The Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA), using the Green Star SA – Existing Building Performance Custom Tenant rating tool, has awarded the Woolworths Palmyra store in Claremont, Cape Town a 5-star rating.
It is the first retail outlet in South Africa to achieve this rating. The rating tool is a measure of the store’s environmental performance over a period of 12 months in operation, and is valid for three years.
Since opening its doors in 2010, the food market store has always been groundbreaking when it comes to advanced green building features. It set the benchmark within the Woolworths property portfolio, meeting the requirements for a platinum rating of the Woolworths SA Real Estate Division’s own green assessment programme. Ernst & Young (EY) independently audits this internal rating system each year.
The store has a list of environmentally friendly features:
• automated doors maintain the interior temperature
• reclaimed heat from the refrigeration system and air conditioning used for under-floor heating
• harvested rainwater used to flush the toilets
• CO2 refrigeration system
• skylights to optimise natural light
• fully automated lighting that guarantees no energy is wasted on lighting when natural light is available
The Terramanzi Group prepared the submission to the GBCSA, through its team of Green Star SA Accredited Professionals.
Justin Smith, Woolworths’ group head of sustainability, says, “We are delighted by this recognition of the store’s green credentials. We use it as a model in our ongoing efforts to develop greener retail environments across the group. As part of our Green Building Programme, we made our biggest single investment in sustainability last year by installing a R16.8 million solar PV system at our Midrand Distribution Centre, resulting in between 26% to 34% of the centre’s energy being generated from a renewable, clean source.”
