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The first six sustainable housing developments built in Senegal have been awarded the EDGE green building certification by the World Bank and the Senegalese government, in partnership with the City Climate Finance Gap Fund.

Local developers Teyliom Properties and Duo Real Estate were awarded the certifications at a presentation ceremony held on 25 September at the Pullman Hotel in Dakar.

The new green-built homes will reduce energy consumption by more than 20% and avoid operational emissions of over 220 tonnes of CO2 a year.

Duo Real Estate was awarded an advanced EDGE certificate for the design of a 40-apartment, mid-rise building in Dakar. The building will use home automation and solar energy, and will reduce energy consumption by over 40%, avoiding the production of 73.99 tonnes of CO2 a year.

“The building sector is Senegal's second-largest energy consumer,” said Adja Maram Lo, innovation manager at Duo Real Estate. “Given the real estate boom that Dakar is experiencing, it is critical to raise awareness on the value of ecological housing." 

Teyliom Properties was awarded certifications for five developments located in the city of Diamniadio, situated about 30km from the Dakar city centre. The developments include:

• Diam Hills – a mixed-use development that includes apartments on four levels, with shops, restaurants, a clubhouse and gym.
   
• Kilima – apartments complexes with 1-bed, 2-bed and 3-bed units and total built surface areas ranging from 48 sq m to 107 sq m.
   
• Villa Kalais – affordable two-storey villas with three bedrooms and a total built surface area of 142 square metres.
   
• Villa Renala – two-storey villas with four bedrooms and a total built surface area of 265 square metres.
   
• Villa Majunga – two-storey villas with five bedrooms and a total built surface area of 188 square metres.

In addition, SN HLM, a third local developer, is about to complete the EDGE certification process for a 225-unit housing project in Saint Louis on Senegal’s northwest coast.

“Over the next five years, our objective is to move towards sustainable housing for 10% of our programmes,” said Mamadou Sy Mbengue, managing director of SN HLM. “The experiment we've carried out in Saint Louis will be replicated in other regions of Senegal." 

The six new developments were designed following an intensive technical assistance training programme launched in 2021 by the World Bank, the International Development Association (IDA) and the IFC, in partnership with the City Climate Finance Gap Fund. The programme was developed and run in collaboration with Senegal’s Direction Générale de la Construction et de l'Habitat to support the government in its sustainable building agenda and to test the deployment of EDGE in Senegal.

"In 2021 we trained 15 property developers from the private and public sectors and over 150 professionals, ministerial officials, architects, academics, engineers, bankers, and other building specialists in green housing design techniques and EDGE certification to build the capacity of players in the sector," explained IFC's Conrad Sanama, green building specialist.

At the certification ceremony, the Ministry of Urban Planning, Housing and Public Hygiene presented the actions the government is undertaking to promote the development of green construction in Senegal. These include the transposition into Senegalese law of a West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) directive that lays down energy efficiency measures in the construction of buildings; a new construction code with criteria to promote energy savings in buildings; and the validation of a low-carbon cement standard.

Photo: Diam Hills mixed-use development in Senegal (Source: Teyliom Properties)