All banks are green; logos are not
South African banks are all green, even if their logos are not. Standard Bank staff are getting ready to move into their new Rosebank, Johannesburg, offices - which have received a five-star rating for "green" design from the Green Building Council of SA - and Absa has its own green energy centre.
Standard Bank's building, reminiscent of a massive fish tank, stands atop a ridge and is bordered by Baker Street, Bolton and Oxford Roads, and Cradock Avenue in Rosebank.
It will bring 5,000 new workers to the commercial suburb and is only a longish cricket-hit from the Rosebank Gautrain station.
"Staff will move in before the end of the month," said Karin Ireton, Standard Bank's head of sustainability management.
Though it won five stars for green design, maintaining the R2bn building in a green way will not be easy.
"We are confident it will achieve at least a four-star [green] rating once complete," Ireton said.
In September, Absa moved into a new building in Johannesburg's central business district that it said had the first "five-star as-built" green building rating given by the Green Building Council.
According to the council, a green building is energy- and resource-efficient, environmentally responsible and incorporates design, construction and operating practices that reduce or eliminate adverse effects on the environment and its occupants.
Absa Towers West contains an "energy centre which uses natural gas [generators] to provide electricity for the building," Absa said.
"Absa employees do not see, hear or smell the energy centre, which operates between 7am and 8pm on weekdays with a high level of sound attenuation to prevent disturbance to the surrounding areas."
Before Absa's refurbishment, the second phase of Nedbank's headquarters in Sandton won a four-star design rating. It was the first office building in the country to be rated according to the council's green star system. Nedbank moved into the offices three years ago.
First National Bank and its vehicle financing unit Wesbank, moved about six years ago into a sprawling complex in Fairland, near the N1 and Beyers Naude Drive. Its green contribution was that the building's sun screens were considered an energy saver at the time.
Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
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