Honouring the winners of the 2020 GBCSA Annual Awards.

Words Nicole Cameron

Green Carpet
Winners
HIGHEST RATED BUILDING

The highest rated building is determined as the project which attains the highest number of points in the final Green Star rating, in the period since the previous year’s convention.

WINNER: Old Mutual Mutualpark (Cape Town)
Ever since it started its sustainability journey a few years ago, Old Mutual has constantly hit environmental milestones. Every addition to the Cape Town-based Mutualpark has further moulded the office park into a truly aspirational green building – energy efficient, resource efficient, and environmentally responsible. As the largest green building in the southern hemisphere with a GLA of 166 000m², Mutualpark makes a significant positive impact through features such as its corporate solar carport which reduces the building’s electricity consumption substantially, and the production of its own SANS241 compliant water with a waste water treatment plant. Most recently, in 2019, its war on waste, saw waste equivalent to the weight of three Boeing 747s, being diverted from landfills.

Old Mutual Emerging Market Media

Project type:
Commercial
Date:
Certified December 2019
Green Star Rating:
6-Star Green Star – Existing Building Performance v1 rating (84 points in Round 1)
Project owner:
Old Mutual
AP:
Zoë Rushin, Old Mutual

RUNNER UP: FormFunc Head Office (Johannesburg)
With unplastered walls, exposed ceilings and floor-to-ceiling glazing, the interior of FormFunc’s Lanseria-based showroom, office and distribution centre minimises redundant resources and takes full advantage of natural ones. Add to that state-of-the-art HVAC systems that modulate indoor air quality above SANS 10400 requirements, sensors to monitor and control carbon dioxide levels, recycling and composting units, and a variety of other features, then it is little surprise that they brought home six green stars. This ambitious attempt was driven by their passion to create an office environment that reflects the Humanscale brand philosophy of recreating workspaces that are simpler and healthier to work in.

Richard Van Zyl

Project type:
Commercial
Date:
October 2019
Green Star Rating:
6-Star Green Star – Interiors v1 rating (78 points in Round 2)
Project owner:
Kim Kowalski
AP:
Terramanzi

SECOND RUNNER UP: The Reid Lifestyle Centre (Johannesburg)
This lifestyle centre is people-oriented and fit-for-purpose, taking sustainability into account in every way including how it will be used both now and in the future. The challenging location next to a wetland encouraged the team to consider how to upgrade the system, so that now the centre uses the wetlands as an attenuation and water treatment system for storm water. The development has incorporated the wetland area into its landscape design, allowing residents to walk and cycle through the wetland while learning about the sustainability features of the development through informational plaques strategically placed along the trail.

Solid Green

Project type:
Residential Community Centre
Date:
Certified May 2020
Green Star Rating:
6-Star Green Star – Public & Education Buildings v1 Design rating (77 points in Round 2)
Project owner:
Balwin Properties Limited
AP:
Nomafengu Mbele, Solid Green

BEST QUALITY SUBMISSION

This award goes to the project whose submission attains the highest percentage of points targeted in the Round 1 submission – before Round 1 clarifications – for the period under consideration (convention to convention), which serves as a primary indicator of the quality of the submission.

JOINT WINNER: Nicol Grove Building 11, Nicol Grove Office Park (Johannesburg)
High-frequency ballasts in all occupied office areas to reduce light ‘flicker’, blinds to reduce glare, sub-metered energy usage and zero ozone depletion (ODP) HVAC refrigerants are just some of the many features which demonstrate Nicol Grove Building 11’s commitment to sustainability. Their plans are underpinned by several policies which will see them move towards an even greener future. This pertains to green cleaning, waste management, sustainable procurement and purchasing as well as landscape, hardscape, and integrated pest management plans to encourage environmentally sensitive maintenance and landscape management practices.

Shiny Rock Properties

Project type:
Commercial
Date:
September 2020
Green Star Rating:
4-Star Green Star – Existing Building Performance v1 rating (52 points awarded in round 1 of 53 points targeted)
Project owner:
Investec Property Fund
AP:
Claire Holton, Ecocentric

JOINT WINNER: Woodlands Office Park Buildings 1 to 8 (Johannesburg)
The Woodlands Office Park is a unique property featuring a wetland and animal reserve within a nature park. The Woodlands’ tranquil setting incorporates a lifestyle centre with a gym, creche and Mugg & Bean. It comprises 32 buildings and is home to more than 100 businesses. Growthpoint has modernised and customised Buildings 1 to 8 at The Woodlands to meet the needs of a single tenant – Altron. It has seamlessly linked eight buildings with a 360-metre walkway to create a connected campus, and is delivering an integrated internal fit-out solution for the buildings, optimised for high performance.

Growthpoint

Project type:
Commercial
Date:
May 2020
Green Star Rating:
4-Star Green Star – Existing Building Performance v1 rating (49 points awarded in Round 1 of 50 points targeted)
Project owner:
Growthpoint
AP:
Adrie Fourie, while at Zutari

RUNNER UP: 82 Maude (Johannesburg)
Located in the centre of Sandton’s commercial district, the refurbishment of 82 Maude provides a green beacon that similar A-Grade offices can strive for. Indoor environmental quality testing that monitors and controls indoor pollutants, energy and water consumption has been benchmarked against similar green buildings, to reduce the burden on the system as much as possible. Additionally, policies have been put in place with regards to green cleaning, waste and recycling and there is a gradual move towards replacing all non-zero ODP refrigerants in the building. These plans perfectly sum up what today’s ‘new normal’ should look like across businesses in South Africa.

New Vantage Properties

Project type:
Commercial
Date:
June 2020
Green Star Rating:
4-Star Green Star – Existing Building Performance v1 rating (61 points awarded in Round 1 of 63 points targeted)
Project owner:
Redefine Properties
AP:
Sally Misplon, Misplon Consulting


82 Maude sums up what today’s ‘new normal’ should look like across businesses in South Africa.
NON-STANDARD AWARDS: NET ZERO

This award recognises leading net zero (and net positive) projects that have achieved an innovative and cutting-edge outcome in terms of net zero carbon, water, waste, or ecology.

WINNER: Hotel Nieu
What more could sustainability-focused travellers to Pretoria ask for than an upmarket, net positive energy (carbon) boutique hotel? Hotel Nieu has been built out of a desire to create intentional urban communities and its philosophy centres around six elements of sustainable net zero living: human capital, water, energy, food, personal security and transport. As a Net Positive Carbon building (the first ever certified) the hotel produces more energy than it uses, which has been achieved through applying passive design principles, solar PV with battery back-up and high-performance materials.

Urban Concept Architects

Project type:
Commercial/Hospitality
Date:
Certified April 2020
Green Star Rating:
First Level 2 Carbon (modelled) certification, first Net Positive Carbon
Project owner:
Founded by Anthony Fitzhenry & Paul Boshoff
AP:
Zendrè Compion, Solid Green

RUNNER UP: House Baldwin-Ragaven
The definition of a Net Positive Waste building, according to the GBCSA, is that 5% above the total mass of construction waste must be reused waste from other sites. House Baldwin-Ragaven managed to achieve 104%, an amazing effort which, in practical terms, means that the waste from an entire similar-sized project was diverted from landfills and used as a resource in transforming this 105-year-old heritage Cape Dutch house in Parktown West, Johannesburg.

Marc Sherratt

Project type:
Residential
Date:
Certified March 2020
Green Star Rating:
First Level 1 Waste (measured), first Net Positive Waste
Project owner:
Dr Laurel Baldwin Ragaven
AP:
Marc Sherratt, Marc Sherratt Sustainability Architects
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