Environment at the core

Sansiri is committed to environmental protection through innovations towards the goal of sustainability, said chief operating officer Uthai Uthaisangsuk in an interview with The Nation recently. 

Under the green concept, the company will reduce the level of CO2 emissions from its office by 10 per cent in 2022. 

The realty developer’s 25,000-square-metre premises releases about 2,600 tonnes of CO2 a year, based on an estimate made last year,” he said.

In collaboration with BCPG Plc, a subsidiary of Bangchak Corporation Plc, solar panels are being installed for all segments of its projects  condominiums, single-detached houses, townhouses, and twin-houses. 

31 projects were earmarked for the system till the end of 2019, of which installations have been completed at 13 sites, generating a total of 800  kilowatts per hour.

Wind turbines are also being set up for the company’s condominiums, scheduled for completion next year. The technology, owned by US-based Semtive, was first applied to the Line Phahonyothin project.

Despite the fact that alternative energy have yet to fully replace tradiฌtional power supply to our properties, it goes a long way to reduce the cost of electricity consumption for the residents, especially in public areas, he said. 

The company has also adopted the ‘passive design’ model for its properties, focusing on the cooling effect of ‘wind flow’ to lower the temperature within a building by two degrees. It lessens the use of airconditioners at both high and lowrise properties , Uthai said. 

Smart Move, another energy-saving initiative devised by the company, offers carpooling to condominium residents, using electric vehicles(EV) supplied by the company. 

Furthermore, chargers for EVs are available at its latest condominiums and will be installed at all high-rise projects in the future. 

Wastemanagement is a compaฌny policy since 2015 and it has been striving to reduce the amounts of waste in the building process. 

“To minimise waste, we started with economising on raw material usage during construction. For example, to eliminate the practice of cuttofit in laying tiles on an area, the tile’s size is based on the exact measurement of the space to the millimetre. It reduces the number of tiles needed and represents a saving for the company in the long term,” he said. 

Also, precasts are used in the construction of lowrise properties and part of condominium projects to minimise cement waste. 

It is conducting a joint study with Siam Cement Group (SCG) to turn construction waste into earth blocks for growing plants in the gardens. 

At the same time, machines for processing food waste into fertilisers have been delivered to its condominiums and office where staff were told to cut down on the use of paper. 

“We will continue with the development of innovative technology under the green concept in line with our plan to reduce CO2 emission by 10 per cent in 2022,” he said, adding that a yearly budget of Bt40 million has been allocated for research and development. 

The company is working on its business plan for 2019. However, the number of projects to be launched will be close to this year’s figures of 26 properties worth a total of Bt67 billion, Uthai said.