Redefine sets new benchmark for commercial property development

Redefine's Marc Wainer Executive Chairman and Mike Ruttell Executive Director Development with 2015 Sapoa Award.

"The property world is changing rapidly and we are proud to be at the forefront of this new era," says Mike Ruttell, Executive Director: Development at Redefine Properties. "It's all about forward thinking architecture backed with extremely powerful green building technology. We knew we were making a statement with 90 Grayston, and winning this award shows us that we are being heard."

The Innovative Excellence Award, known as "the Oscars of the property industry" recognise the country's top buildings in terms of innovation, aesthetic appeal, sustainability, creativity, as well as game-changing architectural concepts, as judged by a panel of the industry's top consultants.

"The power of this building is really in its architecture, together with the highly attractive and efficient space it offers to tenants. There is really nothing else like it in Johannesburg, which makes it the perfect flagship for our new development drive," says Ruttell.

90 Grayston is a 16-storey premium-grade office building of 19,343m2 in Sandown, central Sandton. It includes 11 levels of parking - five basement and six above ground, achieving a parking ratio of nearly five bays per 100m2. There are nine levels of offices above an elevated atrium, and the building will also have its own cafeteria.

90 Grayston is 4-Star Green Star SA Office rated building, certified by the Green Building Council South Africa. This intelligent building respects the environment with a combination of passive design principles and world-class green technologies to minimise the impact of the building and its ongoing use on the environment. These include the use of a High-efficiency ammonia chiller HVAC system and the harvesting of rainwater to flush toilets.

According to Ruttell, 90 Grayston is just one of a number of new buildings in and around Johannesburg that Redefine is involved with currently - all of which are setting a new standard of architectural and sustainability excellence. Among these buildings are two new future landmarks: 90 Rivonia in Sandton, and The Rosebank Towers, ideally positioned near the Rosebank Gautrain station, due for completion in October next year.

"We want all of our buildings to stand out - and they do. We are well on our way to transforming the way that commercial building development evolves in South Africa. However, this goes much deeper than just a design ambition. It's a business objective to display our industry leadership in architecture and sustainable innovation through the growth of a high-quality portfolio of iconic assets.

We aim for a minimum of a four star rating on every building that we are involved in. This is not limited to new builds by any means. Redevelopment is core to our business and a huge amount of work goes into not only ensuring that our buildings are iconic, beautiful places that people want to spend time in, but also that they will remain world-class, sustainable and efficient in the long-term," says Ruttell.