Property development company Growthpoint Properties’ Greenfield Industrial Park, in Cape Town, has been awarded South Africa’s first ever Green Star South Africa (SA) rating for an industrial property.

Greenfield received a 4-Star custom industrial as-built Green Star SA certification from the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA).

“We are delighted Greenfield has become the country’s very first certified green industrial property. Growthpoint is proud to be part of creating a greener, more sustainable built environment for South Africa,” says Growthpoint Properties industrial division director Engelbert Binedell.

Greenfield includes 21 000 m² of space that is designed to meet the needs of modern business. It enjoys easy access with good proximity to the N2 highway, with excellent visibility with prominent signage exposure.

“Right from the start, we prioritised sustainability for Greenfield. As we progressed with the project, we realised it had the potential to achieve a groundbreaking Green Star SA certification,” notes Growthpoint development manager Riaan Munnik.

Moreover, when Growthpoint’s green building consultants examined the opportunity further, they were able, in collaboration with the GBCSA, to develop a custom new build certification for industrial facilities, which is a progressive approach to ensuring more building types can be certified by the GBCSA.

The custom process uses around 80% of existing Green Star SA tools, but allows for minor changes to allow application to other sectors for which tools have not yet been developed.

To ensure robustness and relevance, the custom process goes through an independent peer review before it is finalised as a rating tool for the project.

Greenfield provides an innovative green industrial space. It achieves this with features including sustainable energy from solar photovoltaic panels, water-wise landscaping, waterless urinals, recycling, and low-energy light fittings that complement its smart design, which uses natural light to save on lighting costs.

It also creates a healthy and appealing working environment with breakaway areas for staff, as well as shower facilities for those who cycle or run to work.

Setting new benchmarks for sustainability in the South African industrial sector, Greenfield achieved full scores for energy efficiency in its rating. It will be a key pilot project for net-zero energy buildings in the country, because the base building produces as much of its own energy as is consumed by it over the course of a year.

The GBCSA has pledged to introduce a net-zero building certification scheme and is targeting 2 500 commercial green building certifications and 10 000 residential green building certified homes in South Africa by 2020.

“We constantly pursue energy and water efficient projects to make our buildings more economical, sustainable and attractive to clients. With Greenfield, we have created a landmark industrial property that is respectful of the environment and saves its occupants money,” notes Binedell.