Works and Housing minister, Samuel Atta Akyea, has called on architects to embrace green building architecture so as to ease the cost in house construction. 

Speaking at the second Ghana Green Building Summit organized by Yecham Property Consult in conjunction with the IFC-Edge Program, Mr Atta Akyea explained that government is ready to provide the needed funding and support to roll out greenhouses on a massive scale.

“We have no excuse not to prioritize green building as a country. We as the government are very interested in ensuring that the private sector thrives in this light. The needed funding and budgetary allocation will be made once you (architects), engage us with interests,” he stated.

The conference saw stakeholders in the housing sector advocate policies and legislation to prioritize green building architecture in Ghana. he President of the Ghana Institute of Architects, Architect Richard Nii Dadey made a case for “some legal push to ensure there are compliance and culture to greenhouse architecture.”

Executive president of the Ghana Real Estate Association (GREDA), Samuel Amegayibor told JoyBusiness more needs to be done on the part of the government to enforce green building architecture. He believes some government intervention will ensure that architects and contractors attach new sustainable construction mechanisms regarding building environmentally, friendly houses.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Ghana Institute of Engineers, Kwabena Agyapong explained to JoyBusiness the need to adopt the culture of green building architecture in Ghana.

According to him, the culture of green building is a necessary element evident in the infrastructure of engineers. With the coming on board of the Builders’ Code, Kwabena Agyapong was hopeful the trend will soon and must catch up fast in Ghana’s construction industry.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of Yecham Property Consult, Cyril Nii Ayitey Tetteh who is the founder of the summit believes a policy direction would help enforce the concept of green architecture. Having hitherto organized the maiden Green Building Conference, Cyril Nii Ayitey Tetteh opined that earlier notions of green buildings being expensive have so far been dispelled.

Despite calls for Green Building Technology, some challenges exist. These include higher costs of GBTs, lack of government incentives, lack of financing schemes, unavailability of GBTs suppliers, and lack of local institutes and facilities for the technology.

Factor analysis shows that the underlying barriers are government-related. Amidst these challenges, some strategies to make headway have been proposed.