The construction of South Africa’s first 5-star rated green building was a challenge taken on by Murray & Roberts Western Cape as a project that would showcase its ability to meet the exacting demands of the Green Building Council of South Africa’s (GBCSA) Green Star SA ratings.
Chris Prodehl, senior contracts manager at Murray & Roberts Western Cape, says, “Bidding for the appointment as the main contractor on Aurecon’s new office building in Century City required careful scrutiny of the contractual requirements. Prior to this contract we’d had limited exposure to handling projects with high-end green star accreditation as a priority objective.
“Our risk analysis indicated that our existing skills and expertise were of a standard that allowed us to submit a tender and it was the lowest of the six received.
“Our strategy was to ensure that every member of our project team understood the green requirements of the project. We submitted an environmental management plan to the client that included a method statement for each activity.”
The building comprises semi-basement level parking, a ground floor with an external parking deck, three levels of office space and a roof with garden and entertainment level. It provides 7 402m² of commercial office space and 6 138m² of parking.
The Murray & Roberts Western Cape project team as well as all subcontractors had to meet the extensive list of requirements to gain the points necessary to achieve the required rating.
“We implemented the green approach from the first day on site in August 2010, starting with the structural work,” Prodehl says. “Silt sumps were constructed for the cleaning of concrete plant and equipment and water was tested for compliance prior to being pumped out to municipal sewers during the construction period.
“Members of the construction team had attended a green star related course conducted by EnviroServ where they were trained on the use of two spill kits provided by EnviroServ for use on the project site. In the event of any spillage of hazardous materials, a spill kit was available for the clean-up of the material, which was then placed in the hazardous material store to be removed by EnviroServ.”
Regarding management of waste, an estimated 90% of waste such as steel and rubble was recycled and quarterly waste reports were kept to track performance.
All timber used in the project was certified to have been harvested from sustainable forests and extensive use was made of recycled materials. An estimated 90% of the steel reinforcing comprised recycled product.
The use of products such as paints, glues and carpets was limited to those which had a lower than allowable volatile organic compound (VOC) content and HDPE products were installed for all drainage and other plumbing applications.
Environmental requirements extended to the transport of building materials and points were awarded for sourcing materials as close as possible to the site.
A construction timeframe of 12 months was set for the project and the hand-over was successfully undertaken in July 2011. A monthly monitoring of building performance and a full re-commissioning 12 months after practical completion are required in terms of the contract.
The building was designed by Maas and Coetzee Architects and Aurecon was responsible for the design of all the engineering services.
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