»
Jul 21, 2008:
A new 450 hectare West Coast estate has made environmental sustainability its core focus.
The Langebaan Country Estate falls within the West Coast Biosphere Reserve, an international designation awarded by UNESCO to promote a balanced relationship between humans and the natural environment.
"In terms of environmental restrictions around the installation of services, we were unbelievably strict. When putting in the roads, I only allowed a leeway of 1,5 metres either side of the actual road to be disturbed, which is very tight. Traditionally, people bulldoze a much wider swathe or even the entire site. It is all about protecting the environment around the roads and sewers that are being installed," says Craig Scott, CEO of Langebaan Country Estate Joint Venture.
"When we designed the golf course we also had a whole lot of criteria. We redesigned it to be able to utilise all the treated effluent from the sewage treatment plant ourselves, and replaced all the greens so that they would be tolerant of this treated effluent. The challenge here is that the treated effluent is nutrient-rich, and the natural fynbos does not like nutrients at all - it thrives in a very deprived soil. So we had to contain the spray of the golf course irrigation system, so that it did not go onto the fynbos.
"We constructed berms on the downwind side to make sure that no spray flowed over. Wherever the fairway ran perpendicular to the prevailing winds, we put in three rows of irrigation so that we could close down those that were downwind so that the spray wouldn't go into the fynbos.
"From an engineering point of view it is very challenging to protect the natural environment. For example, it becomes a challenge when digging your trenches for services to not end up disturbing excessive amounts of natural fynbos. You need to go wide enough to get the pipes in, but at a certain depth, if your trenches are too narrow it becomes a health and safety risk for people having to work in the trenches," he says.
