As we were reading through the GBCSA’s Annual Integrated Report 2021 and looked at the table of certified buildings that year, some celebratory statistics came to the fore. A total of 139 projects were certified by the GBCSA in 2021 under the New Buildings, Existing Building Performance, Energy Water Performance, Interior, Net Zero, and EDGE tools.

Of the 34 Green Star New Building certifications in 2021, Solid Green was the Green Star accredited professional (AP) on 20 buildings – this is a 59% market share of all New Building certifications in 2021. There were 9 buildings that received Net Zero certifications, and Solid Green managed the certification process of 8 of these (89%). Below is an overview of the buildings that received certification managed by Solid Green. This is a major achievement. We are very grateful to our clients for trusting us with their Green Building aspirations, and to our team for managing the Green Star process for our clients so efficiently and effectively.

Green Star Tool Overhaul

The Green Star tool has been in existence since 2008 and Nedbank Phase II (135 Rivonia) was the first building that achieved a Green Star certification in 2009. Now, in 2022, the Green Star tool is undergoing a major renovation and update, which will bring a whole new dimension to green building certifications. There are some exciting and challenging changes coming. Several members of the Solid Green team are intimately involved in the Green Star V2 process as category leaders and category supports. Adrie is leading the Place Category and Annelide is category leader on the Health & Wellbeing Category; Alex and Dash are team members on the Positive Category, and Alex is also on the team of the Health & Wellbeing Category; Nomamfengu and Cebisa are on the People Category team, and Elri is a team member for the Resilient Category.

Solid Greeners seeking greener pastures

In the last year we have also had to say goodbye to some valued staff members who have decided to continue their green career elsewhere. Early in the year, Zendré Compion left Solid Green to seek greener pastures with her own company. Jeffy Pallamattan emigrated to New Zealand but is continuing his work with Solid Green, just on the other side of the world. In July we had to say goodbye to Alex Varughese, who is taking up a modeling role at the green department within WSP. And in August, Dash Coville left Solid Green after 10 years of being a Solid Greener; he is going to further his career at the GBCSA in the Technical Team. We wish Zendré, Alex and Dash all the best and we certainly going to miss them on the team. August also saw a new incoming Solid Greener – Thato Molapo joined as a junior modeling and simulation consultant; and we will also welcome some new faces in October, but more about that in the next Solid Green update.

28 Green Star Certified Buildings in 2021

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• 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!

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