“Another step towards sustainability is SMC’s Backyard Bukid initiative that began in 2021”
MANY countries have adopted measures to address climate change through green building.
Green Building is “the practice of creating structures and using processes environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction.”
In 2015, the Philippine Green Building Code, approved as a referral code of the National Building Code, seeks to improve the efficiency of building performance by setting guidelines and standards to enhance sound environmental and resource management and lessen the impact of buildings to health and the environment.
Buildings affect energy use, water consumption, air quality, and waste production, among others.
Noteworthy is the fact that even before the implementation of the Green Building Code, San Miguel Corporation has incorporated green building in its projects.
OnJune 2, 40 years ago, SMC inaugurated its head office complex in Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City.
It is noted for its unique architecture and at that time its green design was considered among the first in the country.
Inspired by the Banaue rice terraces, the building has angled, terraced and vegetated facade designed by the Mañosa brothers.
One of the brothers, Architect Francisco Mañosa, was recognized as National Artist of the Philippines in the field of architecture.
Another architect,Ildefonso Paez Santos, Sr. also named National Artist in the same field and known as “Father of Philippine Landscape Architecture,” landscaped the vegetation on the building’s façade.
The foliage on the façade screens the interior of the building from direct sunlight while allowing natural lighting inside.
With the country doing its share in the global movement towards sustainability, building better is essential in the efforts to achieve lasting progress and an environmentally-sound country.
Another step towards sustainability is SMC’s Backyard Bukid initiative that began in 2021.
It has grown into a viable urban farm at its head office complex.
Now with a plant nursery, and garden plots that grow 39 varieties of flowering plants and vegetables, the project is replicated in other SMC facilities like the Can Asia Plant and Metal Closure Plant of the
Packaging Group inCavite, the Manila Glass Plant in Farola, and the Bulacan Bulk Water facility in San Jose del Monte. Bulacan.
“Our goal is to extend this initiative to even more facilities, involve more employees, and encourage other companies to do the same,” SMC President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Ang said.
SMC has partnered with Urban Farmers PH early this year to expand the project.
Meanwhile, in big ticket infra project mounted by SMC, travelers to and from Calabarzon and Metro Manila were delighted with news that SMC SLEX has set its sights on the completion of the South Luzon Expressway expansion by Dec. 2024.
Once completed, the project will shorten travel time, boost the influx of tourists to the region and provide ease in logistics while lowering logistics cost.
The project will also boost the economies Calabarzon provinces – Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon – home to many economic zones and considered the only predominantly industrial economy in the country.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the region’s economy breached the P3-trillion last year.
The region accounted for 14.7 percent of the total gross national product in 2023.
The SLEX expansion project undertaken by SMC SLEX, Inc. aims to widen the expressway from the existing three to four lanes to six lanes on each side.
With the expansion, connectivity between Southern and Northern Luzon will be enhanced.
One of the biggest and most diversified conglomerates in the country, SMC is an active participant in the government’s infrastructure program.
Its involvement in the infrastructure sector has been visible especially in the big-ticket projects that have been completed which helped boost the country’s economic growth.
RSA has said SMC will continue to invest in modern toll roads and expressways that are at par with other countries in Asia while reiterating SMC’s support to the government’s infrastructure program.
Transport infrastructure is one of the sectors where the private sector has been actively involved in since the private-public partnership project procurement was introduced here.
The North Luzon Expressway, Skyway System, Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway, North Harbor Link, Cavite-Laguna Expressway, MRT 7 and the South Luzon Expressway are among the projects under the PPP.
(The author, a writer and publisher of coffee-table books, is the president/executive director of the Million Trees Foundation Inc, a non-government outfit advocating tree planting and watershed protection.)