Rudolph Pienaar. Growthpoint Properties Office Division Director.
Growthpoint Properties is investing R117.3 million in a new green office development, dubbed The Boulevard, in its latest investment in the Parkside precinct of Umhlanga New Town Centre.
Construction on phase one of the building, which represents 5,441sqm of GLA, began in November 2014 and is targeted to be complete in March 2016.The potential bulk on the entire site for The Boulevard phase one and two is 9,756sqm. When it is fully developed, the Boulevard will result in the completion of a city block of green buildings in the precinct, providing A Grade office space of 22000sqm.
Growthpoint was involved in the development and owns the landmark Lincoln on the Lake and Mayfair on the Lake office buildings in Parkside. Both of these buildings have 4-Star As-Built Green Star SA ratings from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA). In fact, Lincoln on the Lake was the first 4-Star As-Built Green Star rating for a multi tenanted office building in the country back in 2012.
The Boulevard is also targeting 4-Star Design and As-Built Green Star SA ratings from the GBCSA. It is one of two new green office developments that Growthpoint has underway in Umhlanga Ridge, north of the Durban city centre. The other is the 6,680sqm Ridgeview development in the Ridgeside precinct of Umhlanga Ridge, which is also earmarked to be a 4-Star Green Star SA rated office building.
“Lincoln on the Lake was the first property development in Growthpoint’s portfolio to secure a Green Star SA As Built rating from the GBCSA. Now, with development of The Boulevard, we are excited to see the completion of a city block of green buildings right here in Umhlanga,” comments Greg de Klerk, Regional KZN Head of Growthpoint Properties.
Rudolf Pienaar, Growthpoint Properties Office Division Director, adds: “Our Lincoln on the Lake and Mayfair on the Lake office buildings in Umhlanga New Town Centre were pioneering green building developments in the Growthpoint portfolio. We have come a long way and now have six Green Star SA rated buildings in our portfolio countrywide and several more under development, which have been submitted or will be submitted to the GBCSA for Green Star certification.”
Growthpoint has secured international engineering consultancy firm, Royal HaskoningDHV, to lease almost half of the space in phase one of the development. Royal HaskoningDHV will take up the entire top floor and the majority of the third floor of The Boulevard.
Growthpoint’s business relationship with the firm goes beyond the lease. Royal HaskoningDHV are the environmental consultants and consulting engineers on the development. The Boulevard is the fifth Growthpoint green building development on which it has partnered with Royal HaskoningDHV.
“As an anchor tenant we believe it is in the best interest of our employees to design an environmentally-friendly building, towards creating a thriving green urban precinct,” says Dominic Collett of Royal HaskoningDHV. “The Boulevard has been custom-designed to be a cutting-edge showpiece of green design in Umhlanga.”
In order to comply with the rating certification of the GBCSA, the consultants on the development have carefully built the following elements into the design and construction of the building: environmental management, construction and operational waste management, indoor environment quality, energy efficiency, reduction of water consumption by harvesting rain water, the structural frame has been opitimised and storm water attenuation reduces peak flows.
“We have incorporated ‘Green Mobility” into the design as we prepare the building for a 4-Star GBCSA design rating. Not only are these offices easily accessible to public transport, they will also feature an electric bike charging point to allow employees to ride to work and thereby minimise carbon emissions,” comments Collett.
The innovation is aimed at contributing to decongesting this high density area of vehicle traffic. Growthpoint and Royal HaskoningDHV have also partnered with Cycology on the project in spearheading a new trend of green mobility in urban precincts.
Designed by Elphick Proome Architects and with FWJK the appointed quantity surveyors, The Boulevard’s first phase comprises four levels, which includes arcaded retail space at pavement level, with three levels of offices above ground. In addition, it will have three basement parking levels. The development adds to the “new urbanism” environment within Umhlanga New Town Centre and interfaces with the high street in the precinct.
The office building will be structured around a central landscaped courtyard and the planning envisages restaurants and retail spilling beyond the arcade onto the high street, delivering a lively edge to the street environment.
