 Good evening and welcome to episode 365 of the Private Property Podcast. I'm your host, Usama Mandoa, Comando. Joining us for the first time, welcome to the family you've certainly been missing out on incredible shows, rather, on the property across our social media pages. So do make sure that you go to our Facebook, YouTube, or of course, wherever you get your podcasts, whether it's Spotify or even Apple podcasts to catch up on all the great episodes that you have already missed out on. And for all our regular viewers on our Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube, welcome to it. You know how we do it. Every single weekday, you and I have an appointment at 7 p.m. when we're always in conversation with a property expert who helps us make better property decisions. And it doesn't matter where you are in your property journey. This is the show that helps you on your property needs. And talking about your property needs, you of course know at home that you can also tune into a whole host of other shows that private property has across its social media pages every weekday at 8 p.m. And Balinoa got on the farming podcast, and she's on your screens every Tuesdays and Thursdays at that time tackling agriculture and making sure that we get our fingers green. I think one of the big things that I was saying is to my guest of day, we just had the first, you know, summer rains, proper summer rains. It's kind of been raining for the past two hours, my sort of time. And we're a bit, we're a bit scared that we won't be able to go on properly because we know that, you know, Joburg rainfall does pull a number on our connectivity. But I must say, I'm very excited about the first summer rains. Just earlier today, I was actually planting some spinach. So I know that my garden is absolutely, absolutely loving the summer rains. I can't wait to see as the spinach grows and the whole other vegetables that I've already planted in the garden. And of course, talking more of our shows that you can catch every weekday at 8 p.m. Every Mondays and Fridays, you can catch Chad on the Home Shopper Show, where he takes you through incredible properties that you can find on www.property.co.za. So they make sure that you tune into that one. It gives us a good taste of what is possible, right? And sometimes it's just something to use in your mood board. I know I go to, you know, the website very frequently and take screenshots of homes, different properties and some of them added onto my own mood board for a property that I'm like, this is my dream home. And this is exactly what I wanted to look like. And on Wednesdays, you can catch Estee Johnson on the Home and the First Time Home Buyers Show, which is always in conversation with people who've not only walked that first time home buying training, but have gone on to grow their property portfolios from strength to strength. One of the great episodes that you can look forward to that Estee will be having is that conversation that you had with Proverb, where of course they asked you at home, what property questions do you have? And he answered some of your questions. So that's certainly something that you can look forward to at home. And of course we are also expanding in terms of what you can look forward to later on this month. You can look forward to the real estate industry summit. And this of course takes place every year. And because it is COVID, this event will be a virtual event. And it is brought to you by private property as well as in partnership with Apsa. And it's going to be taking place later on this month on the 29th of October. And it really is a great opportunity for you at home to be able to expand on your real estate knowledge. And we talk about this all the time, that you really want to be able to find great nodes of knowledge that you're able to tap into. And here from some of the experts that are going to be speaking. So you can check out the website that is real estateindustriesummit.co.za to get a snapshot of what the program looks like to book your seat for this virtual event. And of course looking forward to seeing you there on the 29th is going to be taking place from 9am until 1pm. That's certainly something that you can look forward to at home. And this is the last one. I know there's so much that we've got going on. And that I think is actually testimony to how we've grown and continue to grow from strength to strength. And it really is because of you at home. And because of just that, we want to make sure that every single time that you watch the show, you're able to also stand a chance of walking away with cash. Because we know, we all love no cash, especially if you've got an interest in property. Every rent counts and it doesn't matter how little it is. We always talk about putting, even if you put an extra 100 rents into your home loan facility, it certainly goes a long way. Well, with this competition, we stand a chance of walking away with 500 rents in cash every single evening. And all you have to do to stand a chance of walking away with a cash prize is to go to our Facebook page. Comment on the pinned post where we ask you some of the great tips that you've picked up while watching the show. And of course, if your name gets called out during the show, then you stand a chance of walking away with that cash prize. The only catch is you have to be watching us live so that you can clean your prize down here below while the show is on. And if you do, the money is yours. If we don't have a winner, we'll roll it over into the money bag and of course, continue the following day. So it's that simple. We're always winning, always improving. And always wanting to make sure that more and more of us, and I say us because we really have become a family, learn as much as we can about property and make the most informed property decisions. So I do want to find out from you at home how you're keeping this evening. And of course, who is in class watching as we kickstart this evening's show? Absolutely love. And that's just because I've got a soft spot for architecture. We're just looking at sustainable architecture. It's the first time that you're even hearing this concept. We'll be looking at what exactly is it? So almost a sustainable architecture 101 and really getting a good sense of what it is, what is it not, and how we can go about and what it looks like at different types of projects, whether it's residential, or of course, you know, commercial projects. And I'm joined this evening by the by the young Daniel van der Merville, who is the founder at Leaf Architects. Daniel, good evening. And thank you so much for joining us this evening. Hello. It's wonderful to be on your show again. Thank you for inviting me. It's only a pleasure, Daniel, you and I are tackling as I could be young. Daniel and I were talking of a, you know, he was even joking that he's he's got his hair all done just for me for this show this evening. Many of you at home know him. I was sorry, I was even saying to him, so he's gone and grown a beard and a mustache. You know, is it a thing of the times? Is it COVID? I know many people are more sorts of things, but he is looking very young. Who knows, looking dashingly handsome and in very young. And thank you very much for cleaning up for the show, Daniel. And I think to pick starters with our conversation and looking absolutely amazing is when we talk about the sustainable architecture, what is that? What does that even mean sustainable architecture? I think sustainable architecture, really, the primary goal is not only do we try and save the planet one step at a time, but in other words, it's about using the resources on the planet more effectively and more sparingly. But it also means money in your pocket. So it's about, it's really about efficiency. So it's about smart building design, and it is about using the available technology. You know, the days of just using energy and using electricity indiscriminately, it's really over. As you know, it's come with all our blackouts and the price of electricity, as you know, has gone up over 385% over the past few years. So it's really a concern. It's not only about saving the planet, it's also about saving money. You know, Daniel, as you were talking through that, and one of the big things you were saying is minding your pocket. Part of me thought about how I know there's probably somebody at home thinking. Oftentimes when you talk about going green or anything that has to do with sustainability, people often think about the cost of that and thinking that if anything, that's just going to cost me more. Whereas obviously, we're talking also about the sort of long-term costs and not just the costs sort of upfront when you're building. When we think about people who are worried about the costs, what would you say to them? Because I know that one of the things, and we've spoken previously about even going green in our homes, whether you want to, for example, use solar, and just the different ways you can be more economical when it comes to sort of energy usage. And I know that one of the big pressure points does tend to be the cost of making that change from what we are currently used to. And unfortunately, people don't also then factor in what should be currently spending and the potential then save in that regard. So what would you say to people who are very cost conscious, especially those who are looking at, you know, your more residential projects that are not sort of high-end residential projects? Yes. Firstly, I think what is required is a mind change and a behavioural change. If I can use the plastic bag kind of concept to where, you know, in supermarkets they start charging plastic bags and that didn't seem to help really. But when the moment that people supermarket started issuing recyclable bags and bags that you can use more than once, I certainly made that change. I certainly certainly don't use plastic bags anymore, and I save money. I don't throw things away. I recycle it. I reuse it. Vegetable peels goes onto the compost heap. So, yeah, firstly it's a mindset change and secondly then the moment that you can see if you implement small steps, for example, probably our most single expense is energy. So in a case where you've got an existing house, you can do simple steps. You can do things like just changing your light bulbs to LED light bulbs, which consumes 20% of the electricity of a normal traditional light bulb. You can do, you can reduce your, you really can reduce your water heating bulb very effectively. I'll give you an example. I switched over to gas, gas geysers, which means it's not an electric geyser that runs and keeps the water hot at a certain temperature over time. It heats the water instantaneously the moment that you need. The moment you turn up a tap that is when the gas kicks in and that's when you get hot water. And I can tell you that in my personal experience I've saved 1500 random months on my electricity bulb. Now that if you think that you can get a gas geyser for anything from 6,000 to 12,000 rand, you can really pay that geyser off very quickly. So that's the first thing that you can do. The second thing that you can do. The third thing that you can do is really if you're going to buy new appliances, if you're going to buy a new washing machine or a new fridge, look for the echo label. The new generation of appliances are far more energy efficient. They use less water and by the way they're much quieter as well. So next time that you go and buy a washing machine or a dishwasher, look at an energy efficient make. And then I also want to say that this, I'm talking about, you know, behavioral changes. Really the idea of popping in clothes into a tumble dryer, if you can hang it outside in a good old fashioned sun, if you can do rinse a few cups, do some hand washing, do some wash your dishes by hand, small things like that. Every scent counts and every time that you do that you are saving energy. I just want to put it in perspective. You know, we all have a collective responsibility towards the planet. Otherwise it's going to be our children's problem one day. And households contribute 25% of warm gas, green gas emissions. And in South Africa, households, and you can know, you know that with ESCOM sort of blackouts, households consume anything between 30, 35 to 38% of the total energy that ESCOM generates. That's an awful lot. So if each one of us just do a little bit and consume less energy, then we're making a big difference. That and secondly, we're a waterscapes country. So it's about really, it's raining tonight. Get yourself a big Jozo tank. How is that rainwater? You can use it for, you can use it in your garden, you can use it for any other thing instead of using municipal water. And a third tip that I want to add is that I've made a simple connector of my gray water, my bath and my shower water goes directly into my garden. So, you know, again, so why waste something where you can reuse it? And my motto is always reduce, reuse and replenish. So I think it won't adhere to those three things. And then the last thing that I want to say besides solar and besides gas, if you get cold, you put a jersey on. And when you get hot, you take the jersey off. So if you can just do simple devices like for example, use a proper, if you can't afford double glazing use, you can use E efficient coating on your windows, a lot of heat enters and escapes through your windows. Look at shutters, even look at thick curtains, anything that will and reduce heat gain and heat loss. After windows, I must say that your roof, your ceiling is where most of your heat escapes and where most of your heat is going. So a simple insulation in your roof will make a big difference. It really adds again to your energy usage and it makes your home more comfortable. If you've got an existing house, obviously, there's not much that you can do. But yes, a simple tree that can give shade, a deciduous tree that allows sun in and would provide shade in summer can make a big difference. And lastly, I just want to add in terms of that is that what we've got to do is that we've got to look at simple things at small steps. If you've got a leaking window, if you've got cracks under your floorboards, if you've got a gap in your door, add a simple sealant in because you'll be amazed how much air and how much heat enters and escapes through that. Simple little devices like that can make a big difference, not only to your energy consumption, but also to your monthly bills. I am this evening in conversation with Daniel Farnamadova, who's the founder at Leaf Architects. We're looking at sustainable architecture and already seeing the love that we're getting on our social media pages, especially on Facebook. Ghana, Razzilani, watching, sending there those green hearts. LH France was sending those green hearts. And I see Bianca Combs saying, guys, it's my birthday. I do ask that you join me in wishing Bianca a very, very happy birthday. I do hope that you've had yourself an incredible, incredible day so far. And to make it extra special for you, Bianca, can you slide into our DMs? I'm going to send you a copy of the property guide. I'm going to make sure that the team gets you that copy to celebrate your special day. This is the first time that we're having somebody's birthday, or one of the first times, because we've had a few birthdays in the past few months. But certainly Bianca do slide into our DMs and I'll make sure that the team gets you a copy of that book. I want us to go for a quick break to find out who the lucky winner of that 500 rounds in cash that is up for grabs this evening as we run, of course, our competition on our Facebook page. I hope that they're watching so that they're able to claim the prize. Let's see who the lucky winner is. And that lucky winner this evening, of that 500 rounds cash prize, is Lebochang Golodze. Lebochang Golodze, I hope you're watching. Drop us a text down here below in order to claim your prize. And if Lebochang doesn't claim that prize, it is, of course, going to roll over into the money bag tomorrow evening. But we still have some time to find out if Lebochang is indeed watching us and, of course, can claim that prize as we continue our conversation with Daniel Fundamentalist on sustainable architecture. Now, Daniel, I think you've done such a great job at pointing out some of the behavioral changes that we can certainly make at home that obviously adds to the bigger conversation around sustainable living and making sure that we're very conscious of our energy usage and trying to, of course, watch our pockets because I think one of the really, really big things is costs of everything are going up. We saw the rate hike a few months ago. We know that petrol prices are going up. So we really do want to find different ways that we can save money, regardless of where exactly we are saving. And I've got a few comments here from our viewers at home who will also share that particular sentiment on our Facebook page. And we've got all Tambaleo to Makanda saying which I could save on levies and a special levy. And that's a huge one. And then with that one, I mean, on the levy front, that's one way. And I certainly say to Tambaleo to watch some of the results we've done on levies because they're different ways to also get a sense of why your levy amount might be what it is. But where special levies are concerned, we know that we sometimes tend to find that special levies get raised when adequate planning wasn't done. And now they have to raise a special levy in order to pay for that particular thing. And one of the big things that we tend to raise special levies for, for instance, is even around a paint job, whereas we're able to save up for that particular job as opposed to sort of waiting the last hour for it and having to raise those special levies. Some of my clients are saying electricity is so expensive. I'm considering solar geyser system installation in my property. Umata Shannang is saying doing laundry by hand is a bit extreme for me, but I'm all for saving the earth. I am big on that. Kanam Rajilani saying that's a good thing to use water from the bathroom to your garden. It's actually saving water fam. And that's a big thing. I think, you know, gray water and being able to really reuse your bathwater for your garden is a game changer, especially when you know you've got a big garden and even we have, you know, even when you have a small garden. Now, Daniel, I think one of the things then when we talk about sustainable architecture and we look at, for instance, a residential project, you know, what does that then look like for somebody who is about to build? So, you know, we're not now talking to people at home where we want to make these different changes, but now when we're looking at, we've got a relatively blank canvas and we want to obviously be as mindful of the environment as possible. What does that then look like for those of us who are going to go into a building project? You know, to me, I have a whole idea of sustainable architecture, green architecture is almost a cliche. It's something which everybody's bandied around. Good architecture, good design, it's sustainable design, you know, and there's a lot that we can learn from our forefathers. There's a lot that we can learn from traditional technologies where they did simple things like just, it's called smart design. It's about orientation. How do you orientate your house, your main windows? Do they face north? Do you block off sun on a west side? Do you use the south side window opening sparingly? Little things like that. Do you use natural ventilation effectively to cool the house down in summer? Do you look at sun angles where you know that the sun is low in windows so it can enter into the space to warm your internal spaces and by using your roof overhangs and patio spaces, veranda spaces effectively, you can block the same sun out in summer because the sun sits higher. So it's really little things like that. And also, I think what we need to do is to add is that you really need to look at the way that you use materials efficiently. The days of taking building rubble to a dump is over. You can reuse that same building rubble to make new concrete. You can use sustainable materials like bamboo. Bamboo is an amazing sustainable material. Instead of having forests drop down in Brazil and Amazon or some other beautiful tropical island, use sustainable materials like bamboo. Recycle where possible. You can recycle building materials even better. If you're going to have an existing structure, don't demolish it. Upscycle it, re-adapt it, re-design it in a way that it works for you. It's far more cost effective sometimes to use an existing structure and adapt it to contemporary use or to your specific requirements than to go and buy a new property or to demolish it and start all over. So that's the first thing that I wanted to say. And secondly, also you need to look at the long term. So if you can implement certain principles already, for example, if you're in your house design, if you allow for sleeves and so on, for a phased implementation of solar panels. We've done properties where people can afford, say, two panels. They buy two panels. They've got the inverter. At least they can run their Wi-Fi. They can reach some lights. Then a year or two years later, they add another two panels. And some of the clients now are completely off the grid. They've got all the panels. So in other words, in terms of the design, make provision in terms of roof space, in terms of sleeves, that you can eventually go completely off the grid. Rainwater, I mentioned. Rainwater harvesting and using it more effectively really is another way of saving resources. So I think it's about energy efficiency. It's about the structure. It's about design efficiency. It's about the thermal insulation of your house. When we design properties in colder climates, eastern free state, and near the situ in those areas where it often snows and gets very cold, we're actually allowed for insulation not only in the roof but also in the walls and in the floor because that's where the cold comes in and that's where the heat or also can enter or escape. So little things like that that can really assist you greatly towards achieving a more energy efficient and a more sustainable green environment. And by all means, invite plants into your home. I'm a great gardener. I've got plants all over me and all around me and it's amazing what plants can do in the home. They purify the air, they contribute oxygen, so incorporate landscaping into your budget and into your design in terms of the way that it interacts with your social spaces indoors and outdoors is amazing concepts like living roofs and living walls where you can incorporate the architecture. In fact, what we're seeing is we're seeing a great emergence of landscape architecture and architecture where people start incorporating landscaping and planting and vegetable gardens and rooftop gardens into their environments, into their homes and onto their stands. And I think, you know, that's actually, you know, Daniel, it's so great that they're different variety of things that we're able to do at home and it isn't dependent on, you know, the type of property you have, so sort of the more high end properties but regardless of the nature of the property that you have, there really are different things that we're able to already stop doing that could potentially be a cost saver because I think one of the things that many of us are feeling, I think all of us, I don't know a single person who isn't feeling it, is that the cost of, you know, the general cost of living, of course, of going higher with petrol prices going up, we know food is also, you know, going to go up, so when we recognize that our homes are a standard cost that isn't going to go anywhere, our consumption is going to more often than not stay relatively the same, so in winter we'll typically want to get some heat and in summer we obviously wanted to, you know, to be cooler and we'll probably want our gardens to look a certain way, trying to then find ways of making sure we cut costs as much as possible and keep them low because I think it's one exercise to cut them but also then be able to do that from a long-term perspective also becomes so key. I just want to add something else, I remember our grandmothers all had fruit trees and vegetable gardens, you know, you went into your grandmother's garden, you picked fruit and they cooked spinach and they cooked beans from the garden, I personally have started incorporating edible plants in my garden. Instead of planting beautiful roses, you know what, carrots and spinach are beautiful, plant them, you'll be amazed at how bountiful nature is. I cringe when I see people in winter they sweep over leaves and then they burn them, don't burn your leaves, make a compost heap, put it back, replenish the earth, replenish your garden, eat from your garden. Yeah and I think that's actually, you want to be able to eat from your backyard regardless of how big or small. I mean I do, as you were saying that, I'm like absolutely agree, we've got a few peach trees, we had a grape tree that unfortunately was not in the greatest position so we couldn't have to move that grape tree and I think a peach tree is one of those things that we many of us, you know, had in homes growing up and so we're really trying to grow stuff you can eat in your garden and not only sort of, you know, pretty things that kind of lie there is so important. But Daniel before I let you go, any final tips for our viewers at home when it comes to just sustainable architecture but really how they can make their homes as eco-friendly and as sustainable as possible? Yes, I want to say that you might have heard of the concept of the sick building syndrome. It's called VOC, so it's volatile organic compounds. Now if you've got synthetic things in your house like those polystyrene or, you know, all these kind of different carpets that's not made or materials that's not made from natural products, it's actually going to make you sick. So not only is there a thing of that it's consuming petroleum-based products to manufacture over synthetic stuff but it's also going to make you unhealthy in the long run. So get rid of slowly and slowly. If you're going to buy something, if you're buying a new carpet, if you're buying a new device, if you're putting new curtains in, if you're putting a new floor in, use natural products as far as possible, recyclable products as far as possible, use products that can be recycled like I mentioned bamboo before, that's easily replenishable and not only will it benefit your health, it will also benefit the planet. And that's certainly a great note to leave it on this evening. Daniel, thank you so much for joining us on the show. Pleasure. And that's Daniel from the Matterville who's the founder at Leaf Architects, wrapping up the Tuesday edition of the Private Property Podcast with myself. Unfortunately, Lebo Hankel also did not claim the price down here below, so he does miss out on that. So we've got that 500 rounds going into the money bag. And tomorrow evening we'll be giving away 1000 rounds. Remember, if you know that you've entered the competition, you've commented on the post, make sure that you watch the show because we could be calling your name out loud. And of course, you stand a chance of walking away with that money. Well, that's it from myself as I'm doing my commando and the rest of the team. Happy birthday again to Bianca. I hope you've slid into our DM so we can get you your birthday present. I'm off. I'm going to be back on your screens tomorrow evening at 7pm. But do stay tuned for Ombalino at 8pm, who will be bringing you the farming podcast. Until then, hope you stay home and stay safe.