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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.