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Top honors for university students at the Greenovate Awards

From left to right: Grahame Cruickshanks, Managing Executive; Market Engagement, GBCSA - Liné Grobler and Henno de Villiers, Greenovate 2019 Property Award winners and Engelbert Binedell, Chief Operating Officer at Growthpoint.
From left to right: Grahame Cruickshanks, Managing Executive; Market Engagement, GBCSA - Liné Grobler and Henno de Villiers, Greenovate 2019 Property Award winners and Engelbert Binedell, Chief Operating Officer at Growthpoint.

The University of Pretoria is the winner of the Greenovate Property Award 2019 and North West University the winner of the Greenovate Engineering Award 2019.

The prestigious Greenovate Awards acknowledge outstanding leadership in environmentally innovative thinking for the built environment at university level.

The Greenovate Awards is a joint venture initiative between South Africa’s forerunner in high-performance green buildings Growthpoint Properties and the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA). Launched in 2015, this student programme aims to educate and reward the young minds and future leaders of South Africa for innovation and green building in the built environment.

This year, Growthpoint and GBCSA have been joined by sponsors RMS Remote Metering Services, Aurecon, WSP and Ellies to deliver an initiative that is so much more than a competition; it is changing our built environment. 

The programme has two streams: the Greenovate Property Awards – covering property studies, quantity surveying and construction management – offered for the fifth time in 2019, and the Greenovate Engineering Awards – covering electrical, computer and electronic, civil and mechanical engineering – now in its third year.

This year, eighteen finalists were adjudicated from seven universities around South Africa. The wide-ranging and visionary submissions varied from sustainable societies to grey water and energy storage solutions. 

The winners were announced at a gala dinner in Sandton Central with keynote speaker Carla Sharpe, founding member of the SA Space Association and Women in Aerospace Africa, who is also responsible for business development at Africa’s largest science undertaking, the Square Kilometres Array (SKA).

Greenovate Property Awards 2019:

1.    Winners: The University of Pretoria team of Henno de Villiers and Liné Grobler supervised by Danie Hoffman, with their submission titled “Pushing back Day Zero – water-saving strategies for all”. The team won R30,000 as well as the opportunity to present at GBCSA Conference 2020, local flights and accommodation included.

2.    Second place: Neslon Mandela Bay University’s Ashvin Managa with his submission titled “Implications of a natural ventilation retrofit of an office building”, supervised by Chris Allen. The student won R15,000 as well as GBCSA Convention 2020 tickets.

3.    Third place: The University of the Witwatersrand team of Ayanda Mhlanga, Binaica Dalpat and Mzuchumile Makalima, supervised by Rolien Labuschagne, with their submission titled “The use of succulent plants to reduce the fumes in building fires”. The team won R10,000 and GBCSA Convention 2020 tickets.

Greenovate Engineering Awards 2019:

1.    Winners: North West University Lucas van Wyk, supervised Dr Henri Marais, with the submission titled “Grey-water management system”. The student won R30,000 and the opportunity to present at GBCSA Conference 2020, local flights and accommodation included.

2.    Second place: Stellenbosch University’s Stephan Olivier with the submission “Low Cost, alternative energy storage for grid-tied solar PV systems”, and with Chris Jurgens supervising. The student won R15,000 as well as GBCSA Convention 2020 tickets.

3.    Third place: University of Cape Town’s  Tariromunashe Mufunde, supervised by Dyllon Randall, with the submission “CO2 Sequestration from commercial buildings using algae”. The student won R10,000 and GBCSA Convention 2020 tickets.

WSP Buildability Award:

In addition, for the first time, this year WSP sponsored a laptop with accessories to the value of R20,000 for the submission with the best build-ability. This special prize was won by Lucas van Wyk.

Werner van Antwerpen of Growthpoint Properties, who was a judge for the competition this year and has been involved in Greenovate since its inception, says: “We are proud to recognise student green building projects with a passion to create better, more sustainable, cities, towns and neighbourhoods. It is exciting that interest and participation in the Greenovate Awards continue to grow in its fifth year, expanding awareness and creating more solutions for global climate change.

Grahame Cruickshanks, Managing Executive; Market Engagement, GBCSA, says, “The awards facilitate students’ exposure to green building and sustainability at the start of their careers, catalysing them to enter the market as advocates for green building with a passion to create and enable sustainable approaches in their professions. We are pleased to note the high standard of submissions and grateful for the opportunity to meaningfully introduce the future leaders of South Africa’s built environment sector to green building approaches.”

Greenovate Property Awards

Judging panel:

  • Hlompho Vivian, Key Accounts Manager, GBCSA.
  • Marloes Reinink, Partner, Solid Green Consulting.
  • Martin Smith, Technical Director – Buildings, Aurecon
  • Nkuli Bogopa, CEO, Broll Property Group.
  • Adrie Fourie, Senior Environmental Sustainability Designer, Aurecon.

Mentors:

  • Grahame Cruickshanks, Managing Executive; Market Engagement, GBCSA.
  • Louwna Joubert, Environmental Sustainability Designer, Aurecon.
  • Jarrod Lewin, Account Director, Broll Properties.
  • Sally Misplon, Founder, Misplon Green Building Consulting.
  • Pales Sibeko, Co-founder, Good Work Soc.

Greenovate Engineering Awards

Judging panel:

  • Mauritz Kruger, Architect – Principal Specialist, Royal Haskoning DHV.
  • Jenni Lombard, Technical Director, GBCSA.
  • Werner van Antwerpen, Corporate Finance, Growthpoint Properties.
  • Mike Aldous, Associate – Green Building & Sustainability Services, Mott MacDonald.
  • Yogesh Gooljar, Building Performance Engineer, PJ Carew Consulting.
  • Alison Groves, Regional Director, WSP.

Mentors:

  • Nardo Snyman, National Sustainability Manager, Excellerate.
  • Dash Coville, Sustainable Building Consultant, Solid Green.
  • Hlologelo Manthose, Sustainability Consultant, WSP.
  • Vere Shaba, Founder, Shaba Green Building Design and Engineering.