Abacus DIVISIONS August 2012 News !
First Green Tenants for R 60 Million Green Building at Route 21 Corporate Park- Abacus DIVISIONS
The property marketers of The Route 21 Corporate Park business development, Abacus DIVISIONS , has announced that it has signed its first “green” tenants for a R60 million environmentally friendly building, built during the latter part of 2011.
Org Geldenhuys, managing director of property management company, Abacus DIVISIONS , -the company with the mandate to manage rentals at the newly-completed green building – said: “We are happy to announce that we have signed two new tenants for Route 21 Corporate Park’s green R60 million office building, signaling a definite trend among landlords and tenants to move towards environmentally friendly buildings.” One of the new tenants is 4PL.com, a dynamic supply chain business, which signed a lease for five years.
Commenting further, Geldenhuys said the owner of the building – Giflo Investments – has taken a “twenty to thirty year view” on the R60 million investment, saying the 4 200 square metre building is one of the largest “true green buildings” built in the Pretoria area.
He said the green building movement is gaining momentum in South Africa, mirroring a growing trend internationally. “One of the obstacles to the growth of green buildings could be the potentially negative factor going forward that additional upfront costs often need to be factored in.
Building green buildings is a positive development – as is the trend to upgrade existing buildings into fully-functioning green buildings – but there are concomitant costs associated with going this route. With the additional costs to ‘going green’, a question arises surrounding just who is going to pay for these costs. “Going green,” said Geldenhuys, “is generally proving more popular when it comes to owner-occupied buildings – basically due to the fact that the owner can reapthe benefits over a longer period, thereby justifying the higher investment, and also enabling a healthy profit to be made. However, when it comes to multi-tenant office and retail spaces there is often a slower uptake as tenants are often reluctant to pay a premium for green buildings.
Brendan Pearson, group managing director of 4PL.Group, said: “We chose the building because we like its green elements. It signals the way of the future – the way offices should be built - and we also liked its location to two main highways, its visibility, and the high levels of security and aesthetics at Route 21 Corporate Park.. I don’t think any other building in Route 21 Corporate Park comes close to the level of finishes and features of this building. Additionally, the parking ratio of 5.5 vehicles per 100m2 also played a pivotal role in our decision. This was really a no-brainer. The quality of buildings in Route 21 Corporate Park is top grade – this one is just in a grade of its own.”
Commenting further, Abacus DIVISIONS ’ Geldenhuys said that the two new “green tenants”chose the green building despite more favourable rates being offered by other buildings. “This concurs with our view that green buildings will attract better tenants for longer lease periods – and they will command higher lease rates than other buildings. It is the way of the future.” Geldenhuys said he expects to fill the remainder of the building “soon”.
Green features of the building
The new building has been developed with a long list of green features.
This includes variable refrigerant volume (VRV) air conditioner units that reduce the number of units from 96 air conditioners in a conventional system to just 16 units in the VRV system. Power saving with the VRV system is estimated to be 50% less than conventional systems, which makes a huge impact on the building’s future operating costs.
It also includes the use of rainwater and groundwater harvesting, a process which sees water being stored in a 150 000 litre sump for re-use in the building and gardens. Energy efficient glass has also been used throughout the building, which acts to reduce the heat load on the building – and therefore less heating and cooling is required.
Motion sensors have also been used in the bathrooms and basements to switch off lights when the area is not in use.
LED lights and florescent strip lights are standard, which are much more energy efficient than traditional halogen lights. In addition, sunscreens on the western façade of the building are expected to reduce the heat load from the western sun, while the lobby area makes use of passive lighting via curtain glass walls to allow for natural sunlight in the lobby area.
There is also be water saving in the bathrooms via Giberit dual flush toilet systems, as well as Hans Grohe automatic taps.