Two Century City office buildings developed by the Rabie Property Group have received 4 Star Green Star SA Office v1 – As Built ratings from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).

They are the Business Centre and No 3 Bridgeway which were previously both awarded 4 Star Green Star SA Office v1 – Design ratings from the GBCSA.

These bring to seven the number of Green Star Ratings awarded to Century City buildings to date including the first 5 Star Green Star SA Office v1 – Design rating for Aurecon which was also developed by the Rabie Property Group.

Colin Anderson, a director of the Rabie Property Group, says since then Chevron has also received a 5 Star Green Star SA Office v1 – Design rating and has also applied for a Green Star rating in the As Built category.

The seventh Green Star rating – a 4 Star Green Star SA Office v1 – Design – was awarded to Horizon Capital’s Ibis House in The Estuaries Office Park

Chevron, The Business Centre and No 3 Bridgeway – which is home to Philip Morris South Africa – are all situated in the Bridgeways precinct which is being sustainably designed in its entirety and where a R1billion Urban Square with a 900 seat conference centre, a business hotel, offices, showrooms and apartments is now also under construction and registered with the GBCSA for a Green Star rating.

Bridgeways is also home to Bridge Park East and West, an 18 000 square metre office development  being undertaken in a joint venture between Rabie Property Group and Growthpoint which is going for a  5-Star Green Star SA Office v1 – Design rating.

A number of other buildings under construction at Century City are also going for Green Star ratings. These include:

• AssetMatrix’s Estuaries Plaza, recently rebranded Old Mutual Wealth, which is registered with  the Green Building Council  of South Africa with a view towards achieving a 4-Star Green Star SA Office v1 – As Built rating.
• AssetMatrix’s No 17 Park Lane, due for completion at the end of 2014, which is aiming for a 5-Star Green Star SA Office v1 – Design rating.

Work on Phase 2 of Aurecon, which is being developed by the Ingenuity Property Investments, is due to start in January 2015 and this too will be registered with the GBCSA going after a 5 Star Green Star SA Office v1- Design rating.

Anderson said Rabie was committed to developing green buildings wherever possible.

“We do not believe that Green Buildings are that much more expensive, certainly when compared to a corporate building.  If one considers that the property business is a cashflow business, then anything which can improve the cashflow must make commercial sense.  Internationally, green buildings have been known to achieve higher rentals than lower rated properties and are in higher demand as more tenants start to demand sustainable buildings.

“More tenants are starting to understand the principle of total cost of occupation and therefore are not using the rate per square metre as the sole determining factor when choosing new premises.

“The Green Star Rating process not only strives to make buildings far more efficient, it also encourages professionals to design buildings to be better and more efficient spaces from which to work. Therefore,  a Green Rated Building is more likely to be a ‘future-proofed’ building which will result in improved rental growth and higher capital values, compared with unrated buildings which may experience longer periods of vacancy and potentially become obsolete,” he said.