Abacus DIVISIONS October 2011 News !
New R60 Million Green Building at Route 21 Sets the trend! – Abacus DIVISIONS
It seems the ‘go green’ trend in the property market is on the increase, with another developer at the R2 billion office park development, Route 21 Office Park in Irene, developing a 4 200 square metre R60 million customised green building – with the developer taking “a twenty to thirty year view” on the investment.
This is according to Org Geldenhuys, managing director of property development company, Abacus DIVISIONS – which is also actively involved in development within Route 21.
Geldenhuys said the green building movement is gaining in popularity but could be potentially hamstrung going forward due to the fact that additional upfront costs often need to be factored in.
“Building green buildings is arguably the way to go – or to upgrade existing buildings into green buildings – but there are concomitant costs associated with this exercise and the problem is: just who is going to foot these additional costs?
“Going the green route is generally more popular with owner-occupied buildings – basically because the owner can reap the benefits over time of the additional costs. But when it comes to multi-tenant office and retail spaces, there is a slower uptake. Tenants are often reluctant to pay a premium for green buildings.”
In the case of the new R60m green building development at Route 21, however, Geldendhuys said the owner is prepared to take a “20 to 30 year view of his investment”.
Green features of the building
The new building will be 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 will also include 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. Geldenhuys also said that energy efficient glass would be used throughout the building, which acts to reduce the heat load on the building – and therefore less heating and cooling is required.
Motion sensors will also be used in the bathrooms and basements to switch off lights when the area is not in use.
LED lights and florescent strip lights will be used, 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 will make use of passive lighting via curtain glass walls to allow for natural sunlight in the lobby area.
There will also be water saving in the bathrooms via Giberit dual flush toilet systems, as well as Hans Grohe automatic taps.