Bruce Kerswill, GBCSABruce Kerswill, Chairman of the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) and the person who facilitated the formation of the council, has been elected as the Vice Chairman of the World Green Building Council (World GBC).

Kerswill has been involved with the World GBC Exco for three years through his role as a Director, and also as Secretary. Recognising the need for change in the built environment in SA, he helped form the GBCSA in 2007.

Since then the GBCSA, under Kerswills guidance, has become one of the most active councils globally and is at the forefront of green building in SA.

“This is a prestigious and exciting appointment that further entrenches Kerswill at the forefront of the green building movement, along with the originators of the green building council concept,” says Brian Wilkinson, CEO of the Green Building Council of South Africa. The World GBC Exco consists of Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and Founder.

Union of 89
The World GBC is a union of 89 national Green Building Councils from around the world, making it the largest international organisation influencing the green building marketplace. The World GBC is also the global voice for Green Building Councils and facilitates the worldwide transformation of the building industry towards sustainability by fostering and supporting new and emerging Green Building Councils around the world, by providing them with the tools and strategies to establish strong organisations and leadership positions in their markets.

With Green Building Councils in so many countries, the World GBC has developed five Regional Networks to enable these GBCs to work on the issues most relevant to their geographical region. This structure allows the World GBC to better understand regional differentiation and to provide more specialised support and focused action.

Africa's unique challenges
“African countries face unique developmental challenges, including unemployment and poverty, lack of skills, and health challenges, and this inevitably has an impact on the nature and role of GBC’s. In response, World GBC jointly with GBCSA, is exploring the development of a ‘Socio Economic Category’ that could “clip in” to standard rating tools to help address some of these challenges,” explains Kerswill.

“There is much work to be done to grow and tailor a GBC network that is relevant and responsive to Africa’s particular needs.”

The GBCSA has been integral in putting Africa on the map of green building and has worked hard to develop and provide localised tools necessary for change in the built environment in SA. The council are also determinedly working on knowledge sharing and training of the relevant professionals within the industry that can take green building forward.