We are fortunate to have shared several project milestones with our clients, and we congratulate them on their commitment to sustainable building practices. These include projects in South Africa as well as other African countries:

• the In2food Bonaero Park facility, one of the few industrial facilities in South Africa achieving both 4-Star Green Star Industrial Design v1 and Net Zero Carbon Level 1 certifications;
• 203 Oxford and 8 Parks Boulevard, which were developed by Intaprop in the Oxford Parks precinct, and which both achieved 5-Star Green Star Office v1.1. Design certifications;
• the new Balwin Headquarters, a refurbishment of the iconic Creative Council building on Corlett Drive in Johannesburg, was awarded a 6-star Green Star Office Design v1.1 rating and is targeting Net Zero Carbon and Net Zero Waste certifications;
• several lifestyle centres for Balwin Properties’ portfolio, including the Greenlee Greenbarn in Linbro Park, the Greenpark Lifestyle Centre in Boksburg, Ballito Hills Lifestyle Centre in KZN, and the De Zicht Lifestyle Centre in Milnerton, Cape Town – all of which received Net Zero Carbon and 6-Star Green Star Public & Education Building (PEB) Design certifications earlier this year.
• Motswere Prime Plaza II, an A-grade office space for Primetime Holdings in Gaborone, Botswana, achieved its 5-Star Green Star Office Design v1.1 rating in May 2021.

As always, our top achievement is the dedication of our team – our people are our greatest asset.

Marloes Reinink was one of the winners under the ‘Green Building’ category of the 17th edition of the Mail & Guardian’s Greening the Future flagship awards. The programme celebrates the dedication of environmental and sustainability trailblazers who are working towards ensuring that CO2 emissions decrease within prescribed bounds to limit the precarious rise in global temperatures.

This year’s Ghana Green Building Summit (GGBS), held from 23-24 September, centred around the theme ‘Rethinking Operations Management for High Performance Buildings’. On Day 2, Chilufya Lombe moderated the panel discussion “The Zero Game – Is the Race to Net Zero Buildings a Fad?”, which looked at the prominent place of net zero on the African agenda.

Earlier this year, under our new strategy for the coming years, we decided to establish a new department, Sustainable Cities & Research, headed up by sustainability expert, Adrie Fourie. This work focuses on providing support to our clients and delivery partners on projects that have an impact beyond the scale of individual buildings.

We were also thrilled to be able to welcome four new people to our team, especially in these uncertain times. Cebisa Mafukuzela, a sustainability consultant with a B. Architectural Studies from NMU, is passionate about finding architectural solutions with sustainability as the core driver in design decisions. Elri Syfert holds a B. Arch from NMU, and her passion is to actively make a positive impact on the environment as an Accredited Professional in green buildings by realising the client’s vision in a mindful way.

Ruth Ndlovu, who is performance driven and goal-oriented, has a diploma in Economics and Management Sciences through UNISA and is pursuing a B. Comm Accounting degree. Samantha Phiri, who believes in staying up to date with current technology and developments in the economy and environment, studied Accountancy at UJ and is the process of obtaining her CIMA qualification.

We are especially proud of the dedicated, powerful members of our team who brought home GBCSA Leadership Awards from the GBCSA’s Green Building Convention! These were Zendré Compion, the accredited professional on the Balwin Head Quarters, which placed 2^nd for the Highest Rated Building category; Dashiell Coville, who was named runner up for Established Green Star; and Alex Varughese, who was named runner up for Rising Green Star.

Our whole team of super-cool and committed people is continuing the journey of our sector-leading sustainability work from our new office in Parkhurst. A lot of work has gone into ensuring that these new offices reflect our values and ethos of regenerative design and development, and this includes creating a beautiful and functional garden for our team.

To our clients, team, collaborators and suppliers – as always, thank you for your ongoing presence. You make our work possible and our journey meaningful!