SA: Ellerine developes new Head office block
Ellerine Holdings new head office block was developed to consolidate its operations in Bedfordview, Ellis Park and Durban into a single, centralised entity.
“The new head office will bring management and the departments that provide supportive services to our operational leg closer together, ensuring greater cohesion and maximising the consolidated efforts of the head office functional services,” says Jaco Mostert, Business Development Executive of Ellerine and Project Manager of the new development.
“A united management and operational structure will establish Ellerine Holdings in a dominant position at the front of the retail furniture industry, and the new Ellerine Holdings head office is just the place from which to start.” Adds Jaco.
Located off Marlboro Road in Sandton the recently developed Ellerine head office block, almost did not manifest in this location. Initially designed for a luxury car dealership, the architects had a challenge in redesigning the building for an office block within an extremely tight time frame.Completed in August 2009, Ellerine has centralised their national operations in the development of a new chic head office block.
“We were already halfway through with constructing the car dealership, when in September 2008, it had to be reconfigured in a week for Ellerine, due to falling through of the previous client,” says Stavros Loizos of Giannini Loizos Architects.
The new site is conveniently situated next to the highway and existing building (EL2) occupied by Ellerine, which was refurbished and connected to the new building (EL1) by a link bridge and sky canteen. The new building has been designed and adapted specifically to suite the company’s needs and accommodates approximately 600 staff.
Design
Completed in 11 months after the redesign, the EH1’s facade design attempted to deal with its context on each side. There is a central landscaped courtyard in the middle of the development for company functions or leisure for staff. On the facade facing the courtyard plenty of glazing options were implemented allowing an abundance of natural light and ventilation. Yet, the same design could not be applied to the facade facing the nearby highway. Due to the noise emanating from the traffic, the designers opted against the placement of many large windows, rather they utilised that space for corporate branding instead.
With what can be best described as a ‘overflying box’, the main entrance has been addressed with angled concrete columns that support the ‘Box ‘ . The four-storey office exhibits highlights of plaster and paint and many large windows clad in aluminium with protruding louvers that shieldi the windows from excessive heat gain.
A relatively straight-forward build, Loizos reports the most significant challenge related to the ubiquitous ground water sprouting throughout the site.
“We were pumping out 40 000 litres a day and there were health concerns as it was reported that the water had the ecoli virus in it. Drains had to be created to prevent it from seeping into the development.” Explains Mostert
Some of the ground water has been used for irrigation and in the cisterns. Lights equipped with motion sensors will conserve energy and cost by activating or deactivating via detecting the presence of people in an area.
“With the advantages achieved through this project, Ellerine Holdings can have a bright future and be a powerful force in a recovering economy,” concludes Mostert.
PROJECT TEAM
| Client | Georgiou Group |
| Project Manager/Tenant Fitout | Ellerine Holding |
| Project Management | Proman Project Management Services |
| Quantity Surveyor | Quanticost Quantity Surveyors |
| Land Surveyor | Don Cameron & Associates |
| Architect | Giannini Loizos Architects |
| Interior Designer | Giant Leap |
