Construction World July 2015

ENVIRONMENT

Pienaar is a director of Growth- point Properties, South Africa’s largest JSE-listed REIT and a JSE ALSI 40 company, which has NEW DEPUTY chairman for GBCSA The Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) recently announced it has appointed Rudolf Pienaar as its deputy chairman. >

deliver higher returns for owners and are designed to have positive impacts on their surrounding communities and environment. Green buildings also have significant benefits for employee well-being and productivity. Pienaar believes collaboration is the key to driving the green building move- ment forward. This means building owners and occu- piers coming together, buildings interacting positively with their communities, the collec- tive benefits of green building structures and green interiors, and the entire property industry working together for a more sustain- able built environment. “Property is a highly competitive industry. Yet, when it comes to sustainability it is important that we continue to work together as peers in an open and collabora- tive way,” says Pienaar. “This is an approach the GBCSA has nurtured and I would like to see it grow even more. “We are a dedicated team of industry experts working in collaboration with industry bodies, leaders, government depart- ments and professionals to develop market- based green solutions for the South African property industry. Rudolph is a valuable member of this team and will serve as an asset in his new role and assist us to continue doing what we do,” Wilkinson concludes. Pienaar adds, “By freely sharing informa- tion about both our success and failures we can drive green building forward with greater pace and results. Everybody wins.”

Index company. It is also a top performer in the CDP Climate Performance Index. Growthpoint owns or co-owns the largest portfolio of green buildings of any company in South Africa. It co-sponsored the GBCSA’s Energy and Water Benchmarking Tool and is taking part in the pilot programmes for the Green Star SA Existing Building Performance Tool and the Socio-Economic Category. It has also partnered with GBCSA for the Greeno- vate Awards pilot which encourages students of the built environment to find ways to live more sustainably and helps link environ- mental challenges to innovative thinking. Commenting on his appointment, Pienaar says he is looking forward to the opportunity to foster a greater understanding of the benefits of green building for both the owners and the occupiers of properties. “The property sector contributes 40% of emissions world-wide. This puts a huge responsibility on property practitioners to change this – and the time to change is now,” says Pienaar. “Building by building we want to transform our properties so the people who use them can reach their maximum potential and businesses can thrive.” Green building is a win-win for building occupiers and owners. Green buildings are also good business. They provide lower total occupancy costs for tenants, are proven to The winners of the 4 th Global Holcim Awards for Sustain- able Construction have been decided – the trophies and USD350 000 prize money go to projects in Colombia, Sri Lanka and the USA. nities: Turning a decommissioned water reservoir into a park in Medellín, rebuilding social fabric through a community library in Ambepussa following Sri Lanka’s civil war, and creating public zones and flood-protection for the island of Manhattan. The USD2-million Holcim Awards is the most significant international competition for sustainable design and takes place every three years. The 4 th cycle attracted more than 6 000 entries for projects to be built in 152 > All three prizes recognise archi- tectural interventions that deliver tangible benefits to local commu-

property assets valued at nearly R100-bil- lion. Pienaar has been a member of the GBCSA board since 2010, chairs its marketing committee and sits on its exco. The GBCSA was established in 2007 to promote green building development in the country. It is a member of the World Green Building Council (World GBC). Today, it is one of the most active councils worldwide. Brian Wilkinson, CEO of the GBCSA, comments: “We’d like to congratulate Rudolf Pienaar on his appointment as the deputy chairman of the GBCSA board. Rudolf Pienaar has been a dedicated and active member of our board and is a committed advocate of green building practices – his appointment is richly deserved.” With 30 years’ experience in the prop- erty industry, Pienaar has served in senior management positions of five listed property companies. He is a director of Growthpoint, Acucap and the V&A Waterfront. Pienaar also serves on the Advisory Board of the Department of Construction Economics at the University of Pretoria. Pienaar has been among those at the forefront of South Africa’s movement for a sustainable, green building environment since 2008 and is a champion of Growth- point’s green building leadership. Pienaar is director of the Growthpoint Office Division, which includes a significant R32-billion portfolio of offices. Growthpoint is a Plat- inum Founding Member of the GBCSA, a JSE Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index company and a Dow Jones Sustainability

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GLOBAL HOLCIM AWARDS WINNERS FOR 2015

countries. A jury of international experts led by Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean of the Graduate School of Design (GSD) at Harvard University, USA selected the winners. Global Holcim Awards Gold 2015 Articulated Site: Water reservoirs as public park, Medellín, Colombia. Mario Camargo and Luis Tombé, Colec- tivo720, together with Juan Calle and Horacio Valencia, EPM Group (Empresas Públicas de Medellín), all from Colombia .

Rudolf Pienaar, the GBCSA’s recently appointed deputy chairman.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD JULY 2015