Growthpoint's green leader wins GBCSA Chairman's Award
The Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) has awarded Dr Werner van Antwerpen, head of Sustainability at Growthpoint Properties, with this year's GBCSA Chairman's Award, in recognition of his work as a true planet shaper, and for being a great friend to green building in South Africa.
L-R: Manfred Braune, chief technical officer of the GBCSA, Dr Werner van Antwerpen, head of Sustainability at Growthpoint Properties and Seana Nkhahle, chairperson of the GBCSA
Seana Nkhahle, Chairperson of the GBCSA, described Van Antwerpen as the proverbial “find of the century for the South African property industry, and in particular, for the green building sector.”
The award was announced at the annual Green Building Conference, which was held from 26 - 28 July 2016 at the Sandton Convention Centre.
Besides being head of Sustainability for Growthpoint, Van Antwerpen is the chair of the SAPOA Sustainability Committee, and a director and founder of ChildActive, a sports coaching academy in George.
“The vigour with which Werner has driven Growthpoint’s achievements as a green building leader are legend,” says Nkhahle. “He has also been pivotal in guiding our operation of the GBCSA Green Star SA Existing Building Performance rating system as well as a driver of the uptake of the Energy and Water Performance tool.”
Nkhahle adds: “We are hugely indebted to the manner and energy with which he and the team at Growthpoint partnered with the GBCSA in taking the Greenovate Programme from inception to implementation. This programme has already achieved recognition by SAPOA for Innovation and has received wide acclaim from the participating universities and our industry.”
Growthpoint Greenovate Awards programme
The Growthpoint Greenovate Awards programme challenged students from the University of Cape Town, University of the Witwatersrand and University of Pretoria to, as part of their honours studies, come up with ideas and a project to promote a more sustainable built environment.
Nkhahle reports the first rounds of projects were of an exceptional standard and, apart from pitting our universities against each other in healthy competition, has had the effect of lifting the bar and exposing students to practical industry implementation.
This year, the Greenovate Awards were expanded to include Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and University of the Free State.
For more information on the on the Growthpoint Greenovate Awards programme click here.
