SM Supermalls | SM City Baguio - Innovation in Energy & Sustainability

Company: SM Supermalls | SM City Baguio, Baguio City, Benguet, Philippines
Category: Award for Innovation in Energy & Sustainability

Nomination Title: SM City Baguio: Greening Project

Essay:

"SM Investments Corporation(SMIC) sought to redevelop the rear portion of SM City Baguio through horizontal expansion, holding consultation meetings with the Department of Energy and Natural Resources(DENR), the local government, and other community groups. Employing the expertise and knowledge of professionals, the initial plan has evolved into more than just a redevelopment – it has become a green development project in support of the government’s goals and efforts toward re-greening.

Features of the expansion:
• Sky Terrace - The Baguio community and tourists will get to enjoy the landscaped “garden in the sky” located on the third floor of the mall. It will serve as a view deck, playground, relaxation area, and home to about 53 species of trees and plants. These elements, along with canopied walkways and waterscapes are designed to help improve air temperature and ease heat island effect.
• Underground Rainwater Catchment Tank - The mall is helping mitigate the impact of heavier rains expected to hit the city in the future through an underground rainwater catchment tank. A major part of the mall’s green development, this tank can collect and hold rainwater for up to 6,900 m3. Hopefully, this will aid control possible flooding within the location and neighboring areas. Eventually, the collected rainwater will be made available for non-potable uses within the mall and the community.
• Sewerage Treatment Plant(STP) – An STP will be constructed below Basement 5 of the redeveloped portion of the mall. This will be used for treating and recycling sewer/waste water for reuse in non-potable purposes. The STP will have a capacity of 1.200 m3/day, as required by the Amended ECC, to accommodate future wastewater discharge of the entire mall facility.
• Energy conservation – The mall’s green development will also involve energy efficiency through natural lighting inside the mall, made possible by tensile roofing. This also helps efficient ventilation where air-conditioning is no longer necessary. LED bulbs will also be used to help conserve energy at locations where natural lighting is unavailable.
• Additional parking - The green development plan includes an additional 652 parking slots, making the total number of the mall’s parking spaces to 1,423. This is above the 836 slots required by the National Building Code. Considering the worsening traffic buildup along Session Road, the mall’s additional parking slots will aid the city’s street parking woes. The new parking design also makes way for additional pedestrian and vehicle entrance along Governor Pack Road, which further decongests traffic along Session Road. The mall’s parking areas employ LED park finders, which help direct vehicles toward available slots. This helps reduce smoke emission and helps motorists save fuel.

Other greening projects:

With the new City ordinance which bans the use of plastic in the city, influx of single use brown bags as plastic substitute have surfaced. To aid in this problem, the mall launched the “Project Seeds” campaign wherein shoppers can exchange their used brown bags for an ecobag and a paper seed which contains seeds of edible plants they can grow at home. For 2019, shoppers have donated 41,919 paper bags from 790 shoppers. Along with this, SM City Baguio has committed itself to the reforestation of the city. In compliance with DENR’s provisions for the implementation of this green project, SM has so far planted over 430,531trees throughout the City and in certain areas in Benguet. The number of trees planted and maintained, mostly found in Busol Watershed, went beyond what the government required consistent with the SM Foundation’s environment program. Currently, the Foundation is targeting to plant 1M trees all over the country in communities where SM is present.

With these efforts, SM City Baguio hopes to contribute to a more convenient lifestyle and offer better malling experience to the shoppers."

Links:

Image Files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16EAPtPZiAlrN67wxXQSES-jceKk6ZFdd?usp=sharing