The second phase of Nedbank’s head office in Sandton had been certified as South Africa’s first Green Star building under the Green Building Council of South Africa’s (GBSA’s) Office v1 rating tool, the company said on Wednesday.

The building, to be completed by April 2010, achieved a four-star rating, which signified “Best Practice” in green building. Design ratings were awarded at the end of the design process and are based on tender documents.

Nedbank said that in order to achieve a rating, projects needed to gain credits in the eight environmental categories of Green Star South Africa, namely management, indoor environmental quality, energy, water, transport, materials, emissions and land use and ecology.

The main elements that contributed to the four-star rating that Nedbank phase II was awarded include the full economy air conditioning system, the Dali lighting system and energy efficient light fittings, the black water treatment system, the implementation of an efficient waste recycling system, both during construction and when the building is in use, and the fact that the building would achieve a 30% energy saving when compared with a conventional building.

This includes the use of gas for cooking in the kitchens, solar heated geysers for showers, no hot water in the wash hand basins and push-through geysers which replace conventional geysers.

GBCSA CEO Nicola Douglas said in a statement that the GBCSA was “thrilled” to award its first certification.

“The Green Star South Africa rating system represents international best practice. Achievement of a rating is a significant accomplishment and this project has done extremely well to put together a successful submission less than a year after the system was launched in South Africa.”

Nedbank Group CEO Tom Boardman said that the company was proud to be pioneers in South Africa’s green movement and having its head office certified as the first Green Star rated building in South Africa showed its commitment to this.

“If we look at what is happening in Europe and Australia, green building and carbon footprint reduction is the way of the future. Nedbank is leading the way in South Africa with phase II and our announcement to go carbon neutral last month, and will continue to take ground breaking, pioneering leaps as the Green Bank.”

Nedbank has made the commitment to go carbon neutral, making it the first South African bank and large corporate to take this step.