GREEN BUIL DING S
An interior view showing the giant Central Street atrium.
The Ridge’s facade, showing the glass side.
GREENING THE RIDGE A first-of-a-kind green commercial office building has opened in the Portswood district of Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront. GARETH GRIFFITHS speaks to the developers about this living, breathing building
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he completion of several significant infrastructure projects in its precinct has increased the V&A Waterfront’s commercial office portfolio. The latest offering, The Ridge, was commissioned as the Cape Town office for the V&A’s tenant, multinational professional services firm Deloitte. “The growth of a blue-chip commercial portfolio allows the V&A to diversify its financial exposure to the excellent retail offering of the Victoria Wharf and complements the retail and residential offerings across the V&A. This blue-chip portfolio includes companies such as Allan Gray, Nedbank, PwC, Werksmans, E&Y, Red Bull, and now Deloitte, all choosing to locate their offices in the precinct,” says Vusumuzi Nondo, executive manager for development for the V&A Waterfront.
IMAGES: GARETH GRIFFITHS, SUPPLIED
TREADING LIGHTLY In 2020, The Ridge was awarded 6-Star Green Star Design certification from the Green Building Council of South Africa. The V&A’s green innovations aim to promote a healthy work environment and low carbon modes of transport while also helping combat sick building. “It has been said that working from an office post-COVID-19 will never be the same again, worldwide. That’s true, but long before the pandemic, the V&A Waterfront development team identified the paramount importance for
Vusumuzi Nondo and Franette Ventura, V&A Team
any business of a healthy office space that looks after the wellness of employees,” Nondo adds. Mark Noble, development director at the V&A, says that The Ridge includes several standout environmental features. The eye-catching engineered timber facade is the best example. “The facade on the top two floors of the building contains locally sourced cross-laminated mass timber unitised together with the more standard glass and aluminium panels. “The use of timber as both the structural facade element and for internal and external finishes is, we believe, a genuine first for South Africa. This has contributed significantly to the architecture. It has also reduced the overall carbon footprint of the building by the equivalent of 60 mega-tonnes of CO2”.
THE RIDGE’S STANDOUT SUSTAINABLE FEATURES • Mixed-mode method of ventilation, using fresh outdoor air coming off the Atlantic, keeps occupants comfortable and healthy and saves electricity. • A thermally activated building system (TABS) helps to cool the workspaces on warm days. The system circulates chilled water through the floor slabs. • The timber facade with openable windows, TABS and natural ventilation system means that fresh air ventilation, not air conditioning, is used for 60 to 80 per cent of the year. • A striking 16-metre high atrium, called the “Central Street”, enables the movement of fresh air throughout the building and allows natural lighting from the roof to permeate the building. • Eco-bricks inside the floors have saved 38 000 megajoules of embodied (carbon-based) energy inside the building. Some 14 000 recycled plastic bottles filled and compacted with single-use plastic waste have been used, thus avoiding landfill.
GBCSA’S CREDIBLE AND OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENT FOR GREEN BUILDINGS IN SOUTH AFRICA & AFRICA
THE V&A’s GREEN INNOVATIONS AIM TO PROMOTE A HEALTHY WORK ENVIRONMENT AND LOW CARBON MODES OF TRANSPORT WHILE ALSO HELPING COMBAT SICK BUILDING. COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
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