Park Lane West is a sleek new office building in the Menlyn Maine precinct located close to public transport, residential, entertainment and health care facilities. The precinct, which aims to create an urban environment with a distinct architectural and rich urban character, is beginning to really show the healthy lifestyle benefits of mixed used urban precincts. Park Lane West is sited within walking distance of more than ten amenities, reducing users need to travel, thus contributing to their greater wellbeing.

Designed as a multi-tenanted building with maximum flexibility to enable both large and small tenancies, this 19,900m², 7-storey building has a double volume entrance that relates well to the retail centre on the west. An impressive internal atrium covered by a steel and glass roof contains a white cantilever staircase that connects all floors and hopefully entices users to skip the lift for the stairs.

Energy and Water Strategies

To reduce the overall energy consumption of the building, the following strategies were implemented:

• Energy modelling carried out during the design stages of the building helped to reduce operational energy consumption by 42% compared to a notional building model.
• Thermal energy storage reduces the energy demand of the mechanical system and shifts the heating and cooling load off peak.
• Ongoing management of energy consumption is in place through sub-metering of tenancies and all substantive energy loads.
• Occupancy sensors positioned throughout the circulation and common areas ensure that lights are only on when needed.

Water strategies have been put in place to reduce the use of potable water through the efficient design of building systems and accurate monitoring of water consumption. The target for potable water consumption is 0.26L/day/m², reduced from 0.92L/day/m². As a result of this reduction, the building’s discharge to sewer has been reduced by 50% against an average practice benchmark.

Water saving initiatives include:

• Sanitary fittings and waterless urinals.
• Waterwise landscaping and efficient irrigation systems.
• Rainwater collected from the roof of the building is filtered and treated for external irrigation and toilet flushing.

Environmental considerations

Zendré Compion, Senior Sustainable Building Consultant, explains that the site’s ecological footprint was minimised by using a site situated within a municipal approved urban edge and by redeveloping a previously occupied site. “To reduce light pollution, outdoor lighting was designed so that no lights shine directly up into the night sky,” Zendré adds.

This is because over-lit buildings can have a devastating environmental impact on nocturnal creatures by disorientating them and changing behavioural patterns – which impacts urban ecosystems. Accordingly, the brightness of all external lighting on balconies, parking areas and walkways was aligned to the minimum required maintained illuminance for these areas.

All thermal insulating materials used in the project have an Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) of zero, ensuring no adverse impact to the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer over the long term. The project has also taken a significant step by decreasing the total amount of Portland Cement by 30% in all concrete applications, thereby minimising the consumption of energy and resources during construction. Furthermore, the building incorporates reinforcing steel with a minimum post-consumer recycled content of 54% by mass, underlining the project’s commitment to more sustainable material choices. This emphasis on material characteristics extends to the sourcing of new materials, promoting a holistic approach to responsible material selection.

Ensuring occupant wellbeing

As salaries are the highest cost to companies, all occupied areas receive large amounts of fresh air to ensure a healthy work environment. An abundant supply of outdoor air is delivered at a 66% higher rate than the SANS 10400-O standard, to counteract the accumulation of indoor pollutants. This is achieved via the energy efficient air conditioning, which allows more fresh air to be introduced into the building without increasing the building’s energy use significantly.

Furthermore, paints and carpets have low VOC content, which contributes to a heathier indoor environment for building users.

Park Lane West’s strategic location, flexible design, and focus on resource efficiency, environmental and wellbeing strategies underscore the client and project team’s vision for a more holistic and sustainable approach to mixed-use developments, and their positive impact on urban living.

Project Team

OWNER: PARKLANE WEST CO-OWNERSHIP, MENLYN MAINE INVESTMENT HOLDINGS & BARROW PROPERTIES (Pty) Ltd
ACCREDITED PROFFESSIONAL: SOLID GREEN CONSULTING
ARCHITECT: BOOGERTMAN + PARTNERS
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: BERTA WIUM LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER: RWP TAEMANE CONSULTING ENGINEERS
FIRE ENGINEER: WSP
MECHANICAL ENGINEER: C3 ENGINEERS
QUANTITY SURVEYORS: RLB PENTAD QUANTITY SURVEYORS
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS: WSP STRUCTURES AFRICA
SUSTAINABLE BUILDING CONSULTANT: SOLID GREEN CONSULTING
WET SERVICES: WSP BUILDING SERVICES AFRICA
MAIN CONTRACTOR: BARROW CONSTRUCTION
PROJECT MANAGER: BOOGERTMAN + PARTNERS & MMIH
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT: LEAP ENVIRO
INTERIOR DESIGNER: BOOGERTMAN + PARTNERS INTERIORS
OCCUPANTIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY MANAGER: CAIRNMEAD