sustainable use of wetlands was launched on 2 February - World Wetlands Day. Its aim is to kick-start the conservation of wetlands and train people to manage their wetlands wisely and sustainably. Launched by the Mondi Wetlands Project (MWP) it is called the Extension Support Programme.

According to MWP manager David Lindley: “Sustainable utilisation of wetlands will be a bit like having your cake and eating it. Farmers will obtain certain financial benefits from using a portion of their wetlands for crops or grazing, but they will retain the integrity of the wetlands and reap the benefits. With sustainable use we are moving away from a strictly hands-off conservation approach which excludes people, to one that includes people in ecosystems. But the privilege of use carries the responsibility for environmental care. We are not suggesting that every wetland can be utilised - what we are saying is that if a wetland is already being used, landowners or communities must do this in a manner that will protect the wetland.”

The Extension Support Programme will play a catalytic role and develop the capacity of governmental and non-governmental extension services to work with farmers on the wise use of wetlands. The national co-ordinator of the new programme is Damian Walters who has an agricultural background but is also doing a post-graduate degree in Nature Conservation. Walters has been with MWP for four years: three as a part-time fieldworker in the Natal Midlands and one full time as the national training co-ordinator.

The MWP Community Wetland Management Programme, under Vangani Silima, a BSc Honours graduate from the University of Venda, will aim to boost the capacity of extension services, community based organisations and NGOs to help rural communities utilise their wetlands sustainably - and to rehabilitate degraded wetlands on communal land. (See article in Urban Green File Sep/Oct 2001 issue.)
Contact David Lindley at Mondi Wetlands Project.

Tel: (011) 884 4773. Cell: 083 222 9155. Email: lindley@wetland.org.za

Cape Flats Floral Treasures
The Botanical Society and the City of Cape Town have collaborated to develop a teachers’ guide and poster entitled Cape Flats Floral Treasures. The 63 page comprehensive guide draws attention to the rich but highly threatened indigenous lowland vegetation remaining within the parameters of the City of Cape Town. The poster shows the urban context within which the indigenous plants and animals of the Cape Flats survive, while the teachers’ guide highlights some of the environmental issues that impact on the flora and fauna. Ideas for projects which will encourage teachers and pupils to investigate issues and take action are included. Garden design tips and lists of hardy indigenous plants are provided to encourage the development of water wise school gardens that can function as so called ‘mini nature reserves’. The City of Cape Town sponsored the project and has ensured that each school in the Unicity has received a complimentary copy of the poster and teacher’s guide. It is hoped that the format and local flavour will stimulate similar projects in other parts of the country.
Contact Kristal Maze, Botanical Society of South Africa. Tel: (021) 797 2090. Fax: (021) 797 2376. Email: info@botanicalsociety.org.za

Rob Filmer Environmental Access Award: Call for nominations
Eco-Access is a Non-Profit Organisation which was launched in 1994 by Rob and Julie Filmer. Its main aim is to integrate people with disabilities into the environment and society - to ensure that environmental facilities are made user-friendly to disabled people.

In 1998, the Rob Filmer Award was launched to recognise an individual or an organisation that has contributed significantly to providing access for and integrating disabled people into society. The Award, which is named after blind environmentalist Rob Filmer, is presented annually at a gala event hosted by Eco-Access.

The first award was presented in 1998 to Cheryl Ogilvie, a lecturer at Pretoria Technikon, for her role in involving Nature Conservation students in the running of environmental education programmes at schools for disabled children. Sandton Rotary won the award in 1999 for developing a venue to demonstrate how facilities such as bird hides and picnic sites can be made accessible to disabled people.

Catherine Anderson received the award in 2000 for her committed involvement to Eco-Access as a volunteer, while the 2001 award was presented to the De Wildt Cheetah Centre for the development of the ‘Reach for the Wild’ project which encourages disabled people to reach out and touch nature and wild animals.

Eco-Access is calling for nominations for the 2002 Rob Filmer Award. Nominations should include a brief description of the person or organisation nominated and a short motivation explaining how the work done is benefiting both disabled people and the environment.
Nominations can be submitted in writing to Eco-Access. Fax: (011) 477 3675. Email: info@eco-access.org. Postal Address: PO Box 1377, Roosevelt Park 2129.

-----

LETTERS

Sharing the Harvard experience
My dream came true when I was accepted for the Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture (LA) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in the Boston Metroplex: two years of an unsurpassed educational experience.

A two-week orientation period introduced students to the ecology of New England. We trampled through woods, studied wetlands and had talks about stream ecology and the indigenous plant life of the glacial landscape of Massachusetts. It was also the ideal time to get to know future classmates from very diverse nationalities and to choose subjects from within the constraints of the curriculum.

George Hargreaves, chairman of the Landscape Architecture Department, was the studio instructor for the first semester. His insight into and experience in the field of abandoned and waste sites inspired the class to experiment with remediation solutions for a severely polluted waterfront site. The project was to create an arboretum on the site and Michael van Valkenburg led us, in his quiet and perceptive manner, to choose our plant palette in an innovative way.

Prof Carl Steinitz and Joe Brown of the internationally acclaimed firm EDAW instructed the second semester studio, focussing on landscape planning for community development, emphasising resource management, physical and social structures of community, spatial organisation and the resultant landscape character. The study site was a rural town environment in Massachusetts and the programme, the settling of a religious community. An ecological analysis led to the choice of a particular site. The layout and physical design was derived from understanding the relationship between the particular community’s religious and social paradigm and its expression in the landscape.

Symposia, exhibitions and public lectures enhanced the educational experience. The conference Thinking about Landscape: Interdisciplinary Contributions of the 1990s evaluated and synthesised the thinking over the last ten years by designers, geographers, sociologists and historians of culture, literature and the environment. An exhibition entitled Representing Landscape Architecture: Four Centuries of Books and Images complemented the conference.

The Graduate School of Design public lecture programme presents internationally prominent speakers in the design fields providing insight into contemporary professional practice and scholarship. During my time at the school (1998-2000) speakers included Sir Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Frank O’ Gehry and Robert Irwin.

The third semester studio was particularly interesting as the instructor was Martha Schwartz and the study site a former Nazi military base in Germany for which we were required to produce a masterplan and an image that would attract new industry, commerce and other development. A visit to the actual site also took us to Germany’s Ruhrgebiet where decommissioned mining and industrial sites were being restored and reclaimed for a new industry: tourism.

Art curator and scholar John Beardsley taught Theories and Practices of Contemporary Landscape Architecture and focussing on modern projects, he investigated the fundamental social and interdisciplinary nature of landscape architecture, which intersects variously with art, architecture, urbanism and planning, and ecological and geographical systems. Amongst others, Outsider Art came up as a subject of inquiry and I chose to produce a term paper on Helen Martins, creator of the Owl House and Camel Yard in Nieu-Bethesda in the Karroo, which led to an invitation to lecture on this topic to a Graduate School of Design class dedicated to Outsider Art.

Steinitz instructed us on Visual Landscape Evaluation and Management and involved us in a case study concerning a city located in the Rocky Mountains that had sued a developer who had trangressed building height restrictions. One half of the class represented the city and the other half the developer and the case was adjudicated by members of the Harvard Law Faculty.

The course on Brownfields and Contaminated Sites was given by Niall Kirkwood, Director of the Harvard Centre for Technology and Environment, and concentrated on the re-use of contaminated sites and the EPA’s initiative to have urban brownfields cleaned-up and developed by means of various tax incentives. We also studied phytoremediation as a means of extracting contaminants. The course Wetland Construction and Restoration reviewed the role of wetlands from a landscape perspective, their role as nutrient sinks and wildlife habitats, and the use of artificially constructed wetlands for absorbing chemical pollution.

A conference of great interest during my second year, One Hundred Years of Landscape Architecture at Harvard 1000-2000, commemorated the centennial of the Harvard Department of Landscape Architecture. Of particular interest was the session that looked into the future of our profession. The conclusion was that new technologies and solutions for abandoned and waste sites would become the cutting edge of the built environment and propel landscape architecture into the new millennium.

My final semester comprised an urban design studio on redefining the bluff edge of the city of Saint Paul on the Mississippi. We worked alongside students of urban design and architecture. The objective was to study this city that turns its back on the river and to suggest design interventions to celebrate and utlise the river as an amenity to the benefit of the citizens.

My two years at Harvard were a rigorous intellectual enquiry into current and future trends in landscape architecture and my message to every student is that Harvard is within reach of anyone with an enquiring mind, dedicated attitude and lots of stamina. If you have a dream follow it.
Response to the editorial on veld collected plants in the
November/December issue of Urban Green File

Reply from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs (DACEL)
Gauteng’s DACEL is pleased that the Editorial in the November / December issue of Urban Green File focused on various issues related to the collection of plants from development sites and the protection of ridges. Public knowledge of the importance of the protection of habitats and the sustainable utilisation of wildlife is limited and your editorial contributes to awareness and involvement of the public at large in taking responsibility for our finite resources. However, the Department is concerned about inaccurate information in the editorial and views attributed to Patrick Watson, which could have effects opposite to those intended by him.

Collection of plants from development sites
The public is strongly discouraged from illegally collecting plants from proposed development sites. It has to be emphasised that these activities may in fact be interfering with an Environmental Impact Assessment process and may do more harm than good. In most cases a site proposed for development may legally not be developed until an EIA has been completed and approved and a Record of Decision authorising the development issued by Gauteng’s DACEL. If the negative environmental impacts of a development cannot be sufficiently mitigated or if a site is found to be too sensitive for a development, authorisation of the development is denied. Therefore, if a member of the public has taken it upon him/herself to remove plants or other wildlife from the site, they will have caused unnecessary damage to a sensitive environment. Alternatively, an authorisation may be granted with conditions. Conditions may involve, for example, protecting and managing sensitive areas on site within a natural urban open space system. Again, removing plants before the issuing of a Record of Decision may seriously degrade these future urban open spaces. Similarly, the developer may be required to use the plants on site for the future landscaping of the development.

Gauteng’s DACEL is also concerned about ‘plant rescue’ from development sites. Plant rescuers have been known to venture onto adjacent sites in order to collect plants under the pretence of ‘plant rescue’. Illegal harvesting from development sites and disturbance of other sites not destined for development obviously cannot be tolerated.

‘Plant rescuers’ have also been known to translocate rescued plants to other ‘safe’ sites such as nature reserves. There are a myriad reasons why this is an unacceptable conservation practice. Besides altering the natural distribution of species, the translocated species may have undesirable ecological effects on the new site. Alterations to habitat by the translocated species may be harmful to other species and translocations may lead to transmission of pathogens or parasites.

Within this context, Gauteng’s DACEL does not in general issue permits to individuals for plant rescue from development sites, as there is no practical way of controlling these rescue activities. It, however, has to be stated that to date the Department has received very few applications from members of the public requesting permits to collect plants from development sites. The Department would therefore like to encourage members of the public not to act illegally but rather to approach the Department to establish the status of a development application and measures that might be in place to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of development, as well as to make proposals and recommendations for particular sites

Protection of ridges in Gauteng
It is extremely concerning that Patrick Watson reportedly admits to collecting plants from ridges (Ed: “...with the permission of the developer”). The ridges of Gauteng have been identified as sensitive environments and Gauteng’s DACEL intends to enforce this through legislation. The Department has developed a provincial policy to protect the ridges of Gauteng, especially from further development. Established within the policy are the various ecological, biodiversity and socio-ecological values attributed to ridges:
*            Due to their high spatial heterogeneity, ridges provide habitat for high numbers of plant and animal species. Ridges are particularly suitable as future refuges for biodiversity in an urbanised landscape as they function as islands even within a natural landscape.
*            Ridges form vital habitat for many threatened or Red Data species.
*            The survival and behaviour of invertebrates, many of which are important pollinators, are often dependent on the ridge environment.
*            Ridges form natural wildlife corridors, which promote ecological processes and benefit regional and local biodiversity.
*            Ridges play a variety of roles in ecosystem processes. As a consequence of the influence of topography on rainfall, many streams in Gauteng originate on ridges and ridges control water input into wetlands.
*            Ridges can be viewed as a source of spiritual renewal, mental equilibrium and confidence building, providing aesthetically pleasing environments for the surrounding inhabitants and attracting tourists and recreational users.

Collection of plants from ridges is not allowed. Over the next year, the Department will be implementing the ridges policy and encouraging local authorities to assist with ridge protection. These efforts will be in vain should members of the public continue to abuse these sensitive areas by collecting plants and other wildlife, dumping refuse and destroying the areas with off-road vehicle use. The public is implored to assist and support the Department in this endeavour. The public should also engage with the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs with regard to their policies of allowing mining of ridges and koppies.

Threats to species
Patrick Watson quite correctly identifies mining and agriculture as major threats to biodiversity. Habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation are the major factors leading to the extinction of species worldwide. As such, Gauteng’s DACEL has recently initiated a Gauteng biodiversity GAP analysis project, which aims to identify and map sensitive areas in the province that require protection from these threats. Such conservation planning exercises are also taking place in many other parts of the country.

However, over-exploitation of species is as serious a problem and plant collectors in South Africa have directly caused the threatened status of many species. The removal of hundreds and even thousands of plants from the wild required for a single landscaping job cannot be considered as a negligible impact, as claimed by Patrick Watson. The implication by him that medicinal plant collectors are often solely to blame is quite incorrect. Agapanthus is given as an example. However, very few Agapanthus species are threatened, but if there has been a slow decline in population sizes it is more likely to be related to the species popularity in the horticultural trade than to the medicinal trade. Data collected for urban medicinal markets in Gauteng show that the genus is not a popularly traded plant.

Sustainable utilization
The issue of sustainable utilisation is extremely complex. In order to determine sustainable use of a population, long-term demographic monitoring data is essential to determine population variables over time such as recruitment rates, survival rates and mortality rates. These data do not exist for plants and in rare cases where data are available, predictive models show how unrealistic it is to expect wild plant populations to sustain annual harvesting at the levels that would be required in the modern-day context. These data also show that seed harvesting, excepting at very low levels, may be unsustainable in the long-term. It is wiser to adopt a policy of sustainable harvesting through cultivation.

Commercial nurseries may indeed not have the large volumes of obscure plants wanted for unique landscaping contracts, however effective planning and timely ordering of plants from commercial nurseries will ensure that artificially cultivated plants required for specific landscaping contracts are available. Ineffective planning cannot be used as an excuse for illegally harvesting plants from the wild.

Permits issued by Gauteng Nature Conservation
Gauteng has over the past two years received very few applications to remove plants from development sites. The Permits Office processes permit applications within 15 working days from receipt of a fully completed and signed application. This means that an approval or denial of an application would occur within 15 working days or three weeks from receipt. The Permits Office has issued approximately 6000 permits over the past year, and this includes all permits to import, trade in, collect and export wildlife. More than 95% of these were issued or denied within the 15 working days. The impression created by the comments attributed to Patrick Watson that it takes 18 months for a permit to be issued is simply incorrect and unfortunately contributes to negative perceptions amongst the public.

Persons wishing to enquire about permits in Gauteng may call the General Investigations office number at (011) 355 1207.
Francois de Kock, landscape architect

Revising the permit system
I was interested to read your editorial in the last issue. There is a major problem with flora permitting both for people who wish to use flora sustainably within the country and for those who wish to export it - having propagated it in their nurseries. There are two main causes for this. The one is the apparent failure of the permitting system within provincial departments and the other concerns problems with the Biodiversity Convention, where policy needs to be implemented to ensure that South Africa benefits from its floral biodiversity.

In recent decades South African entrepreneurs have developed considerable skills in propagating our flora from seed. This has been with private means and independently of the State or parastatals. This activity needs to be supported and encouraged firstly because South African flora is being developed with local expertise and secondly because it contributes materially towards the conservation of our plants: nursery grown rare plants are made available and this takes a great deal of pressure off wild populations. In addition, with global warming and habitat destruction South Africa is destined to lose many plant species in the coming decades. A development of the skills necessary for propagating and maintaining these plants may well prove the only way of preserving the genetic material within the country.

South Africa’s market for its own rare and unusual flora is very limited internally but a well-developed export market exists. The situation could be improved, for both the internal market and the export trade, by streamlining a permit system for sustainable collection of seeds. In some instances seed collection will not even be necessary since where demand merits plants are being successfully tissue-cultured in South Africa.

The recent draft policy for plant export put out for comment by Gauteng Nature Conservation does the reverse, it seems to discourage the propagation of our flora for export purposes. It is characterised by excessive over-regulation. Much of the initial comment on the draft made by interested and affected parties was negative, but out of this positive recommendations have followed which could lead to a number of changes to policy that will encourage propagation for the export market.

If Nature Conservation decides not to foster the propagation of indigenous flora, there will be a probable flight of private expertise into other areas of horticulture. This would leave the propagation and development of our flora to the State and the success of such an enterprise would depend on the State’s ability to attract and retain appropriate levels of expertise.

The following are some of the practical ways in which permitting could be improved and where conservation authorities and propagators could work together:
•            As soon as land has been zoned for development, plant rescues should be arranged. As wide a range of interested parties should be informed and both plants and seeds harvested. (This would represent an expansion of the plant rescues carried out by Operation Wildflower, since many more parties with different requirements and interests would be notified and able to participate.)
•            A limited amount of the seed of rare plants should be harvested from the wild and grown on by nurseries with a proven track record in the propagation of the plant species concerned. As a permit condition, an agreed percentage of this documented stock should be returned to Nature Conservation for re-introduction into the wild - to replenish the populations of rare plants.
•            The issuing of permits for the collection of seed from rare plants should also be dependent on the publication of information on these plants - particularly on their propagation so that the general body of knowledge on our indigenous plants is expanded in a structured manner.

These sorts of issues and many related matters are likely to be taken up in the founding constitution of the Indigenous Plant Propagators and Seed Exporters Association (for further information see the March issue of Veld & Flora).
Interested parties should contact the Steering Committee at euclea@succulents.net). Charles Craib, grower of rare and unusual plants

Regions of Floristic Endemism in Southern Africa
Authors: Abraham van Wyk and Gideon Smith
Publisher: Umdaus Press
Principal sponsors: Anglo American, Conservation International, First National Bank, WWF, NBI and University of Pretoria
The Oxford Dictionary of Ecology gives the following meaning to the word ‘endemism’: “the situation in which a species or other taxonomic group is restricted to a particular geographic region, owing to factors such as isolation or response to soil or climatic conditions. Such a taxon is said to be endemic to that region”. It means that the endemic species is strictly confined to that region and, to the best of man’s knowledge, is found nowhere else in the world. It is remarkable that most of southern Africa’s endemic plants are concentrated in a few relatively small and well demarcated areas, known as Regions or Centres of Endemism. Most of these Centres remain comparatively little known outside scientific circles. The authors of this scholarly book Regions of Floristic Endemism in Southern Africa have over many years carefully documented the diversity of endemic plants and now, for the first time, present the results of their efforts to recognise and define areas that warrant the status of Centres of Endemism.

The book is not only aimed at students of earth and natural sciences and botanists and ecologists, it will be appreciated by everybody interested in southern African flora. It will be of great interest to nature conservation officers, environmental decision makers, concerned developers, landowners in the region and amateur naturalists.

The book gives emphasis to the succulent species found in these Centres because a consequence of the general aridity of large parts of southern Africa has been the development of succulence as a survival strategy in many plants, including a significant proportion of endemics.

Aside from an introduction to some of the principles and practices of plant geography, the book gives comprehensive overviews of each Centre of Endemism, plus detailed full colour maps of each Centre, up-to-date lists of succulents that are endemic or near-endemic to each Centre, along with numerous examples of non-succulent endemic species, and a discussion of the richness of the endemic flora. Full colour photographs illustrate various landscapes and a wide selection of succulents and other endemic plants, including numerous rare species.

Professor Braam van Wyk of the University of Pretoria has a long-standing interest in the biogeography of southern Africa and the woody plants of the region. He has established a database of the plants associated with the various Centres of Endemism in the region. He has published extensively on the botany of southern Africa. Professor Gideon Smith is Research Director of the National Botanical Institute and holds a chair in Botany at the University of Pretoria. He has studied and cultivated succulents for most of his life and written numerous papers and a number of books on southern African succulent flora.

On page 22 of this issue of Urban Green File is an article on the vegetative rehabilitation of the Lebalelo pipeline servitude (the pipeline will provide a source of water for new mines in the area) which is located in the Sekhukhuneland Centre of Plant Endemism and a number of the endemic species are mentioned in the article. Special care has been taken to re-instate the flora to its pre-construction status and the client, environmental consultants and contractors deserve commendation for the work done in what is potentially a so called botanical ‘hotspot’, which means that extensive development in the Centre is threatening the flora. Regions of Floristic Endemism gives an overview of the Sekhukuneland Centre (SKC) and says that “Efforts to conserve high-priority areas in the SKC must acquire an increased urgency in the light of the unusual natural features of these areas.... Mining activities abound in the SKC, especially for vanadium, platinum-group metals, chromium, amosite and dimension stone (‘granite’, norite)”. Despite its scenic landscapes there is only one official nature reserve in the SKC but many private landowners are apparently keen to promote ecotourism in the region.

The better educated the public is about endemic species, the better their chances of survival - and Regions of Floristic Endemism will add considerably to the bank of knowledge on our floristic heritage that is available to the public.
For further information about the book contact Umdaus Press. Tel: (011) 884 5588. Fax: (011) 884 5685. Email: umdaus@succulents.net Wesite: www.succulents.net

Win a copy of Regions of Floristic Endemism
Umdaus Press has generously offered two copies of this hard-cover, portrait size book of over 200 pages, with more than 250 colour photographs to subscribers to Urban Green File. Existing subscribers who answer the question: “What is the name of one plant that is endemic to the Sekhukuneland Centre of Endemism?” will be eligible to win a book, as will new subscribers to Urban Green File or those who renew their subscriptions before the end of March (without answering the question). Send the answer to the question with your name, postal address and phone number to Carol Kemink either by fax (011) 616 7196 or email gerald@brookepattrick.co.za

A tribute to Ian Ford
(19/8/1944 - 27/12/2001)
In the eulogy delivered at his memorial service, his cousin Sonja Osborn said that the expression “one of nature’s gentlemen” could have been written expressly to describe Ian. “His gentleness came from his quiet strength, from his dignity, from his love of beauty and order and from his deeply thoughtful and compassionate nature....Ian’s love of beauty, simplicity, the understated, the subtle, the authentic, was evident in everything he chose and everything he created, whether he was involved in setting a table or designing a landscape”. Landscape architecture in this country will be the poorer for his passing.

We were shocked to hear of Ian Ford’s untimely death at the closing of last year. He leaves behind a significant legacy of designed landscapes which are evidence of his skills, dedication and love of his profession. A profession he served for over three decades.

‘Ian Ford, Landscape Architect’ was the first Cape Town based professional landscape practice. He was also one of three members who attended the first Cape Institute of Landscape Architects’ meeting in Cape Town in 1975.

Ian studied architecture at the University of Cape Town and he would in later years contribute to the landscape development of that same campus. Sketches of an outdoor courtyard for a third-year student project showed Ian’s early interest in space-making that extended beyond the design of buildings. Changing to the field of landscape architecture, he continued his studies at Edinburgh University and returned to Cape Town in 1973 to join the team responsible for the Marina da Gama development, a project which, at that time, pioneered new dimensions in the shaping of land for human habitation.

He set up a one-man office in 1975, which survived the riots and recessions and grew steadily as the economy improved and the work of landscape architects became recognised. It remains a respected practice to this day providing a high standard of work in the public domain and on some of the finest private estates.

Ian’s work was always very controlled, minimalist and elegant - the design concept was clear and typically understated. He would start with the essence of a project and refine it to reflect his vision of contemporary life, avoiding popular trends and ‘pastiche’. Ian respected the ‘Cape Tradition’ which provided the context for much of his local work. He understood that time is a crucial dimension of landscapes; that the landscape is not static, but must evolve from creation to maturity and beyond.

Working in a team with other landscape architects and professionals, as he often did, Ian was quiet-spoken but firm in his principles. His contribution to collaborative projects included Stal Plein, St George’s Mall and the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, which formed only part of his diverse portfolio.

We will remember Ian as a gentleman, consistently loyal to his friends, colleagues and the Institute - and inevitably to the landscape cause.

Bernard Oberholzer and Johan van Papendorp, landscape architects
I met Ian in September 1988. It was a Sunday afternoon interview for a position of employment and took place at his Victorian cottage in Tamboerskloof. After the positive interview Ian offered to show me around his newly decorated offices in Shortmarket Street - with wonderful views of Table Mountain and the city. A stylish and inspiring working and living environment was important to him.

Ian’s design philosophy embraced simplicity and he communicated this ideology to clients, associate consultants and colleagues in a masterful manner. With the skill and talent of an artist, Ian could turn a few pencil lines on paper into an inspiring landscape sketch proposal.

He created an interesting work environment by undertaking varied projects - small residential sites, larger urban design schemes, environmental planning, commercial site development and the restoration of historical gardens.

Ian took great pride in his involvement in projects such as St George’s Mall development (in association), the V&A Waterfront Development (in association), Vergelegen Wine Estate (masterplan development and restoration of historical garden), Boschendal Estate (landscape restoration and new developments), Groot Constantia (estate planning) and the Kirstenbosch Centre for Home Gardening (currently at working drawing stage - see Urban Green File May/June 1999 issue).

On a personal level, I will remember Ian as a gentle and composed person who took great pride in his work. His sense of responsibility made him a dedicated colleague and respected professional landscape architect.

Deon Bronkhorst, landscape architect and partner in the firm of Ian Ford Deon Bronkhorst Landscape Architects

-----

TREE OF THE ISSUE

Jean Wouters chooses the Tree Fuchsia
Halleria Lucida
Halleria lucida, chosen by landscape designer and contractor Jean Wouters of Marina Landscaping in Cape Town, grows naturally all along the southern and eastern coastlines of South Africa and inland to include a portion of the Eastern Cape and all of Lesotho, part of KwaZulu-Natal, including Swaziland, and northern Mpumalanga, and up into Gauteng and the Northern Province. In the wild it is usually a small evergreen tree, growing in a variety of habitats: in the rocky areas of open grassland, forests (where it can grow much taller) and forested ravines, while it is also often found along streams.

Jean has chosen the Tree Fuchsia mainly because she finds it a very pretty tree with its weeping branches and delicate, pointed, glossy leaves - the latter, she feels, are its best feature. She says it is very under-utilised in urban landscapes in the Cape and seldom seen on landscape architects’ plant lists, while the nurseries also do not seem to market it. She finds this surprising because the tree is not only an attractive shape, it is ecologically-friendly and needs little watering (with the trend being towards water wise gardening in the Cape). It is also deceptively hardy, particularly since it is almost fragile in appearance. It grows quickly and flowers when it is very young.

She says that, recently, she has been using it extensively in almost any situation: parklike shrubberies, large domestic gardens and it is, she says, a wonderful tree for small gardens, because it is evergreen, usually fairly small in size - not growing much taller than 5m in the garden situation on the Cape peninsula. She emphasises that the tree clearly dislikes wet feet and should not be used in clayey soil, as she lost several of the trees that were planted in clay at the Alphenvale Retirement Village in Constantia - the rest, however, are doing well. She describes a planting of a series of Tree Fuchsias along the boundary of a client’s property in Bishopscourt as “looking stunning” six years later, at a height of over 3m and creating an effective screen which provides the necessary privacy.

On the Long Beach Mall project, the landscape architects, Planning Partners, did specify the Tree Fuchsia in shrubbery areas of the project. Jean comments that the Long Beach development is in a very windy area in Noordhoek and yet all the trees, planted about 10 months ago, although not strictly in the teeth of the wind, have survived their first (very hard) winter. She says there is a beautiful specimen at the Good Hope Nursery, south of Scarborough near Cape Point, which clearly indicates that it will grow in harsh conditions.

The flowers are fuchsia-like, growing in the axils of leaves on younger trees and on the old wood of more mature specimens, where they grow in large clusters of orange to red, nectar-rich, tubular flowers. A yellow-flowered specimen is also available. Their nectar is favoured by sunbirds and many fruit-eating birds are attracted by the tree’s fleshy berries. Jean’s partner and husband Rene Wouters who is a keen bird watcher has seen White-eyes and Cape Bulbuls enjoying the ripe fruit on the Halleria lucida in their garden in Rondebosch.

-----

WORDS ON WASTE

Recycling plastic to produce high integrity components
Scientist Richard Hooper and his colleagues at the University of Brighton, southern England, have proved that instead of being discarded household plastic garbage can be recycled to produce high integrity plastic components or used in a range of frontline applications.

Plastic recycling is often associated with material of downgraded quality, suitable for making low integrity products. This is clearly not true - and today’s old plastic bottle can in fact be turned into a key part of tomorrow’s top-of-the-range luxury car. High density polyethylene waste, in the form of milk bottles and detergent containers, has always been the basis for recycling projects but the Brighton scientists have shown that a range of different types of plastics used in bags, wrapping materials and cartons can also be recycled in a way that maintains, rather than downgrades, their basic qualities.

“The economies of plastic recycling have, until now, been marginal,” adds Hooper. Companies that manufacture plastic products such as food and drink containers have had understandable concerns about using recycled material - concerns related to its quality and possible contamination. A machine that moulds plastic can cost up to US $1,2 million or more, so it is natural that manufacturers have preferred to use freshly manufactured prime plastic rather than recycled material that could cause costly faults in the equipment, the manufacturing process or in their final product.”

The Brighton team has found that precise control of the recycling and moulding process is the key to producing high-quality products from domestic plastic waste. The material’s specification - particularly its high-tensile strength and durability - convinced one world-leading vehicle manufacturer to undertake what turned out to be a successful simulated in-service test programme of windscreen washer reservoirs made from 100% recycled domestic waste material.

The UK scientists also report good progress in their research into more effective ways of recovering relatively clean plastics from scrap cars. Plastic comprises 9% of a modern car by weight - but much of this potentially useful material disappears into landfill sites.

“One big challenge here is that some 27 different types of plastic are in common use in cars,” comments Hooper. “Polypropylene, the most useful type, represents around half of all car plastic and our research focusses on the closed loop recycleability of polypropylene. Again, it is a case of proving that recycling plastic into high-end quality products is both practically and economically feasible on a wide scale.”
Contact Dr Richard Hooper, School of the Environment, University of Brighton, Sussex, UK. Tel: +44 1273 642391. Fax: +44 1273 642634. Email: r.hooper@brighton.ac.uk Website: www.brighton.ac.uk

Ecological sanitation
The opinion of experts is that traditional systems for urban wastewater disposal are expensive and technically outdated. There is a worldwide search for new methods and IFAT (International Trade Fair for Environment and Waste Disposal in Munich) is the forum for innovation-orientated debate.

The expenditure on the gigantic sewerage systems of today is enormous and the cost and lack of efficiency of these systems, which leave behind the unavoidable waste product of sewage sludge, is constantly being called into question. Experts doubt that this concept of waste disposal can be regarded as a viable solution for the future, in northern hemisphere countries and still less in developing countries. Critics point to the fact that wastewater from built-up areas is composed of different streams which are indiscriminately mixed in collector channels and are then purified as a single entity, with heavy expenditure of both financial and technical resources and usually with unsatisfactory results.

The concentrated nutrient content present in water flushed from toilets, comprising nitrogen, phosphates and potassium, is lost in the process of wastewater purification which is followed by incineration and dumping of sewage sludge. Simultaneously to maintain soil fertility, precisely those substances are imported from far-off mining areas and brought to agricultural fields in the form of artificial fertilisers. The many interests involved in water exploitation are increasing the pressure on water resources, even in water-rich countries. The use of water in the transport of waste materials is a luxury we can ill afford - especially after it has (at great expense) been purified to drinking water standards.

Alternative concepts are based on the separate channelling and treatment of the three constituent streams of wastewater: grey water, brown water and yellow water. This is supplemented by the separate collection and utilisation of rainwater: the rainwater collected from roofs and other hard surfaces is caught and allowed to seep into the ground, increasing the reserves of groundwater, or it is used for irrigation purposes, toilet flushing or washing.

Grey water, the relatively uncontaminated wastewater from the kitchen, bath, shower and washing machine, can be purified with minimal technical and financial expenditure and then also permitted to seep into the groundwater - or used for purposes which make lower demands on water quality.

The brown water component (faeces), collected separately from urine by means of separation toilets can be fermented (with or without the admixture of biowaste) to produce biogas - and then, as required, composted or utilized directly as digested sludge.

Yellow water (urine), which is practically germ-free and therefore, for the most part, hygenically harmless, can be used directly as a fertiliser in agriculture or processed to obtain pure nitrogen, phosphates and potassium.

The term ‘ecological sanitation’ or ‘ecosan’ has established itself worldwide in reference to concepts of this kind. It marks a fundamental re-thinking of urban wastewater management and the change of direction in Germany is converging with exploratory movements in developing countries. Veronica Corella-Barud, an expert from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico’s fourth largest city, who is trying out ecosan concepts, sums up the situation as follows: “Since 1970, the availability of sanitary facilities in developing countries has stagnated at about one-third of the population. Households often have no flushing toilets, no suitable sewerage, no sanitation plants and no clean water. The result according to a World Health Organisation estimate is that 12 million people die from illnesses caused by faecally contaminated water every year. This figure includes four million children under the age of five, with dysentry as the sole cause of death.

Integrated, closed-cycle orientated and economically sustainable substance stream concepts in residential areas are therefore now on the agenda in Germany with the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit, a service company involved in international development co-operation, launching a project entitled “ecosan - ecologically and economically sustainable wastewater management and sanitation systems”. The project promotes the development and application of pilot schemes for closed-cycle wastewater concepts.
For further information on IFAT 2002. Website: www.ifat.de

Eco-efficiency and cleaner production
To demonstrate the benefit of eco-efficiency and cleaner production, Environment Australia has published over 120 case studies on its website examining how individual Australian companies have generated economic and environmental benefits from implementing such initiatives. The case studies are upgraded and new case studies added to ensure they continue to provide business, industry and the community with leading edge examples of eco-efficiency and cleaner production in Australian industry. A case study described on the website involves six dry-cleaning businesses in Perth, members of the Dry-cleaning Institute of Australia, that have joined forces in a Cleaner Production Club to identify ways to reduce costs and manage their environmental liabilities. The operators, all small businesses, are achieving on average $6 000 per annum savings through reducing consumption of energy and perchlorethylene, and reducing waste management costs. These improvements have been possible through better operation and maintenance of existing dry-cleaning and auxiliary equipment.
Website: Http://www.environment.gov.au/epg/environet/eecp

Australian local government promotes steel can recycling
Today 40% of Australians place empty food and pet cans, aerosol cans, paint cans, coffee tins and olive oil tins in the recycling bin rather than the rubbish bin. But the Steel Can Recycling Council thinks they can do much better. Despite gains made in the past decade, 1,2 billion steel cans are still sent to landfill sites every year. Australian city councils are being encouraged by the Recycling Council to showcase fun and engaging ways to encourage steel can recycling in the community. The Steel Can Recycling Best Practice Award for councils was initiated in 2001, and judged by recycling industry experts with the winning council being announced at the Australian Local Government Association Conference in Canberra in November.

Studies show that most citizens can see the benefits of recycling - it takes 75% less energy to make steel from recycled cans than it does from raw materials. Resources are saved and greenhouse gas emissions cut. Steel cans are turned into other useful products like railway tracks, cars, fridges, nails, girders and new steel cans.

Local government has led the way in the kerbside recycling challenge by increasing community awareness. A decade ago only two Australian councils offered steel can recycling facilities to residents, while by 2001 the figure had risen to 375 councils.

Hobsons Bay City Council in Victoria contracts its recycling services to Four Seasons Waste (Pty) Ltd and the company’s education and development co-ordinator, Annie Bateman, is responsible for educating staff and the community about recycling all materials including steel. She thinks that older people still have what she calls a ‘bottle-yard (the forerunner to the weekly kerbside recycling collection) mentality’ - many of them only associate recycling with glass bottles and jars. She says plastics and aluminium also have a higher profile than steel because they are lighter and more portable. “We promote steel can recycling by means of a brochure, showing the life cycle of a steel can from manufacture to use, collection, sorting, re-manufacture at the steelworks and re-use. The brochure has been sent to 33 000 households and is available in local libraries, civic centres and real estate agencies.

“Hobsons Bay community festivals are also a great way to engage the community and draw attention to steel cans - we set up recycling displays and BHP Steel sponsors colouring competitions. Each child receives a free raffle ticket when entering the competition and goes into a draw to win a 20l steel can hamper packed with project materials and steel can snack foods. We try to make learning fun for the family so people remember the steel can recycling message.”

The problem is not access - 89% of people have the opportunity to recycle steel cans. Nor are the citizens unaware - studies show that they know steel is recyclable. It seems more vigilance is needed in the sorting process and people need to remember that, since scrap steel is 100% recyclable and a necessary component to the steel making process, landfill is a wasteful option.

The International League reported in October 1999 that Germany and Japan had the highest steel can recycling rate at 80% each, followed by the Netherlands at 75% and Sweden and Austria at 71% and 70% respectively.
Story from Envirobusiness Update, produced by Environment Australia (Department of the Environment and Heritage)
Contact Australia’s Steel Can Recycling Council. Tel: +613 9563 3569.

-----

FEATURES

Vegetative rehabilitation

Lebalelo pipeline and water supply scheme, Sekhukhuneland
An Environmental Management Plan (EMP) was compiled to manage the environmental impacts of the Lebalelo Water Supply Scheme and this document required that all areas disturbed by the project should be rehabilitated so as to approximate their state prior to commencement of construction or to create a better state. The pipeline carries water from the Olifants River to a series of new mines in the area and in the process raw water is being made available to 86 local villages. Some of the largest reserves of chrome and platinum group metals in the world are found in this area. The scheme falls within the Sekhukhuneland microregional Centre of Plant Endemism (SKC), meaning that this is a region with a high concentration of endemic plant species - that is, certain species are confined to this region and found nowhere else in the world.

Although the area is heavily disturbed by human activities, it has, according to Stefan Siebert who did the specialist ecological study which formed part of the Scoping Report, a surprisingly rich flora. The pipeline transect is located in the arid northern region of the SKC, on the floristic ecotone between two unique geological sequences. Seven SKC endemics and thirteen near-endemics were recorded in the study area. Largely, the hills and ridges of the area are still in a pristine state, although certain trees on the slopes of the hills in the Croydon area towards the south are being impacted on by extensive harvesting for firewood and fence poles. The richest biodiversity occurs on the hills and ridges where 145 plant species and 122 animal species were recorded. The area around Burgersfort, in close proximity to the pipeline, is reputed to have the highest concentration of aloe species in the world (Braam van Wyk and Gideon Smith: Regions of Floristic Endemism - see Book Review on page 12).

Environmental rehabilitation consultant Jeremy Stubbs who was appointed as the Facilitator for Environmental Matters did a preliminary survey of the pipeline route in April 2001, in the company of the then ECO Laura Knowles of SRK and botanical consultant Pieter Winter, and drew up a plan of action based on the EMP. Certain aspects of the EMP were amended to suit this action plan and proposals for rehabilitation methods were drawn up - based on which a bill of quantities was generated for the rehabilitation contractor Eksklusiewe Tuine. The plan was labour intensive and involved the use of new techniques in rehabilitation to accelerate the processes of natural succession and ensure a stable land surface. SRK mentioned that the client had accepted the more expensive option of hand planting and hand seeding, rather than hyroseeding but that the rehabilitation costs amounted to only 1% of the total cost of the project, while the total environmental costs were in the order of 3%.

Plants to be avoided or rescued
Sample plots were demarcated in each of the different vegetation zones along the pipeline transect and the species within these plots identified and counted. A list of ‘special plants’ which needed to be removed and maintained for later reinstatement was drawn up from Siebert’s specialist report, advice given by Winter and the assessment of the sample plots. Stubbs maintained that it was important that each of these special plants be returned to its area of origin during rehabilitation.

Plants that were moved to holding nurseries included threatened and protected species and species not yet described; species with social value; and those with rehabilitation value - such as soil binding properties for erosion control. Only plants with at least a 75% chance of survival were removed for reinstatement.

The trees designated as ‘sacred trees’ (in the eyes of the community) in the EMP were the Shepherd’s Tree (Boscia albitrunca) and the Baobab (Adansonia digitata) with their extensive food and medicinal values; but the social significance of the Marula (Sclerocarya birrea) was also recognised in Stubbs’ proposal because its fruit is utilised extensively by the local community, particularly in the making of beer which is sold commercially in the area; as was the near-endemic Catha transvaalensis (renamed Lydenburgia cassinoides) (Sekhukhune Bushman’s Tea). These trees, including the provincially protected species Pappea capensis (Bushveld Cherry) and Spirostachys africana (Tambotie), were to be clearly marked and avoided, as far as possible. There were several deviations made to the pipeline route to avoid these trees.

The dwarf succulent Huernia stapelioides - an endemic of the SKC and classified as Vulnerable on the Red Data List, which is probably largely under threat because of current medicinal usage (it is believed to have magical properties and is used as a protective charm) and its narrow distribution - was carefully removed with permission from Nature Conservation, along with many other succulent species, ready for re-instatement. The large majority of the species that were rescued, such as the aloe and euphorbia species, had tuberous roots and had to be left in the sun to dry out before being transplanted into the holding nurseries. Damaged roots were trimmed back and treated with an appropriate fungicide.

The two Sweat Bushes (Laggera decurriens and Pechuel-loeschea leubrnitziae) were considered to have valuable rehabilitation properties in that they are pioneers of the heavily populated, disturbed areas, providing shelter for the germinating seeds of many species - and because goats find the bushes unpalatable, they give added protection. Bushes were cut down and used to provide shade and protection for sensitive plants, such as the endemic, newly described Euphorbia steelpoortensis, in the holding nurseries.

All the plants that were moved to the holding nurseries were counted, so that those exact numbers could be replaced in the exact areas from which they had been removed. Stapelias needed to be planted back under bushes, while the endemic, so called poison vine, Adenia fruticosa subsp fruticosa (Seboana in Sepedi), that has tendril-like branches which clamber up trees, needed to be planted in proximity to trees such as the Commiphoras, and the wild asparagus created an appropriate habitat for the germination of seeds on the flats.

Stubbs said that the general aim at reinstatement stage was to keep the process as natural as possible - no compost was used, as recommended in the EMP, and watering would only be done if there was a period of drought at establishment stage and the plants were showing stress. Most of the relocated plants are succulent species and highly drought tolerant. Replanting started once the topsoil had been reinstated and the profile of the pipeline servitude levelled - and when good rains had been received.

As a direct result of this intensive rehabilitation project, a number of ‘cryptic’ plants (dwarf succulents and geophytes) were found, in addition to those recorded in the EIA.

Relocation of large trees
The EMP made no allowance for the transplanting of large trees which fell within the pipeline servitude but there were some large trees in the area of the Croydon reservoir that were impossible to avoid and Stubbs felt that since the excavator was in operation on the pipeline, the trees could be excavated and transplanted a little away from the servitude. The main contractor WBHO agreed that this was feasible and the work of excavating 32 large Commiphora species (both C. pyracanthoides and C. mollis), Kirkia wilmsii (Mountain Seringa) and Spirostachys africana (Tambotie) fell to the subcontractor WK Pipelines, while Peet La Cock site manager for Eksklusiewe Tuine prepared the trees and supervised the operation.

Prior to the excavation, the branches of these trees were pruned back quite severely, reducing the size of the canopy by 50% and once they were out of the ground any damaged roots were pruned. Stubbs commented that it would have been better to have excavated the trees by hand to avoid root damage and to have bound the rootballs, but time and finance did not allow for this.

The trees were replanted to the sides of the servitude, anywhere between 2-20m away from the pipeline, depending on where there was a suitable area between the rocks, but as near as possible to their original positions. Stubbs said that all the Commiphoras had taken well (a common name for this species is ‘Kanniedood’ and trees are easily propagated from truncheons), while only � 40% of the Mountain Seringas had taken and none of the Tamboties had shown signs this far. Stubbs said that he was not very hopeful about the survival of the Tamboties.

Harvesting and germinating of seed
Seed from a large variety of different species was collected for rehabilitation purposes in the pipeline servitude prior to the start of excavation. Any collecting of seed from useful plants outside the servitude was done with care being taken not to harvest more than 10% of the seed from any plant and to do the harvesting over a fairly wide range. No seed was harvested from the Sickle Bush (Dichrostachys cinerea) because of the tendency this plant has to become invasive in badly managed areas. All the seed was harvested by hand by unskilled workers from the local communities.

The seed was dried, treated against pests such as weevils and stored in brown paper bags in a special air-conditioned ‘seed room’ near the contractor’s site office. Each bag of seed was labelled with the species name, the weight of the seed and its zone of origin, so that it could be returned to that area of the pipeline servitude.

When the hand harvesting started, most of the grass seed had already been shed and a vacuum suction method, recommended by Roly Nofke of Hydromulch, was utilised to collect fallen seed around the base of each grass tussock. Stubbs commented that this was an effective way of gathering seed and that useful mulch was gleaned at the same time. Even with this method, not enough local seed was collected and a mixture of the seeds of grasses indigenous to the area had to be imported from the company EcoRehab in Potchefstroom. Although the intention was to keep the grassing process as natural as possible, it might be slightly accelerated by the use of the seed of climax species in the mixture, in conjunction with pioneers.

The hard seeds, particularly the acacias, were scarified by three different methods so that they would germinate more readily when planted out. The three methods were by means of hot water, with sulphuric acid and by allowing the seed to pass through a goat’s digestive system. On-going trials are being carried out to establish germination rates. Acacia erioloba with its particularly hard seed coat required sulphuric acid treatment to achieve a 60% germination rate. Trial and control plots have been seeded with goat’s manure (containing a mixture of unscarified seeds) from the relevant areas but no final results have been obtained yet. (Urban Green File will be doing a follow-up article once the rehabilitated areas are showing results and the results of these germination methods will be published at that stage.)

It is intended that 70% of the reinstatement along the pipeline servitude will have been completed by the end of February 2002 - the replanting of the plants from the holding nurseries, the planting out of cuttings, and the seeding. All the work is being done manually. Stubbs commented that the reinstatement of the vegetation was largely being done without the use of soil ameliorants, so as not to create an artificial environment by stimulating the plants unnaturally, except in the case of the grasses where a low rate of fertiliser was being used to “kickstart” the growth, particularly in areas where there was very little topsoil in evidence.

Preparation for seeding involved ripping and scarifying the area and then seeding by hand. A specially fabricated scarifying tool with tynes welded onto a bar was used by the workforce to draw furrows to a depth of 50mm and at a width of 150mm for the planting out of the seeds. The scarifying has been done with the contour because of the high erodibility of the soils in most areas of the servitude and the contours have been created with hand levels that could be utilised by unskilled labour. The seeded area was then brushed with branches so that the seed was covered with soil. No artificial watering has been done, as yet, because of reasonable rainfall in December. The seeded areas have been compacted with a custom-made grooved roller. Stubbs said that the intention was also to make use of an ancient well-recognised agricultural method of compacting seedbeds in the rocky areas where a roller would be ineffectual. Goats would be herded across the area and better germination would, in Stubbs’ experience, be achieved where they had compacted the ground.

Experimenting with cuttings
Horticultural consultant Clare Bell has been trying out the interesting technique of air-layering to root ‘cuttings’ on the two wild rock fig species in the area, Ficus abutilifolia and F. ingens, because this horticultural technique works well on the domestic fig. A branch is ring-barked (2 cm in width) 15 cm from its end and peat moss contained in plastic, with the addition of a rooting hormone, is wrapped around the ring-barked area and sealed with tape. A hole is made in this small parcel so that the peat moss can be syringed once a week. Bell says the process was started during winter and it might have been better if a start had been made during the growing season in spring - but the ‘cuttings’ are rooting and once the rooting is adequate, the whole branch will be cut off just above the ring barking and planted out into a bag as a rooted truncheon.

Bell took numbers of cuttings from plants during the clearing of the pipeline servitude. The near-endemic Rhus batophylla (Red-berry Grey Karee) which is listed as Vulnerable has taken a long time to root and only some of the cuttings have been successful, while the cuttings of the newly named endemic scrambler Rhoicissus sekhukhuniensis (Moapaha in Sepedi) have been reasonably successful, particularly those of 0,5 -1,5 cm thickness, and Dodonaea viscosa (Sand Olive) and Tetradenia riparia (Iboza in Sepedi) have been very successful. At present the cuttings are in the process of being hardened off ready for planting out.

Truncheons were also taken from species such as Commiphora tenuipetiolata and C. pyracanthoides during the clearing of the pipeline and these appear to have rooted well as they have produced an abundance of leaves. These truncheons will be planted back along the pipeline but only in areas where the species occur in close proximity to the pipeline. The truncheons will be planted out according to the natural spacing of the plants.

Local community involvement
All the unskilled and semi-skilled labour for the rehabilitation project was sourced from the local community by Naledi Development through community liaison officers Rabotho Mathabatha and Phineas Mosehla and the workers were given their initial training by Stubbs and site manager Peet La Cock who supervised the removal of the plants prior to the start of excavation. Three holding nurseries were established on the small holdings of three local families, selected by tribal chiefs. These families have been responsible for looking after the plant material and have been paid a rental for the use of their properties: Joseph Mayimele and his family have tended the nursery at Croydon, while Jimmy Shai and his family have taken care of the Havercroft nursery and Betty Sehlala and her son the Maandagshoek nursery. The idea was that these ‘nurserymen’ would receive a thorough training in horticultural techniques and land use management and that they should be involved in the whole rehabilitation process, so that they could continue to educate the community in rehabilitation techniques and the cultivation of muthi plants and trees for firewood, in the future.

The nurseries were positioned near trees to cut down on the quantity of shade cloth needed and where necessary the area was fenced off. Plants were placed in the same density of shade or intensity of sunlight that they had experienced in their natural habitat. The nurserymen bagged up manure from their goats ready for use at replanting stage. Stubbs maintained that the goats which are browsers would have eaten the seeds of largely indigenous species because there were not an excessive number of alien species in the neighbourhood and their manure would therefore supplement the hand collected seed in the rehabilitation process. Additionally, the goats were fed with appropriate seed mixed with bran in the evenings and because they were traditionally only let out of their kraals at midday, quantities of droppings could be collected from these enclosures.

Training
The on-site training of 12 local people who were selected to form the core of the labour force for the rehabilitation work was started on an informal basis by Stubbs, Bell and Eksklusiewe Tuine in June 2001. The training programme is now being formalised and developed further with funding from Lebalelo Water Users Association, so that it is accessible to the broader community, by the Education Development and Learning (EDL) Foundation - and EDL have provided a lecturer in the person of Lazarus Mokwena who is originally from the Penge area. Stubbs plays the role of co-ordinator. The training is based on the broad principles of land use management and understanding the environment. Fifteen local people are being trained as facilitators who at the end of the pipeline contract will go into the rural villages and educate the local people.

The training programme will cover aspects such as the prevention and treatment of soil erosion, grazing and sustainability, sustainable harvesting of firewood and muthi plants, various horticultural and rehabilitation techniques and the management of both planted areas and natural resources. Plant identification and the social and resource significance of the plants that are being conserved along the pipeline servitude is part of the course and this aspect will be facilitated by a plant identification manual compiled by Stubbs and Eksklusiewe Tuine, with photographs taken on site, giving the Sepedi, common and scientific names. The objective of this training will be to provide income generating skills for locals in rehabilitating and managing a landscape, according to sound environmental practices and national standards.

How effective was the EMP?
It should be noted that all the management measures contained in the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) are legally binding as the project was authorised on condition that “all mitigation measures mentioned in the Scoping Report, the EMP (including the Particular Specification) as well as the specialist studies must be complied with” (Record of Decision). The EMP covers the principles, responsibilities and requirements of environmental management during the execution of the construction contract and the reinstatement and rehabilitation on completion of construction. The environment comprises both the biophysical and social components and the impact during construction on both of these components must be minimised. If the areas disturbed by construction activities are kept to a minimum, the construction related environmental impacts will be minimised and rehabilitation requirements and costs will be reduced.

(The achievements and failures here refer to the civil engineering side of the contract, as many of the successes achieved by the rehabilitation team have already been noted in the main body of the article.)

Achievements
•           According to Stubbs the care taken by the main contractor with the routing of the access road to the Croydon reservoir, unavoidably sited high up in near-pristine bushveld on a koppie, deserves strong commendation, as the contractor had meticulously avoided any damage to plants that had been tagged and the visual impact of the winding route was minimal.
•            The re-routing of the pipeline in several areas where ‘special trees’ were in its direct path was another achievement - both Marulas and Shepherd’s trees were saved in this fashion. A Rock Fig on a rock outcrop was saved when special trouble was taken to re-route the pipeline at the top of a steep incline.
•            The agreement of the contractor to participate in the excavation of the large trees that were moved and transplanted away from the pipeline servitude (as described previously) deserves commendation.

Failures
•            Some of the large trees in the area of the sedimentation tank, again unavoidably sited on a near-pristine koppie at Havercroft, that had been clearly marked with hazard tape as trees that were not to be felled or mutilated in any way, were damaged. Branches were wrenched off the trees to accommodate the passing of construction machinery and vehicles, although the rehabilitation contractor had given a clear demonstration of correct pruning methods in such instances, and the ECO had not been informed of the need to remove the branches. If a system of fines for irretrievable damage had been included in the EMP it might have made the difference here.
•            Careless spillage of concrete was evident in certain areas and the distant positioning of the portable toilets for workers on the sedimentation tank made it easier for them to utilise the pristine koppie. If the workers had been given some environmental awareness training prior to the start of construction, impacts such as these might have been prevented.
•            The rehabilitation contractor was unable to start seeding immediately after the first rains because the reinstatement of the soil profile in the pipeline servitude was not consistent with the natural topography of the area. This was corrected but valuable germination and growing time was lost.

Peter Theron of SRK commented about issues of non-conformance which had resulted in erosion along the side of the pipeline: “If the contractor had followed the correct procedure initially, there would be no need for him to go back and fix it and incur the extra cost”.

Cally Henderson of SRK said that because the project had been fast-track, environmental education for the labour force on the civils side had been neglected, to the detriment of the project. She added that the main contractor had not been fully aware of the sensitivity of the biophysical environment in the area but that he had accommodated extra costs in changing the pipeline route to mitigate impacts. Her opinion was that both the main contractor and SRK were learning a great deal from the project and from the careful work of the Facilitator for Environmental Matters, Jeremy Stubbs, on the practical side of rehabilitation.

Project team:
Client: Lebalelo Water Users Association
Agent: Anglo Platinum
Project manager for client: HBH Roussouw
Civil engineers: Ninham Shand/ SRK Consulting (Joint Venture)
Main contractor: WBHO
Sub-contractor: WK Pipelines
Scoping report: SRK Consulting
Specialist ecological study: Stefan Siebert
Environmental Management Plan: SRK Consulting - Peter Theron, Laura Knowles and Felix Motsiri
Environmental Control Officers: Felix Motsiri, Jeannine Nienaber
Community liaison: Naledi Development - Rabotho Mathabatha, Phineas Mosehla
Environmental facilitator: Jeremy Stubbs
Botanical consultant: Pieter Winter
Rehabilitation contractor: Eksklusiewe Tuine with Jeremy Stubbs
Site manager for rehabilitation: Peet La Cock
Horticultural consultant: Clare Bell

-----

A new development paradigm
Sustainable technologies at Eco-village, Ivory Park
The proposed eco-village in Ivory Park is one of the Midrand EcoCity Trust’s initiatives which is intended to demonstrate a different concept of urban living, designed to minimize environmental impact and promote the use of sustainable technologies. The first phase of the eco-village is complete. Leigh Darroll visited the site and spoke to director of the Trust, Annie Sugrue, about this development.

The ambitious Midrand EcoCity project, launched late in 1999 (see Urban Green File May/June 2000), has initiated a broad spectrum of developmental programmes in Midrand and the neighbouring settlement of Ivory Park over the past two years. The overall objective of the project is to forge a new, sustainable, development paradigm.

The eco-village in Ivory Park was planned by Midrand EcoCity, in collaboration with the CSIR and the planning department of the City of Johannesburg, and with input from community workshops. The full site has been demarcated and the first phase, which includes four demonstration houses, a communal washhouse and a food garden, was completed last year, with funding from DANCED - the Danish Agency for Environment and Development.

The whole village is planned to include 30 houses, clustered in small groups close to the perimeter of the site, and ordered around permaculture plots and central communal land which incorporates a public square and a playground, as well as stormwater retention ponds. Pedestrian thoroughfares traverse the village and parking for cars is restricted to peripheral zones, next to the existing roadway that borders the site. Sugrue comments that few people in this community use cars and the wide unsurfaced roadways usually constructed in townships tend to become stormwater drains within a short period of time.

One corner of the site, also abutting the roadway and offering an interface with passing traffic, is designated as a small commercial node. The other corner on this edge will accommodate a market for fresh produce grown in the village. A waste management facility, including a recycling collection point, is provided for at a further corner, with access from a secondary road.

Alternative building technologies
The first house built on the site was constructed of earth bricks that are composed of compacted mud and straw and were made on site. Residents from Ivory Park undertook the construction of the house, assisted by student volunteers from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. The house has a floor area of 42m2, providing three rooms, a shower area and a kitchenette. The mud brick walls were built up on concrete foundations and a concrete floor slab and are protected with a coating of linseed oil, then plastered and painted. Timber roof trusses support a corrugated fibre-cement roof and a low cost, insulating ceiling material is installed (the same material as was used in the Ceilings Pilot Project research study described below).

In addition to the earth brick building system, other environment-friendly, sustainable technologies introduced include: a composting toilet which was constructed separately, behind the house; a rainwater harvesting tank that collects and stores runoff from the roof of the house; and provision for recycling of grey wastewater.

Built by women from the community and making use of on-site raw materials, as well as bought building components and materials - such as steel window- and doorframes, prefabricated trusses, and the fibre-cement roof sheeting, this house was intended to demonstrate what can be done, using alternative building technologies, at a cost close to the low income housing subsidy of R16 000 allowed by government. The house was built at a cost of R17 000, excluding labour.

However, the people of Ivory Park are not impressed. They are unconvinced that a house built of “mud bricks” will endure for more than a few years, despite the engineer’s certificate that testifies to the contrary - guaranteeing the long-term durability of the structure. The people prefer “proper houses built with proper bricks” and, as a consequence, this alternative technology of building with earth bricks made on-site has not been pursued. Another concern voiced by the community is the suspicion that the fibre-cement roof sheets contain asbestos.

The first demonstration house is currently used as a local office for the Midrand EcoCity Trust and by the so-called, secondary co-operative - which oversees the primary co-operatives that have been set up via other EcoCity programmes in the area. (These include a number of agricultural co-operatives, a building co-op’, a buy-back waste recycling centre, a bicycle co-op’ and a local youth group.)

In view of the community’s expressed disapproval of earth-brick construction, the other houses built in this first phase of the eco-village were constructed of concrete brick and blocks and they are roofed with corrugated iron sheeting. Among them is a long, narrow (single-room-width) house, built on an east-west axis so that all the rooms benefit from a direct north orientation, which optimises passive heating and cooling of the building. Another smaller house has been built to demonstrate the concept of extendibility. The different buildings present optional house plans and offer lessons in terms of construction, orientation, shading, insulation and other such factors. The communal washhouse provides showers and toilets which would be shared by this sector of the village.

Rainwater harvesting
Gutters, pipes and plastic storage tanks have been installed to save rainwater runoff from the roofs of each of the buildings and the stored water is used on the small food garden that is cultivated on the shared property. At this stage, seedlings are also nurtured in a small nursery stand protected by shade cloth and these, as well as seeds, are sold to the wider community by the secondary co-operative.

Ceilings enhance energy efficiency
According to a number of studies undertaken in Ivory Park over recent years, between 7% and 25% of household income is spent on fuels for lighting, cooking and heating. In addition to the drain on already-low income that this represents, the use of candles, paraffin or coal in the home often presents a health hazard and a fire risk. Even in homes with electricity, poor insulation is one of the major causes of inefficiently high electricity consumption in the winter months.

Last year, a study called the Ceilings Pilot Project was undertaken jointly by: Eskom, Owens Corning South Africa, the Thermal Insulation Association of South Africa, SEED (Sustainable Energy, Environment and Development Programme) and Midrand EcoCity. The study compared fuel use for heating in 40 houses - 20 with ceilings and 20 without ceilings. It showed that the amount of fuel used for heating in the homes with ceilings was 15% lower than that consumed in the homes without ceilings.

The installation of a ceiling is said to be the single most cost-effective means of improving thermal efficiency in housing. It is also important to ensure that ventilation bricks are in place when a ceiling is installed, to provide for a healthy flow of air through the house. An insulating ceiling improves the living conditions, keeping the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter and thus reducing the amount of fuel or electricity that is needed to keep the house comfortable. Most people are aware of the difference that insulation makes, although it may not be recognised as such, and even in informal shacks they will improvise with cardboard, newspaper or old blankets.

According to Midrand EcoCity, nearly four million homes in South Africa do not have ceilings and only 20% of new, government-subsidised houses are being built with ceilings. If all formal, low cost houses in South Africa were simply fitted with ceilings, indications are that the savings on electricity consumption would be huge.

Solar energy options for electrification
None of the buildings in the first phase of the eco-village has electricity connections and it is planned to introduce photovoltaic panels to provide for lighting and water heating.

Pilot research conducted by Midrand EcoCity, in conjunction with IIEC (International Institute for Energy Conservation) and SEED, among 30 households in Ivory Park, has indicated that solar water heating technology is generally accepted within the community and - among those households that do not have running water - that a mobile solar water heating system would be well received. Its broader implementation is, however, hampered by a lack of money and the non-availability of formal financing to people in this income bracket.

In a national solar water heating project, which was launched last year and is to be managed by the Department of Minerals & Energy with funding of close to R6 million from the UNDP, between 200 and 500 homes in Ivory Park will serve as demonstration units. The houses will be fitted with solar water heaters, which offer a more cost-effective means of providing hot water than electrically heated geysers and an alternative means of heating water in non-electrified homes. It is hoped that this could lead the way to popularising solar water heating in South Africa.

Energy demonstration centre
Until further funding is sourced to complete the planned eco-village, it is intended that this first phase will be used as an energy demonstration centre. The buildings themselves demonstrate different aspects of thermally efficient design and the introduction of photovoltaic panels for lighting and water heating will present another example of a sustainable technology applicable to urban living. The Trust aims to have the demonstration centre established as a ‘best practice’ project for the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg at the end of August.

The smokeless umbhawulas which are designed to be more energy efficient than the traditional coal fire in a drum, and smoke-free, could also be on show. The patent for this simply designed brazier is held by the Johannesburg City Council and it is hoped that in future they will be manufactured locally within different communities. Ten minutes after the umbhawula has been lit, it produces no smoke and can be taken inside a home. Prototypes of this design are currently being used by a number of women who braai mealies for sale on street corners in Ivory Park. They report that they are using a third of the amount of coal needed for a traditional brazier. The market potential for these stoves is seen to be huge, especially in those areas that still rely on coal for heating and cooking.

The ‘Amazing Amanzi’, a fuel-efficient paraffin stove, is another energy-saving cooking device that has been developed to prototype stage and could be manufactured and marketed nationally in communities that do not have electricity.

Localised economies
According to Sugrue, one of the most important factors in terms of sustainability and poverty alleviation is to create a localised economy within even the poorest community. “People and development programmes in settlements like Ivory Park are constrained because there is no money circulating within the township, or very little. Income is earned outside, in other centres, and is largely spent outside of the home community. It’s essential to open up business opportunities within the community, to generate money locally. This is one of the reasons that we are keen for local, community-based manufacturers to take up production of products like the umbhawula and the amanzi.”

Sugrue refers to economics author Richard Douthwaite, who led a course on sustainable economics in Midrand early last year. Douthwaite suggests that the process of building a localised economy will generally begin with agriculture and progress to textiles; artisans and builders then establish themselves in the community and with buildings come demands for other services. An understanding of the exchange of time and value is established. In this way an economy is generated within the community; it is no longer a marginalised satellite dependent solely on another business centre and it can become self-sustaining.

“We’re seeing the beginnings of this in the agricultural co-ops that have been established in Ivory Park,” says Sugrue, “in the bicycle co-op that repairs second-hand bicycles for sale, and in the recycling business where a group of mainly women are now making products like photo-frames and document folders out of recycled paper and cardboard.”

From pilot programmes to mainstream implementation
With changes in the structure of local government, the former Midrand Council has been absorbed into the now centralised Johannesburg City Council. The Midrand EcoCity Trust, which continues to operate as a non-governmental development agency, working in partnership with the City Council and the Midrand and Ivory Park communities, has taken up office space in the Johannesburg Civic Centre in Braamfontein. It is now known simply as EcoCity, to show that its focus is no longer solely on Midrand.

Sugrue sees these developments as advantageous. “It enables us to work closely with the City Council, yet to retain our innovative edge as a development agency, and it presents us with opportunities to mainstream the projects we have piloted in Ivory Park and Midrand, taking the lessons that we have learnt there into development projects across the greater Johannesburg area.”

The Trust is currently consolidating a range of existing projects in Midrand and Ivory Park and looking at ways of replicating or extending these into other areas.

“In addition,” says Sugrue, “there are opportunities to influence policy on infrastructural development, to extend the understanding of the need for a sustainable resource strategy and to integrate this into local government’s broader development plans - relating to roads and transportation, water supply, housing, amongst other things.

“Our partnership with the City, and the fact that it was approved by the mayoral committee, is already a significant step in support of sustainable development. Johannesburg is a member of the United Nations’ International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), which promotes Local Agenda 21 programmes encouraging town councils to change the pattern of development in their areas of jurisdiction. The City therefore has an obligation to pursue the Agenda 21 principles across all development sectors.

“Clearly, we will not create an EcoCity by perpetuating current development practices. Facing our developing-world challenges, we need to seek out innovative, technically appropriate, economically viable and ecologically sound solutions.”

Midrand EcoCity Trust won the Green Trust Award for Urban Renewal last year. Since its inception it has been granted funding from: DANCED - Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development; DfID - the British Department for International Development and the UNDP - United Nations Development Programme; as well as from national and local government in South Africa.

-----

Community building
Sustainable building technologies at Lynedoch, Western Cape
A recently converted and extended former dance hall provides the Lynedoch community with new school premises, a multi-functional venue and other facilities. Leigh Darroll spoke to Alastair Rendall from ARG Design about this project which forms part of developments at Spier Estate and is guided by the same values of economic prosperity, social justice and ecological sustainability that Spier has established as a foundation for its work.

The five-hectare Lynedoch property lies to the west of the Spier Estate and is separated from it by the Lynedoch Road and the railway line that links Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Although this neighbouring land was purchased after the initial development framework for Spier had been prepared, it is taking its place within the evolving masterplan for the Estate. The old Drie Gewels Hotel on this land and the three houses close to it are currently used as offices by various parties involved with developments at Spier. The dance hall that was formerly run by the hotel has been converted to provide school premises and other amenities for the community.

Context
Community building is one of the drivers of development at Spier (amongst others as cited in Urban Green File January/February 2001). People from the Lynedoch community, many of whom work at Spier, had voiced the need for new primary school premises - to replace existing prefabricated buildings. When the Lynedoch property was purchased, the old dance hall was identified as suitable for conversion to a school. However, the space suggested additional possibilities and generated the concept of a multi-purpose building that could serve various needs within the community.

Rendall outlined the context of this development. The intention is to create a village in Lynedoch with about 150 houses that will be available to farm workers at Spier and to other people who live and/or work in the vicinity. The housing project forms part of the land reform programme at Spier, which enables farm workers to become landowners, offering them permanent tenure on their properties. “However,” says Rendall, “about 50 of the houses will be for sale on the open market and there are three other estates supporting their workers in purchasing houses, so this will not be an exclusive Spier development but rather one that serves the larger neighbouring community”.

Plans for the Lynedoch development are in line with the ‘hamlet’ concept presented by Dennis Moss & Associates in terms of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) prepared for the Winelands/Boland District Council. The IDP acknowledges existing urban centres in the district, such as Stellenbosch, Paarl, Wellington, and seeks to contain urban sprawl around these centres by fostering medium density hamlet developments. About 36 existing nodes have been identified as nascent villages. Each is characterised by a number or all of the following features: a significant crossroad, a school, a post office, a shop and a railway station, and thus has a basic civil and social infrastructure to provide a core for further development.

Lynedoch is one such village, with its own railway siding, across the road from the entrance to Spier, a significant roadway intersection nearby, a post office, a school and a farm stall. The Drie Gewels Hotel will also be part of the Lynedoch Village. At present, rezoning approval has been obtained for the village from the District Council but the outcome of an appeal by two neighbours is awaited from the Premier of the Western Cape.

Reuse of an existing building
The old dance hall, below the Drie Gewels Hotel on a site that slopes steeply eastward towards the Lynedoch Road, had been unused for many years and was rather dilapidated. Nonetheless, the structure was sound. Rendall describes it as basically a shed - a double volume steel structure with a wraparound mezzanine level, overlooking what was the central dance floor. The footprint of the existing building has been extended westward and the building has been modified to suit its new functions.

A multi-purpose building
As well as serving the school, which is accommodated on the upper level, the hall provides a space for rehearsals and for winter performances staged by the Spier Arts Trust. (Previously these had been restricted to the summer season in the outdoor amphitheatre on the north bank at Spier.) Full backstage facilities have been incorporated, including dressing rooms and ablution facilities, plus the proscenium itself.

The peripheral spaces at the lower ground level have been subdivided to house various related functions including shops, offices, a restaurant cum pub, and workshops that support the Arts Trust’s theatrical and operatic performances.

Offices on the upper level will house the Spier Institute, a registered non-profit trust which forms part of the wider Spier Group. The Spier Institute designs and implements management systems and programmes that are aimed at assisting the group, and the broader public, to develop a deeper understanding of the practice of sustainable development.

The extension of the upper level of the building takes advantage of the slope of the site to establish an upper ground level entrance to the school. Classrooms are accommodated in this new western wing and along the mezzanine in both north and south wings. Administration offices and a computer laboratory are located in the eastern wing.

An existing squash court at the southeast corner of the hall has been retained to be used by the school as sports and other activities are seen as an important aspect of the curriculum.

Climatically responsive design
“Although we had to work with an existing building, and its orientation is not ideal,” says Rendall, “we worked in consultation with Mike Rainbow from Arup, Zimbabwe, to adapt it to respond to the local climate. Various climatic control solutions have been employed for different parts of the building. In construction we have been careful to use appropriate and environment-friendly materials wherever possible.”

The hall is roofed with profiled steel sheeting, double-pitched at 1,5 �. Two glazed rooflights have been newly introduced, to admit natural light to the central volume of the hall and over the stairwell in the eastern wing. The ceiling is insulated with reflective aluminium sheeting as well as a polyester blanket.

Wind catching ventilation ducts were introduced at the southwest side of the building, and ‘solar chimney’ extraction ducts to the northeast side, in order to optimise the natural airflow through the hall by taking advantage of the prevailing wind direction. Wind pressure forces air down the ventilation ducts. The suction created by the wind speed, and the low pressure created by the chimney effect, work together to flush hot, extract air out of the extraction ducts at the northeast side of the building.

The rooflights double as convection ventilators, to supplement hot air extraction when necessary. Fans in the gables of the double-pitched rooflights can be switched on in extremely hot conditions - on a still, midsummer day, for example - to expel the hot air that naturally rises into the rooflight space.

In addition, the roof overhang has been extended to shade the building and newly built pergolas will be planted with deciduous vines that allow for summer shade and winter warmth and light.

Precast hollow concrete floor slabs have been used in the new classroom wing. Rainbow proposed an adaptation of the rockstore system in use at the International School in Harare (see Urban Green File November/December 2000) to promote the passive heating and cooling of the building. The rock chambers are about 500mm deep, beneath the precast slabs.

In summer, cool night air is drawn from outside into the rock chambers to cool the rocks and the store of cool fresh air is distributed into the classrooms the following day, via ducts under the hollow floor slabs. Mechanical fans and electronically activated dampers are used to control the flow of air and alcoves are designed into each classroom to accommodate vertical air vents that release the cool or warm air.

In winter, from about 10h00 in the morning, warm air is drawn from the roof space, flushed through the rockstores and then via underfloor ducts into the classrooms, warming them immediately. The shallow-pitched steel roof sees winter temperatures in the roof space rising to 30�C or 35�C. At night, the rocks that have been warmed by the roof air passing over them, re-radiate the heat through the floor of the classroom. This process, together with the warmth retained by the dense earth walls, ensures that the indoor temperature is kept at a higher level than that outdoors throughout the night. When school begins the following morning, the temperature in the classrooms is well above the ambient outdoor temperature, on average by about 5�C.

Community building
The internal walls to the classrooms, the hall and the subsidiary spaces surrounding it are of clay blocks made from earth excavated on site. The clay soil is raked and sieved through a mesh screen before being poured into a hydraulic press - which is manually operated to produce one block at a time. The press is imported from the USA. The blocks are laid dry and, while no mortar is required, Rendall says that the blockwork in the hall has been pointed with a clay and lime plaster, which was selected after experimentation with various mixes. It is intended that similar clay blocks will be produced on site for the houses to be built in the village.

Concrete blocks, also manufactured on site, have been used for the external walls of the building. Buthisizwe, a community enterprise initiated by the Amy Biehl Foundation as a block-making and construction training programme, was contracted to make the concrete blocks and build the outside walls. Buthisizwe set up its block-making equipment in the hall during construction.

In spite of some reservations about the use of concrete blocks and precast floor slabs – “because cement has a high embodied energy and concrete is an inert material that is not biodegradable,” Rendall says that, all things considered, this seemed the most appropriate route to take at the time.

The new Lynedoch Primary School opened in January 2002 when staff and pupils from the former school, as well as new pupils, moved into the new premises. Through negotiations with the Department of Education of the Western Cape an agreement has been reached whereby the Department will lease the school premises on an ongoing basis from the Lynedoch Development Company.

Together with the school, the hall and other community facilities are sure to be well used, day and night. When Urban Green File first visited the site in December 2000, the hall was already being used for rehearsals by the Arts Trust, amidst ongoing building operations. It was used again for the 2001/2002 festival season and it has also hosted two community weddings since it was completed in November last year.

Professional team:
Architects: ARG Design
Consulting structural engineers: Manong and Associates
Consulting environmental engineers: Arup Africa
Consulting electrical engineers: Arthur Morris
Quantity surveyors: BTKM
Project managers: Proman
Contractors: Buthisizwe, Neil Muller and Boschard