The Green Building Council (GBC) has just awarded Millennia Park, the offices of Remgro management services, a 5-Star Green Star SA Office v1 As-Built rating. This is quite a mouthful – but also an indication of the award’s value. Remgro’s office is the first building to be awarded this rating in the Western Cape. The refurbishment of the building had been awarded a similar rating earlier, but to have the completed product classified as such signifies the application of environment friendly initiatives in the final product. It is proof that the initiatives survived the design phase and were applied during the construction of the building.

Millennia Park, the head office of Remgro Management Services Ltd, has been awarded a 5-Star Green Star SA Office v1 As-Built rating by the Green Building Council of South Africa.

This achievement is in addition to the 5-Star Green Star SA Office v1 Design rating which was awarded to Millennia Park in February 2012. The accolade was celebrated at a function at Millennia Park on 17 January where Brian Wilkinson, CEO of the Green Building Council of South Africa formally handed over a plaque to Jannie Durand, Remgro’s CEO.

Green Star SA is a comprehensive rating system which evaluates the environmental attributes and performance of South African buildings based on a number of criteria, including energy and water efficiency, indoor environment quality and resource efficiency.

The Green Star SA Design certification validates the environmental initiatives which can be demonstrated at the design stage only, while the Green Star SA As-Built certification assesses the same design initiatives that are relevant to the construction of the building.

Millennia Park was the first refurbishment project to achieve a 5-Star Green Star SA Office v1 Design rating in South Africa and is now the first building to be awarded a Green Star SA As-Built rating in the Western Cape, and the first refurbishment project in South Africa to achieve such a rating. Millennia Park is also the first project in South Africa to achieve both a 5-star Design rating and a 5-star As-Built rating.

There are currently 50 buildings which have achieved Green Star SA ratings in South Africa of which only nine buildings have achieved As-Built ratings.

A 5-Star Green Star SA certified rating recognises and rewards South African excellence.  According to a press release by Remgro the “The 5-Star Green Star SA awards for this project is testament to Remgro’s ongoing commitment to sustainable practices and recognises Remgro’s commitment to building and operating buildings which are environmentally responsible.”