a green upper east side for ct

Submitted by sproutingforth on Thu, 2007-11-01 13:32

Upper Woodstock is the site of the country’s first green mixed-use development known as Upper East Side. The property group, Swish, and property stocks Madison and Redefine Income Fund, behind the project, are calling other similar developments to go green.

The entire development, which will have a total area of 50 000m², will consist of residential studios, loft apartments, office space, and shops. Phase two, due to start next month, features 86 apartments, 18 work/live lofts and over 800 parking bays.

So how is the development green?

Phase 1 of the development has included a lot of the former building's design (they’ve restored a sixties-designed building) and a much of the infrastructure is already in place (such as sewerage and roads etc), meaning the building has less of an impact on the environment.

The mixed-use design is also intended to decrease traffic congestion by lowering the need to travel and encouraging people to live, work and play in the same area.

The development intends conserving energy in a number of ways: Wasted energy (hot air) produced by air conditioning will be piped into a hot water cylinder and then used to heat water, lowering the cost and the use of energy in generating hot water. There will also only be one central hot water cylinder, as opposed to separate geysers in each apartment, saving energy overall. They’ve also kept existing features such as the Brise-soleil [wiki] to reduce solar heat, reducing the energy necessary to cool the buildings.

Other environmentally-friendly features include: rainwater tanks, low-energy lighting, recycling facilities, and solar power.

The proximity to the Old Biscuit Mill will also makes recycling that much easier for the environmentally-conscious, as the Neighbourgoods Market has a full-service recycling depot on site, in conjunction with Save-All, a local recycling initiative.

Eskom has launched a R2bn fund to subsidise ‘green’ building efforts, encouraging developers to opt for ‘green’ approaches that lessen the demand on the grid and give rise to developments such as the Upper East Side – at last we’re starting to take a more sustainable approach to building.
[businessday] [uppereastside]

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Green building, green bluff!

Submitted by Nick Ralphs (not verified) on Thu, 2008-11-06 20:21.

Hi there,

I have a problem with the current state of 'green building'! Architects, property developers and designers are toying (and taking benefit) with the concept of green building (by introducing solar power, greywater recycling, etc) to pass plans quickly. I would query their full intentions and ask where the actual building comes in (cob, adobe, earth-tyre, use of lime, etc). Any comments out there?

Upper East Side not so green

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2009-10-05 19:10.

Nonsense - I live here and I have a separate geyser. The 'recycling depot at the neighbourhood market' must be a joke, right? The one existing access road will be woefully inadequate once development is complete. Oh, and how is the heated pool kept warm?

Upper East Side

Submitted by Mariaan (not verified) on Thu, 2010-07-22 16:34.

Hi Anonymous

I only read you blog post now but hope to clarify some if those queries:

I refer to paragraph 3 of the original article:
"Phase 1 of the development has included a lot of the former building's design (they’ve restored a sixties-designed building) and a much of the infrastructure is already in place (such as sewerage and roads etc), meaning the building has less of an impact on the environment."

So in layman’ terms:

Upper East Side Phase 1 was originally a textile factory built in 1966.
Since we worked with an existing building, we kept as much of the original infrastructure and "make-up" as possible. That is why there are geysers in Phase 1 and not Phase 2, as Phase 2 is a newly built.

Where there are air conditioners in the building i.e. Phase 2 in the podium, our engineers have designed a system whereby the warm air produced behind the air conditioners is captured and re-piped to a boiler. This takes the water up to about 37 or 38 degrees. Normal energy kicks in to take it the last
10 degrees to hot-shower temperature – the energy required for this is less than 25 per cent of what is normally required to heat a geyser. So there’s no need for a geyser system.

It would have been more detrimental to the environment to change the infrastructure of Phase 1.
As developers of Upper East Side we are doing a number of things for the environment; from reducing your carbon footprint to reducing the need for people to drive, right through to building materials and methodologies.

What are you doing?

Upper East DOWN side

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2010-06-03 09:45.

I live there as well and it's very difficult, the water is never working properly. Some residents haven't had hot water for weeks! There's no recycling at the building, the roads are terribly congested and it's perhaps the coldest apartment I've ever lived in. I have to use a space heater because it's so cold otherwise I'd freeze and I hate using that electricity.

Upper East Side

Submitted by Mariaan (not verified) on Thu, 2010-07-22 16:36.

Hi Anonymous

Since you are probably one of my tenants and I am also a representative of the developer, I have both parties best interests at heart.
You posted the above comment on the 3rd of June 2010 and I would like to remind you that the first tenants (including you) in Phase 2 only took occupation from the 28th of May 2010 onwards.

I do not disagree with the fact that there where/are some issues with the hot water and we have requested an official statement from Ekcon (the engineering company responsible for the design and maintenance of the whole system) as to how this is being resolved and green technicality aspects.

There are various aspects to Green and nothing’s ever 100% Green. If it was, it would cost you an arm and a leg and you probably wouldn’t be able to afford to live there.
There is a huge demand for Green buildings but there are still questions. And obviously some problems. Sometimes the Green products available don’t meet the standards demanded by the market and a compromise has to be reached. The technology is not refined yet, but it will be and as developers we are working around the clock to fine-tune and perfect our product.

Please keep an eye out for blog posts from various resources involved in Upper East Side. Given we have 237 apartments in total it seems 2% are not happy or just plain ignorance is expressed through anonymity.

Lastly, if you live in a west-facing apartment (i.e. if you have a view of the mountain) your apartment will be cold. Where the sun rises and where it sets results in those apartments never getting direct sunlight. In future you must look for a north-facing apartment. They get very hot in summer, but is nice and cosy in winter.

Apartments at Upper East Side

Submitted by Richard (not verified) on Sun, 2010-08-15 23:31.

Hi all, I'm considering moving into one of these apartments. If anyone else out there has first hand experience (positive or negative) of what it's like to live at Upper East Side please post.

I run a green business (solar water heating) and would love to live in a green building, but there seem to have been some problems at Upper East Side (according to some of the comments above).