Song Saa Reserve – the World’s Largest Living Community Challenge project to Demonstrate Vision Plan Compliance

Song Saa Reserve project, which is the largest Living Building project in the world and the first registered Living Community Challenge (LCC) project in Cambodia, demonstrated Vision Plan Compliance in accordance to the International Living Future Institute LCC standard. In this project, BEE created the Vision Plan for Song Saa Collective’s latest sustainable development venture. BEE also played a major role in defining the Building and Environmental Codes that the project, the local municipality, and tenants will be able to use to achieve the desired sustainability goals. This is one of the many milestones of achievement along the way of achieving an LCC at Living Certification level – the most stringent international design standard for sustainable community development.

About the project

Song Saa Reserve is a large mixed-use development project located in Cambodia with approximately 233 hectares of land encompassing a combination of residential, hospitality, and cultural initiatives. The project, which is situated at only 45 minutes from the international airport and Siem Reap’s tourist center, aims to go beyond sustainability by combining social, environmental, and technological aspects in order to create a space focused on regeneration and resilience. Through the Song Saa Foundation, the client has envisioned the implementation of various restorative and resilience-focused strategies throughout several programmes to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The project features innovative strategies to achieve Living Community Challenge certification, and these include:

Net Positive Energy

• Goal of meeting 105% of the project’s energy needs through renewables, with surplus electricity returned to grid for the greater community
• Agro-photovoltaic Farm that functions as both a solar and organic farm
• Low-emission transportation plans, comprising of electric vehicles and bike-sharing scheme

Net Positive Water

• Recycled greywater and rainwater harvesting
• Emulation of site hydrology to manage stormwater runoff
• Surplus water is donated to the greater community

Habitat Conservation and Restoration

• 1 Million Trees Programme
• Rainforest Restoration and Wetland Conservation Zones to revitalize local flora and fauna
• Trapaing Chamboak Lake restoration programme

Equity, Health & Happiness, Revitalization of Local Economy

• Heritage Hub, a village center that focuses on local heritage, archaeology, biodiversity, and climate change education
• Hospitality Training School, a Center of Excellence to provide local communities opportunities for economic empowerment
• Bamboo School, an educational hub benchmarking on the Green School in Bali
• Elimination of Red List materials in building material selection

With these, Song Saa Reserve expects to create a sustainable community by promoting health, well-being, education, decent work and economic growth while addressing today’s most pressing issues such as climate change.

About the Living Community Challenge

In 2014, the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) launched the Living Community Challenge (LCC), a framework that integrates regenerative design strategies into the built environment to help communities thrive. The LCC is a standard that is structured around seven performance areas or “Petals” with each containing a set of “Imperatives”, aspects that are mandatory for certification. The seven Petals of the LCC are:

1. Place
2. Water
3. Energy
4. Health & Happiness
5. Materials
6. Equity
7. Beauty

Projects from around the world use the Living Building Challenge (LBC) and the LCC regenerative design frameworks to create spaces that, like a flower, are self-sufficient and harmonize with nature.

What is next?

The Song Saa Reserve looks forward to planning for the Living Community Master Plan on its roadway towards certifying as a Living Community.

BEE LCC EXPERIENCE

In 2018, we were the first to lead Cambodia’s first Living Community Challenge (LCC) project. BEE comprises of a team of staff of fully bilingual specialists and Auditors with expertise in ILFI’s LBC, LCC, and Zero Energy Certification consulting services.