The annual Greenovate Awards give South Africa’s most dynamic research students the opportunity to put their knowledge into action – and commercial developments feature strongly in the list of winning projects.
In this article, we take a look at the Greenovate Awards in detail with a focus on commercial property.
Designing a greener future
When final-year and honours design students get together and share ideas about sustainable buildings, the resulting projects paint a greener picture of tomorrow.
Drawing participants from all of South Africa’s major universities, the Greenovate Awards encourage students to imagine, design and present research projects related to the built environment.
The projects incorporate sustainability and green thinking at all levels, and include:
- Green building systems
- Energy-efficient designs
- Innovative materials
- Environmentally responsible building management systems
- Holistic developments that benefit owners, tenants, communities and the environment
2016 winners focus on commercial building users
The most recent Greenovate Award recipients, Cédric Fournier and Priscilla Nthai from the University of Cape Town, studied the perception of green building practices among office building users.
By understanding the needs and opinions of the people who use commercial property premises on a daily basis, they hope to design buildings in the future that serve their users to the fullest, while still contributing to environmental sustainability.
The holistic approach taken by these award-winning research students as they strive to understand the needs of office workers shows their deep commitment to creating commercial properties that are pleasant and productive spaces.
Implementing green thinking in SA’s future
The second- and third-place winners, Nthabiseng Makgabo and Bongiwe Dlamini from Wits University and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Lungelo Gcwabaza, focused on the choice between green and traditional buildings, attitudes toward green practices and challenges in implementing them.
With South Africa’s brightest young engineering minds paying particular attention to green building technology and how society reacts to it, our future looks increasingly sustainable.
The insights that the Greenovate Awards winners have gained will assist them as they create user-friendly and sustainable commercial developments in the future.
If you’d like to embrace the future by renting commercial premises in a green building, contact us today. We have an extensive portfolio of properties that will suit your requirements.
