WSP in Africa, one of the largest multi-disciplinary engineering consultancies on the continent, recently moved into its new headquarters (HQ) for their operations and work into Africa. This building in Bryanston houses all of the company’s Johannesburg-based people.
WSP’s new 5 800-m2 HQ building is the first of seven buildings to be completed as part of Emira’s project to redevelop the entire Knightsbridge office park. Construction began in January 2016 and the company took occupancy on 4 September 2017.
Integrated design driven and proven collaboration
As the anchor tenant for the first phase of the redevelopment project, WSP played a pivotal role in the design of not only the company’s own new building, but the layout and planning of the precinct.
For their new HQ building, WSP provided a full range of design consulting services – across civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and electronic, plumbing, fire and sustainability – and worked closely with the architect, project manager, quantity surveyor and full construction team, which resulted in a better coordinated outcome.
In the early design phase, WSP used its 3-dimentional (3D) assets to design an immersive, gamified, virtual reality (VR) rendering of the planned redevelopment for the precinct and a detailed rendering for the company’s building.
This not only enabled the collective project team to ensure that the design process was done thoroughly, but also to identify any potential problems or snags early on in the design phases – and take steps to correct these in the 3D environment.
Taking charge for sustainable spaces
According to Emira, the re-development is being rolled out in three phases and phase 2 will be completed by mid-2018. Once all three phases are complete, this will create 29 352m2 of P-grade, certified green, office space. Linked to this development has been the upgrading of the intersection of Sloane Street and William Nicol Drive in Bryanston, to minimise the impact of expected additional traffic feeds in the area – now and into the future.
The new WSP building at Knightsbridge boasts a 4-Star Green Star SA Design rating certification from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) – and in time the consulting company will seek its ‘Existing Building’’ rating, too, based on the actual performance of the building.
WSP continues to play a leading role in sustainable buildings in South Africa and across Africa.
“Our Sustainability consulting team has been involved with a number of benchmark projects – and as our corporate ethos centres around being future-ready, for us to continue advising clients on what this means we need to live what we do, every day,” concludes Mathieu du Plooy, Managing Director, WSP in Africa.
More information from Elaine Porter, Tel: +27(0)11 300 6095 /[email protected] /wsp.com
