Nedbank Head Office Goes Green
Receives the first Green Star SA Building certification
The new phase to the Sandton-based Nedbank Head Office, which is scheduled for completion in April 2010, will provide new accommodation for 3,000 employees over eight levels and will incorporate ground-floor retail spaces envisaged to ‘present an active edge to the public realm’ along the Maude Street entrance.
While adding about 40 000m2 to the footprint of the company, the design of this new building incorporated many innovative green initiatives to limit their carbon footprint through the expansion. Working alongside GLH Architects and environmental consultants, Green By Design, Nedbank Phase 2 received the country’s first Green Star SA Building certification, which signifies ‘best practice’ in green building.
Completing the Nedbank Head Office Campus is the recently developed Phase 2, which in addition to providing much needed office accommodation and interactive retail component, has propelled the development within the ‘green’ industry through its environmentally conscientious designs.
Achieving a Timeless Design
Continuing the development from the first to the second phase, many of the design attributes carried through onto Phase 2. However, unlike the heavy emphasis on internal executive spaces in phase one, Nedbank desired more space for open-plan offices, retail and atriums, while still retaining elements from the previous phase such as internal landscaped gardens, boardrooms, meeting areas and a canteen / restaurant.
Another aspect carried over, was the architectural language from the first phase, completed a decade prior to commencing with Phase 2’s design.
The original brief required a ‘timeless, classic design’ for the Nedbank, Xavier Huybrechts of GLH Architects says, “We wanted a classical theme that would not easily become dated. We used a classical way of designing, but modernised it, by ‘cheating the scales’ with techniques such as having long windows and lots of curtain walls.”
“We feel that we have achieved the timeless element the client sought, since it is difficult to place a date on when the building was designed and the fact that ten years after the original design of phase one, the client did not request any modernisation or change in the style. This is proof that the design is timeless,” continues Huybrechts.
A unique attribute of Nedbank’s building, which certainly adds to the mystic of the building, while putting it in a class of its own, is the source of the building material.
“We used a limestone called Crema Marfill that gives a light and slightly goldish feel to the building. The limestone originates from a single mountain in Portugal and is shipped in. The local limestone is much darker and does not give the necessary luminious, lighter appeal of Crema Marfill, which is also gentle and soft to the touch. This limestone furthers the timeless characteristic of the building and is unique to the Nedbank building,” says Huybrechts.
Greening the Environment
The esteemed recognition was based on tender documents and was awarded at the end of the design process. In order to achieve a rating, projects needed to gain credits in eight environmental categories of Green Star SA—management, indoor environmental quality, energy, water, transport, materials, emissions and land use and ecology.
The main elements that contributed to the Four Star rating Nedbank Phase 2 received was based on the building’s full economy air-conditioning system; the Dali lighting system and energy efficient light fittings; the Black Water Treatment System; the implementation of an efficient waste recycling system; and a host of other initiatives including the fact that the building will achieve 30per cent energy savings compared to a conventional building.
Nicola Douglas, CEO of Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) recently commented on the first South African certification. “The Green Star SA rating system represents international best practice. Achievement of a rating is a significant accomplishment and this project has done extremely well to put together a successful submission less than a year after the system was launched in SA.”
Nedbank Group chief executive, Tom Boardman, stated, “We are proud to be pioneers in South Africa’s green movement and having our head office certified as the first Green Star rated building in South Africa shows our commitment to this. Looking at what’s happening in Europe and Australia, green building and carbon footprint reduction is the way of the future. Nedbank is leading the way in South Africa with Phase 2 and our recent announcement to go carbon neutral. We will continue to take groundbreaking, pioneering leaps as the Green Bank.”
PROJECT TEAM
| Client / Developer | Nedbank |
Environmental Consultants |
Green By Design |
Project Manager |
Coffey Projects |
Architects |
Grosskopff Lombart Huyberechts and Associates Architects |
Quantity Surveyor |
SBDS Construction Consultants LDM Quantity Surveyors (Jhb) Inc. |
Structural Engineer |
WSP Structures |
Electrical Engineer |
Claasen Auret Inc. |
Mechanical Engineer |
Aurecon (Africon) |
Wet Service Engineer |
WSP Group |
Facade Engineering |
CW Michau |
Fire Engineering nbsp |
Trevor Williams Consulting Engineers |
Safety Consultancy |
Africon |
Business Improvement Consultants |
OIM International |
Surveyor |
Charley Crowther Surveyors |
Main Contractor |
Group Five Building |
