GBCSA awards five-star rating to Chevron's headquarters

Chevron Century Boulevard is Chevron South Africa's R200m, 9,000m² head office situated in Century City, Cape Town. It is a water-positive building, collecting more water than it consumes. Both rain water and air-conditioning condensate is harvested from the roof and balconies and stored in a tank below the basement, which is almost the size of an Olympic pool. This amounts to a reduction in water consumption in the building by approximately 90%.

"Chevron South Africa wanted to provide the most appropriate and sustainable long-term office accommodation for the well-being of our employees and environment in which we operate. The operations of the building over the past 12 months show that design and construction techniques are critical to producing sustainable spaces," said Shashi Rabbipal, chairman of Chevron South Africa.

Electricity consumption

Occupied since 2014, the new Chevron South Africa headquarters has reduced its electricity consumption by roughly half. Contributing to the reduction in electricity is the installation of a sophisticated lighting control, known as digital addressable lighting interface, which is energy efficient and permits control over each light individually.

Louis Karol Architects, who focused on using mostly locally sourced materials in the building, believes that design for detail permanence and creative re-usability are an important contribution to architectural sustainability. "Building obsolescence is an environmental catastrophe. Aside from the conventional environmental priorities of energy and materials consumption, given that buildings can constitute the most polluting entities on earth, creative re-usability is our greatest contribution to architectural sustainability."

"Chevron world-wide is at the cutting edge of technology and it is therefore appropriate that we have a marriage of human needs and architectural ideals in this wonderful building. We have a fine example of how good architecture can combine with technology to influence our moods and consumption behaviour, which is so important considering South Africa's water and energy needs," Rabbipal said.

"Chevron South Africa has maintained a longstanding presence in the country dating back to 1911 and Chevron Century Boulevard is the modern symbol of our on-going contribution to the country and the economy of Cape Town."