Office development 7 Parks Boulevard, built by construction company Concor, has earned a Green Star 6 star rating in terms of the Green Building Council of South Africa’s Green Star rating system.

The office on the corner of Parks boulevard and EasBwood Road in the Oxford Park precinct of Rosebank, Gauteng, and developed by Intaprop, also earned a Net-Zero Level 1 certification.

The building scored high, at 75 points, for its performance in a range of indices, including indoor environmental quality, energy, transport, water, materials, land use, ecology, emissions and innovations, Concor says.

Its sustainable building features include access to external views and plenty of natural daylight, which are important environmental strategies to enhance the wellbeing of the building’s users.

7 Parks Boulevard has sub-metering of major energy- and water-consuming systems in place, and water-efficient fittings have been installed to limit occupant water use.

The building also minimises greenhouse-gas emissions associated with operational energy consumption, Concor says.

To facilitate this, an energy model of the building was generated during the design stage, which compares the building to a SANS 10400 notional building model. This energy model helped to inform the building design, ensuring high performance from a building envelope perspective, the company details.

Modelling also enabled the internal operative temperatures to be assessed to ensure a high level of thermal comfort. Temperatures remain within the US American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers Standard 55-2004 Acceptability Limits for at least 98% of occupied hours.

Building glazing performance modelling was also carried out, with performance values being agreed between the architect and mechanical engineer, the company says.

Further, the building is equipped with solar panels with a capacity of 230 kW to reduce its carbon footprint. These produce 387 000 kWh/y of energy and reduce its reliance on coal-generated electricity.

To further reduce energy consumption, provision has been made to ensure that all individual or enclosed spaces are individually switched with occupancy sensors. The project also saves energy by providing office lighting that is not over-designed, with an average illuminance level of no more than 400 lux maintained.

Concor's contributions to the Green Star rating also included two main requirements that had to be met before the project started with demolition and construction, namely a Waste Management Plan and an Environmental Management Plan.

Additionally, active steps were taken to reduce waste to landfill during building operations, including a waste recycling storage area in the basement. This dedicated area met the Green Star-sizing requirement, and accommodates paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, cans and metals, Concor notes.

All gaseous and fire suppression systems, refrigerants and thermal insulants used for the development have an ozone-depleting potential of zero, which eliminates any contributions to long-term damage to the earth’s stratospheric ozone layer, the company adds.

7 Parks Boulevard comprises four basement floors and four office floors with a gross floor area of 8 149 m² and a total commercial office area of 5 988 m².