The South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) 2016 convention and property exhibition was held last month where the winners of the 2016 SAPOA Innovative Excellence Awards were announced. The awards aim to recognise the importance of property development and seek to honour those property innovators, developers, owners and built environment professionals who have made a significant contribution to enhancing the industry.

This year’s judging panel consisted of 18 professionals from all spheres of the property development industry each with expert skills and experience in development, design, sustainability and urban enhancement.  A rigorous set of criteria are applied throughout the judging process which are measured on a point basis on all aspects of the project from economic and financial consideration, community perception, efficiency, design, environmental sustainability to transformation and overall impact.

As stated by Pierre Engelbrecht, Chairman of the SAPOA Awards Committee; ”In acknowledging excellence in property development, we must deepen our appreciation for and understanding of the urban challenges and the opportunities that exist for solving problems, thereby enriching the quality of life in our cities and urban areas.”

GLH Architects was announced the Winner of the 2016 SAPOA Innovative Excellence Awards for best corporate office for their design of the Multichoice City complex, a project which Robertson Ventilation Industries (RVI) proudly contributed the automated external light control solution.

RVI’s Architectural Solutions division provides bespoke external and internal shaded solutions which deliver 21st century eco-friendly aesthetic thermal and light control solutions. The focus of its team of engineers and designers is to create synergy between the building aesthetics and energy efficiency requirements.

GLH Architects’ brief to RVI was to supply a fully automated bespoke vertical glass louvres system which incorporated a distinctive grey dotted frit pattern on the glass, whilst also ensuring the solution positively contributed to the visual fascination of the external façade design. In addition, the sustainable energy determinations for the project needed to be met in order to achieve the energy efficiency and Green Star objectives integral to the overall project.  An aspect clearly achieved with the completed development receiving a 5 Green Star rating.

In order to meet these objectives RVI designed and manufactured a unique solution taking into account the curved façades of the building. The delivered solution is only the second system of its kind in South Africa, the first one also being manufactured and installed by RVI. The external automated glass façade was manufactured using 100 x 50 galvanized mild steel rectangular hollow sections (galvanized finish) which supported the 12mm vertical laminated toughened glass with the unique grey fritted pattern.

Due to the challenging curvature of the façade RVI was able to accomplish an award winning solution by applying value engineering throughout the full scope of the project, applying additional features and constructs throughout each step of the project.

This SAPOA Innovative Excellence Award is a noteworthy achievement which RVI is honored to have collaborated on with GLH Architects. It highlights RVI’s ability to design and engineer unconventional architectural façade solutions that incorporate environmental elements and exceed expectations