Cape Town has given the go-ahead for an addition to the city’s skyline – a R1,2-billion,150-m-tall mixed-use development, which, once completed, will hold the accolade of being the city’s tallest building.

Old Mutual Investment Group Property Investments’ (OMIGPI’s) Portside development will comprise 24 office floors (33 000 m2) above a ten-storey hotel (14 000 m2) and retail (2 500 m2) component, with parking on five basement and eight above-ground levels.

Property development executive Brent Wilt-shire says the group hopes to have the building completed in 2011.

Portside will be built on a 3 500-m2 property, between Hans Strijdom avenue and Mechau street, along Buitengracht street, which the city sold to the Old Mutual group in May last year, for about R89-million.

Besides being Cape Town’s tallest building, the development’s allowable bulk of some 60 000 m2 will also be a record for the city, says mayoral committee member for economic and social development, and tourism Simon Grindrod.

It will be the biggest property development undertaken in the city since the V&A Waterfront, which was sold two years ago to Dubai- and London-based investors for R7-billion.

OMIGPI is developing Portside on behalf of its newly launched Triangle Development Fund, a closed-end fund structured as a collection of unlisted real-estate investment trusts.

The developers will benchmark the Portside development according to the Green Building Council of South Africa’s Green Star rating system, Wiltshire says.

The system identifies measures that can be taken to produce a green building in the areas of management, indoor environmental quality, energy, transport, water, materials, land use and ecology, emissions and innovation.

The rating system also sets targets to be achieved for the different measures, awards points for the achievement of targets, totals the points to give a score and then awards a rating on the basis of the score.

“Tall buildings play an important role in green architecture and its role is threefold: to promote sustainability, reduce energy use and develop innovative technologies,” Wiltshire comments.

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