Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe on Monday unveiled the new headquarters of Statistics South Africa – a giant green building near the Freedom Park monument in Salvokop, Pretoria, – which swallowed over R1-billion during its construction phase.

“ISIbalo House has been constructed at the tune of about R1.4-billion. It is the initiative of our government to encourage public private partnerships in the construction industry. This project has brought national government departments, the Gauteng provincial government, and the Tshwane Metro as well as the private sector to pull together in a manner that continues to assure us that working together we can do it,” Radebe said at the building’s unveiling.

“I am proud to say that the project to build this state-of-the-art building took only 18 months to complete. There is a considerable number of jobs that were created during the construction phase and we trust that more jobs will be created in the future. This is in line with our Extended Public Works Programme which seeks to create jobs for our people. The jobs created here at ISIbalo House have touched the lives of our people, especially the youth.”

Moving forward, Radebe urged Stats SA to modernise its systems, taking advantage of the technological advancements in data collection to produce fast and more accurate statistics for the nation.

“What is demanded of Stats SA is a complete culture change to accommodate the advent of technology and data revolution combined. We have known throughout history that societies that fail to adapt to technological changes have become obsolete,” said Radebe.

“It is 22 years since the dawn of democracy in our country, Stats SA has become a household brand of official statistics. As Stats SA expands its footprint throughout the country, we should do so in such a manner that does not let success breed complacency.”

Stats SA is now fully based at the new four-star graded green building after being previously housed in four separate buildings across Pretoria. ISIbalo House was awarded a four-star rating by the Green Building Council of South Africa for its energy efficiency and the use of environment friendly construction methods and material. To save on consumption of water, the building has its own rain water harvesting mechanism, as well as borehole and a water purification system. Most of the electrical appliances in the building are operated on solar power to minimise reliance on the national power grid.

Construction started in 2014, and created more than 7 000 job opportunities in the construction sector