The race is on - which will be the first Green Star SA rated building in South Africa?

The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA), after launching the first tool in the Green Star SA green building rating system toolset, Green Star SA Office v1, in November of last year, has had registrations from several buildings thus far.

“While a number of projects are working towards the Green Star SA standards and benchmarks, five projects have formally registered with the GBCSA for a Green Star SA Office v1 rating,” explains Bruce Kerswill, Executive Chairman of the GBCSA.

The first projects registrations received include a number of buildings within the Menlyn Maine precinct development in Twshane. The Bartholomew, Pegasus and Falcon Buildings are three office developments, ranging from 6000 m2 to 15 000 m2, currently targeting a Green Star SA certification. Completion of these buildings is expected in late 2010 and 2011 respectively.

The design of the Nedbank Phase II building, while architecturally similar to the Nedbank Phase I building, has likewise been governed by environmentally sustainable principles as it seeks to achieve one of the first Green Star SA office Design ratings. This office building is located in the heart of Sandton and set for completion in 2009.

The only Durban development yet to register for a Green Star SA office v1 rating is the Lincoln on the Lake development owned by Growthpoint. Located in Umhlanga Ridge and set for completion in 2009, Lincoln on the Lake will comprise of a 5 storey office block with limited retail space.

Green Star SA is a voluntary green building rating system under which developers may apply to have their projects rated and certified by the GBCSA. There has been huge demand from the South African property industry for guidance and standards on how to build greener and more energy-efficient buildings – the rating system provides just that.

“The Office rating tool can be used to assess the environmental attributes of new commercial office buildings as well as major refurbishments of existing office facilities across South Africa,” says Kerswill. “It can be used at the design phase (“Design rating”), or on building completion or post-construction phase (“As Built rating”).

“The Green Star SA tool is designed for use by owners, developers and consultants (architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers, building contractors etc.) to influence the design of office facilities. The tool enables these stakeholders to minimise the environmental impacts of their developments, and to receive recognition for their design initiatives.”

Kerswill advises that the objectives of the Green Star SA rating tools are as follows:

• To provide an objective framework and standards for the measurement of green building
  
• To establish a common language and act as a guide to building green
  
• To recognise environmental leadership

In doing this, Green Star SA will:

• promote integrated, whole-building design,
  
• raise awareness of green building benefits,
  
• reduce the environmental impact of development

Nicola Douglas, CEO of the GBCSA says that the Green Star SA tool is based upon the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star tools and has been customised for South African conditions. The GBCSA is already working on its second tool, Green Star SA for Retail Centres, which it hopes to launch in PILOT form at its annual Convention & Exhibition in Cape Town in October.

“The Green Star SA Office tool allows for certification of office buildings, based on the following levels of achievement:

• 4 Star Green Star SA Certification - “Best Practice”
  
• 5 Star Green Star SA Certification - “South African Excellence”
  
• 6 Star Green Star SA Certification - “World Leadership”

“We are very excited at having received our first submissions for ratings. It is a significant task for developers to put together a submission – something not done lightly – and the fact that we are seeing submissions coming in already, shows that the South African property industry was more than ready for this step in the right direction towards global best practises in green building,” concluded Kerswill.

For more information about Green Star SA, certification and professional accreditation, visit www.gbcsa.org.za or email info@gbcsa.org.za.

Article by: www.gbcsa.org.za