Infrastructure group Aveng has announced the shortlisting of two of its construction projects – the Department of Environmental Affairs' (DEA's) headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa, and the Riverbank Precinct Pedestrian Footbridge project, in Adelaide, South Australia – in the 2015 British Construction Industry Awards’ (BCIA’s) International Project of the Year category.

The DEA office, which was designed and built by a joint venture between Aveng Grinaker-LTA and constrution group Keren Kula, became the third six-star Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) design-rated building in South Africa and the first government-owned green building upon its completion in 2014.

The building was the result of a public–private partnership between the Imvelo Concession and the DEA and was designed to allow a significant amount of natural light, external views and open space, while ensuring low wastage and easy maintenance.

“Adding to the ‘greenness’ of the building is the country’s largest rooftop photovoltaic installation, as well as solar thermal systems for hot water. This shortlisting is not the first accolade for this building, which was also awarded the highest score for a large commercial office space of this magnitude by the GBCSA,” Aveng outlined in a statement.

The second project, built by Aveng’s McConnell Dowell business, was a 255-m-long, 8-m-wide bridge that connected the Adelaide central business district to the North Adelaide Parklands, the highly acclaimed Adelaide Oval and Memorial Drive.

The structure had 2 600 white glass panels attached to its surface, while the design, which featured 2000 m2 of curved laminated glass cladding, mirrored the River Torrens.

The design of the bridge, which was commissioned by South Australia's Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, included built-in programmable coloured light-emiting diode lights, which ran along its edge and within its large glass columns, allowing for lighting to be changed to reflect various occasions.