HNB wins CIOB Green Mark Gold Plus award

HNB Deputy General Manager – Services Piyal Hennayake and HNB Senior Manager – Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Prashantha Hewapathirana accepting the award from   Minister for Special Projects Dr. Sarath Amunugama   

The Jaffna Green Building of Hatton National Bank (HNB) won the prestigious ‘CIOB Green Mark – Gold Plus’ award at the second CIOB Green Mark Awards Ceremony. This is the 10th occasion, and fifth consecutive year, that the premier private sector commercial bank has been recognised locally and internationally for its unwavering commitment to environmental sustainability. 

The award was accepted on behalf of HNB by Deputy General Manager – Services Piyal Hennayake and Senior Manager – Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Prashantha Hewapathirana at the CIOB Green Mark Awards Ceremony held recently at Hotel Galadari. 

The Green Mark is awarded to buildings and projects that meet the green building standards set by the Ceylon Institute of Builders (CIOB), the premier organisation for building and construction professionals in Sri Lanka. The award is accredited by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore, Council of Research and Innovation in Building and Construction of Netherlands, Green Building Council of Singapore, the Chartered Institute of Builders of UK and the Central Environment Authority of Sri Lanka.

The HNB Jaffna Green Building received this award in recognition of its remarkable focus on environment sustainability and energy efficiency. The building has succeeded in reducing its use of energy by 27.61% and the use of water by 53%, while generating 10% of its energy from renewable sources. 

The building was commissioned in 2013 and accommodates the Jaffna Metro Customer Centre, the Northern Regional office, a private banking floor and a fully equipped training centre. It was a trailblazer in the Northern Province as it was the first building to employ integrated sustainable services monitored by a Building Management System (BMS), the first building to have a state-of-the-art 260-seat auditorium, and the first building to have elevated gardens along with a solar sensitive automated louvre system.

Architecturally, the landmark building established a new post-war regional architecture trend which went beyond the Dravidian architectural style popular in Jaffna. It carefully conserved the spatial characteristics of local domestic architecture while employing an ultra modern design on par with any modern international building. The double screens on the eastern and western sides of the building reflect glare and excess sunlight while the thick vegetation of vertical landscaping filters all polluted air. 

The Chilled water Central Air Conditioning System consists of a high efficiency water cooled chiller connected with variable temperature and variable water flow, while a chilled water piping system and an air side includes pressure independent Variable Air Volume (VAV) terminal boxes.

Furthermore, a sophisticated solar shading system enables the building to react to changes in the weather and the sun’s position to optimise the flows of heat and light through the façade. This, in turn, reduces heat gain and glare and enhances the use of natural daylight, reducing the building’s operating costs. A 15kVA roof mounted solar PV system with net metering facility generates 1,800 kWh of electricity. A separate overhead tank collects rain water from the roof and uses it to water the plants, and waste water is treated and used for the same purpose.

The bank is constantly searching for new ways to help sustain a greener earth and in addition to the Jaffna building the HNB network includes green buildings in Nittambuwa and Kalmunai, which have received several awards of their own. In fact, with the unveiling of the Nittambuwa building in 2011, HNB made history as the first bank to open a green bank building in Sri Lanka. These three buildings are shining examples of HNB’s overall sustainability philosophy, which strives to minimise the environmental impact of the bank’s activities, as well as those of its shareholders, customers, suppliers and the community, on the environment.

HNB has an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), which helps the bank to determine how responsible it is towards the environment. The bank works towards combating climate change and conserving natural habitats and has adopted a green procurement policy. Ecological procedures are employed internally and each staff member has taken a Green Pledge to work towards this by integrating the green office philosophy and 3R doctrine of ‘Reduce, Reuse & Recycle’ in their daily operations.