Greenovate Awards Programme introduces new category

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Founded by Growthpoint Properties with the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA), the Greenovate Awards Programme sets students of the built environment on a quest to find more sustainable ways of living. The University of Cape Town, University of the Witwatersrand, and University of Pretoria piloted the programme for the built environment in 2015 in the property studies and construction faculties of these universities. Last year, students of these faculties at University of Free State and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University joined the pursuit to find new ways to support more sustainable living.

Now in its third year, the Greenovate Awards programme has been extended to create a new category to include students from another high-impact stream – engineering. The competition is now open to students of the electric, electronic, mechanical, and civil engineering fields.

Eight South African universities are contending in the Greenovate Awards this year, including Stellenbosch University and the University of the North West at its Potchefstroom Campus, both from the engineering faculties.

Embracing the challenge on both fronts, the University of Cape Town, winner of the Greenovate Award property and construction studies faculty category for two years running, will now also compete in the engineering category, effectively competing in both categories this year.

How does the Greenovate Awards Programme work?

The challenge is set for final-year and honours university students to come up with ideas that result in a research project that promotes a more sustainable built environment. It can be any idea that makes the way we live greener and our environmental footprint lighter. These ideas can apply to any aspect of a building - design, development, planning, construction, materials, or a collaboration across different areas. The same goes for the engineering awards, including electric, electrical, mechanical or civil engineering.

For both streams, round one of the competition is internal. Each university’s panel will select the top two projects submitted by individual students or groups. In the second round, students from each university’s two top projects get to interact with professional mentors before they face off against one another in front of judges.

The finalists from each university will then present their ideas to an external judging panel of industry experts. The last round takes place in November after university exams.

The winning team from each of the two streams – property and construction studies, and engineering – will take home R30,000. The winners will also present their research to leading built environment professionals at the annual GBCSA Green Building Convention the following year. Second and third prizes for both streams are R15,000 and R10,000 respectively, and tickets to the GBCSA Convention.

Introducing new talent to the industry

“We see the Greenovate Programme as a source for potential Growthpoint graduates and internships, as well as opening up doors to many of the other business leaders attending the awards dinner and the GBCSA Convention. It supports Growthpoint’s recruitment of students who have a good understanding of sustainability, which is a priority for us,” says Werner van Antwerpen, head of sustainability at Growthpoint Properties.