The 7,223m² Bloukrans building in the Lynnwood Bridge Retail and Office Park development precinct in Pretoria, owned by JSE-listed Attacq Limited. It is one of two buildings in the precinct that has secured a 5-Star Green Star SA Office v1 Design rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).
The latest development phase of Attacq’s Lynnwood Bridge Retail and Office Park has achieved a 5-Star Green Star SA Office v1 Design rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA), placing it among South Africa’s leading green buildings.
The final phase of this landmark Pretoria precinct has earned the proud green badge for two A-grade office buildings, Kaaimans and Bloukrans, of a combined 12,000m² with a shared podium, parking basement, visitor parking and security site. Each building comprises six storeys, served by five basement levels and a central atrium.
Owned by Attacq, developed by Atterbury Property and designed by Studio 3 Architects International, with sustainability consultants Aurecon, the iconic office towers are the final phase of the now 75,000 Lynnwood Bridge mixed-use commercial precinct.
Morné Wilken, CEO of Attacq, comments: “High quality assets like Lynnwood Bridge Retail and Office Park play an important role in meeting Attacq’s investment strategy. We place a high importance on green building as it underpins the marketability and competitiveness of our properties, the sustainability of our business, ensures operational savings over the long term and delivers measurable environmental benefits.”
JSE-listed Attacq is a capital growth fund in the real estate sector that focuses on sustainable capital appreciation through the development and ownership of a balanced portfolio of properties with contractual income streams. Attacq’s current market capitalisation is in excess of R16 billion.
Attacq now has four GBCSA Green Star SA rated buildings in its portfolio. It also owns Group Five’s cutting-edge new head office at Waterfall accredited with five office design green stars, Majestic Offices in Newtown, which have earned four office design green stars and, also at Lynnwood Bridge, Aurecon Tshwane with its four green stars for office design.
The towers have been thoughtfully constructed with lots of smart, green tactics incorporated. They include rainwater harvesting which will collect, store, treat and use large quantities of rain from the building’s roof and surrounding paving, to be used for tasks like toilet flushing. The building’s façade details are not only attractive, but control heat from the sun entering the buildings through the full-height glazing, yet let in plenty of natural light. Instead of water-cooled chillers, it uses air-cooled ones. The buildings are also designed for lots of fresh air and efficient lighting, occupancy sensors, and have a fine tuned building management system.
There’s plenty of place for nature at these buildings that feature roof gardens, timber decking, cobbles and landscaped shrubs chosen to keep watering to a minimum. And, the towers also offer benefits for people striving to keep their own environmental footprint light, with 35 prime designated parking bays for hybrid vehicles and motorcycles, and secure storage for 40 bicycles with the added benefit of changing facilities and lockers.
It’s little wonder these multi-tenant buildings are already attracting big names in business. Citadel Wealth Management has moved into some 3,330m²over three floors at the Kaaimans building, where Aurecon, which already has offices at Lynnwood Bridge, has taken the opportunity to expand into 3,590m² on the top three floors, which are linked to its existing building by a link bridge.
The 7,223m² Bloukrans building is a flexible, multi-tenant workspace that is already home to radio station Groot FM, Stratus Computers and Atterbury, which has taken up the entire top floor of the tower. Debbie Theron of Attacq explains that demand for space at Lynnwood Bridge Retail and Office Park is refreshingly positive, defying the trend of South Africa’s sluggish office market, and expects swift take up of the available 3 513.63 sqm.
Besides an extraordinary quality environment, the precinct’s strong appeal also benefits from its superb access just off the N1 highway at Lynnwood Road. The offices are well served by public transport including the Gautrain bus service. The towers are mere steps away from the Lynwood Bridge Retail development, with its vibrant restaurant and retail offering which now links, via the new Daventry Road Bridge, with the neighbouring Glenfair Boulevard, also owned by Attacq.
