CASE STUDY: SONA SIGMA BLOCK ,Sona College of Technology ,Salem

KEY PARAMETERS

Occupancy Type Institutional Building

Built up area 36405 sq ft
Completed September 2014
Location Salem , Tamil Nadu
Owner Sona College of Technology
Green Consultant En3 Sustainability Solutions
Rating System GRIHA version 3.0
Achieved provisional rating level 5 star

The Sona Sigma Block an Institutional building built in the existing Sona college campus in Salem, Tamilnadu has been awarded 5
star Provisional rating under GRIHA rating system. This is one of the highest scored 5 star rated GRIHA buildings having been
awarded a total of 83 Points out of applicable 90 Points specific to this project. The project thereby is achieving an overall
percentile score of 92 % as awarded by the committee of GRIHA Council (Association of Development and Research of
Sustainable Habitats) on providing necessary documentation and demonstrating compliance with mandatory criterion under
GRIHA.

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 18
16 16
16

14

12

10
8 8
8 Maximum possible
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6 6
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Awarded points
44 4 44 4 4 4
4 33 33 33
22 2 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22
2 11 11 11 1 11 11 11 11 11 1
0 0
0
Criteria 02
Criteria 03
criteria 04
Criteria 05
Criteria 06
Criteria 07
Criteria 08
Criteria 09

Criteria 11
Criteria 12
Criteria 13

Criteria 15

Criteria 17
Criteria 18
Criteria 21
Criteria 22
Criteria 23
Criteria 24
Criteria 26
Criteria 27
Criteria 28
Criteria 29
Criteria 30
Criteria 31
Criteria 33
Criteria 01

Criteria 10

Criteria 14

Critera 16

Criteria 34

The Sona Sigma Block project space comprises of classrooms, Lecture halls, auditorium, lab spaces, research area, library and
admin office. The project has installed Total solar PV of 10 kWp, which is 6.4 % of the total connected load. The internal lighting
energy consumption is 37,574 KWh. Energy generated from solar is 12000 kWh, which is 31.04% of total energy required for
internal lighting.

Sona College of Technology is an environmentally responsible institution and is always striving to protect the environment and
has taken enormous efforts along with En3 to implement various sustainability and green measures in the project from concept
to completion.

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 SITE SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES

The project site is within 0.5km radius form a public transportation access for the benefit of the building occupants thereby
minimizing transportation pollution and strain on local infrastructure, protects green-field
green field site and preserve habitat and
natural resources.
The project site had 46 Matured trees of which the team has taken additional efforts to preserve 15 Trees and planted
compensatory trees of the same species in the ration of 1: 3. Hence the project team has planted about 138 Trees in
compensation as an effort to protect existing landscape and site features.
467 Cum of topsoil was preserved during construction
construction and reused for landscape activities within the site, thus Taken enough
measure to protect the fertile topsoil..
As the site is located in a campus, the new Sona sigma block has been designed in such a way that the existing pathways are
used as connecting element and no new pathways are proposed. Also as passive design feature, the block has been located
along North south axis due to site constraint , the longer facade in the east are shaded by a long corridor which acts as
connecting element between Sigma block and the neighbouring blocks and also acts as a connecting element within the block
The architectural space ce zoning was done based on the sun path has been analyzed and the planning has been done in such a
way that minimal heat entry is achieved in the project, most of the class room areas are oriented towards East west axis .All
the regularly occupied spaces in the west and south are provided with natural and manmade shading elements.
The project has less than 25% paved area and more than 50% of the paved area is shaded/painted with high SRI/covered with
vegetation.
Timer based automatic controls have been installed on site for the external lights and the efficacy of the installed exterior CFL
& LED lights are 21 & 43 W which is much less ththan the GRIHA requirement of 50W.
Transportation
ransportation and service corridors on site are minimized to the possible extent to avoid unnecessary cutting and trenching
of land. All utilities were aggregated and consolidated along previously disturbed areas.

WATER EFFICIENCY

Water plays an integral part in the greening process of the Sona college campus. The project has demonstrated
demonst a reduction in
water consumption by more than 67.4% compared to the base case scenario by adopting necessary water saving measures
by using drip irrigation system for shrubs and trees & sprinklers for lawn.
The project has demonstrated a reduction in water consumption i.e. 1,571.25 KL annually which is more than 68% reduction
compared to the base case consumption of 4,935 KL by adopting necessary water saving measures. Low flow taps, sensor
based urinals and 3lt/6lt flushing for Water
W Closets have been installed on site.
The project team has also taken efforts to minimise water loss during construction activities.
activities The project has adapted
measures like use of ready ix concrete only, curing using gunny bags for columns and beams , ponding on roof etc.,
Rainwater harvesting, reuse and recharge are done 100% onsite.

ENERGISING THE BUILDING

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 Window to Wall ratio (WWR) is maintained within 15.48% which is much lesser than the GRIHA limitation of 60% or
less.
The artificial lighting design is done in such a way that the lux levels as recommended in NBC are adhered to and
hence over design of artificial lights are avoided.
Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of the fenestration confirms to the benchmarks of Energy Conservation Building
Code (ECBC) 2007. Glass installed in air-conditioned area has 0.62 SHGC and in non-air-conditioned area is 0.86 SHGC.
Calculations have been submitted indicating the effective SHGC of fenestration is less than 0.25
The Project has demonstrated 55.70% EPI reduction from the benchmark EPI of 61.9 kWh/m2/annum to 140
kWh/m2/annum.
Selection of CFC free and HCFC free refrigerants avoids global warming and ozone depletion.
The project has installed 10kwp of onsite solar pane to generate renewable e energy.
The Project has adopted energy efficient evaporative cooling methodology to maintain thermal comfort in most of the
regularly occupied spaces.
The project has provided shading element such as jallis to restrict the direct thermal radiation
67% of total living area is day-lit and meets daylight factor as prescribed by National Building Code (NBC) through
provision of daylight windows and roof monitors.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The project has used low embodied energy industrial waste material such as fly ash in 60% of the total volume of block work
& replaces 21.4 % of the cement used in the ready mix concrete & the masonry mortar and plaster.
Reduction in structural embodied energy in building have been achieved through optimised structural design using high
grade concrete and steel the total concrete used in the building is 1095 cum and steel used is 50,435 kg. Embodied energy of
base case is 32,824,845 GJ which is reduced to 23,786,403 MJ providing reduction of more than 27%.
Reduction in non-structural embodied energy non-structural walling embodied energy has been achieved by using aerocon
partition panels instead of conventional burnt clay bricks. Embodied energy of base case for brick wall is 193,876 MJ is
reduced to 38,592 MJ providing reduction of about 80%;
Project has used low energy materials such as locally available athangudi tile in the interior.
The segregation of materials like wood, plastic, glass, empty cement bags etc. were ensured during the construction phase.
Multi coloured bins with respective signage is displayed in sigma block to encourage segregation of waste at source.

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

The project team has implemented necessary measures to prevent air pollution (dust and smoke) in the vicinity of the site
during construction. The dust suppression measures includes, provision for wheel washing, provision of 3 m high
barricading around the site, sprinkling of non potable water on dusty roads ,gravel on regular basis etc.
All the paints and sealants used in the project have low VOC content.
The entire project area lies in a non smoking zone. Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the campus.
Health and safety of workers during construction, with effective provisions for the basic facilities such as sanitation, and
clean drinking water, and safety of equipment or machinery were done during construction phase.

NOVELTIES

The project has achieved overall energy savings of about 56 % over conventional building using high performance glazing,
efficient design shading devices, efficient lighting design use of evaporative cooling mechanism, installation of onsite solar
power .
The project has reduced potable water use by 68% from the calculated baseline design fixture performance requirements
established by the GRIHA guidelines.
Moreover the building has been designed to showcase various green and sustainability measures and practices and the
effort is to use this building to create greater awareness on green concepts and sustainability to all its visitors, students and
occupants & spearhead the green movement in the state and the country.

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 En3 would be glad to answer any queries or questions you have on any green or sustainability related topics. Feel free to contact
us at [email protected] and for more information visit us at www.en3online.com.

The project has been awarded with 5 star provisional rating and the felicitation of the same happened on day 02 of the Griha
th
summit which happened at IHC , Delhi on 13 March 2015.

The newsletter as published by GRIHA is available in the bel

below link:

http://grihaindia.org/grihasummit/mailer/day2/GRIHA_Summit15_Newsletter_Day2.pdf
http://grihaindia.org/grihasummit/mailer/day2/GRIHA_Summit15_Newsletter_Day2.pdf.

Photograph of the felicitation ceremony of our Sona sigma Block proje

project:

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