South African Green Leader appointed Vice Chairman of World Green Building Council

Bruce Kerswill, executive chairman of the GBCSA.

Bruce Kerswill, Executive 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, who has been involved with the World GBC Exco for three years through his role as a Director, and also as Secretary, is passionate about green building and, recognising the need for change in the built environment in SA, worked tirelessly in conjunction with other founding members to form the GBCSA in 2007.
 
Since then the GBCSA has moved from strength to strength under Kerswills guidance and drive and is now one of the most active councils globally - at the forefront of green building in SA,.  Kerswills appointment as Vice Chair also affords the GBCSA continued and improved access to international resources, information, insight and skills.  The council also remains in line with international green building developments, trends, training, technology and news through its’ affiliation and integration with the World GBC.

“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.

The World GBC is a union of 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.

It has reached a point where the World GBC has a global network of 89 Green Building Councils – early adopters who have seen the business advantage in being at the front of this transformation curve.  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.

In addition to leading the social and environmental impact sub committee of the World GBC, which seeks to understand, articulate and leverage green building in order to have a more positive impact, Kerswill has also played an integral role in driving and facilitating the formation of the Africa Regional Network. There are at present three Prospective GBC’s and three Associated Groups which have been recognised by the World GBC along with the established GBCSA, as playing an anchor role in the African Regional Network.

“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 Bruce Kerswill, Executive Chairman of the Green Building Council of South Africa and now the newly appointed Vice Chairman of the World Green Building Council.

“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.

“I look forward to my role as Vice Chairman of the World GBC and to continuing my work with the council to highlight the effectiveness of emissions policies, accelerate the uptake of green building rating tools, and support the development of common carbon metrics to enable consistent measurement of carbon savings from green buildings,” concludes Kerswill.