Deloitte Africa has reached a new frontier in sustainable building design with its new headquarters in Waterfall City, Johannesburg becoming the first building in South Africa to receive a Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) v4 rating from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).
Confirmation of the building achieving Silver LEED v4 certification fittingly coincides with Earth Day on 22 April when people worldwide are called to act towards protecting the environment.
The 42,500mĀ² ultraāmodern, ultra-efficient building, called River Creek, builds on a legacy of Deloitte landmark locations embracing sustainability in their designs, including The Edge in the Netherlands, The Gateway in Belgium and 1 New Street Square in London. In January this year, Deloitte Africaās Cape Town offices, The Ridge, became the third building in South Africa to be awarded with a 6 star LEED rating by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).
āThe LEED plaque is a mark of quality and achievement in green building design, construction and performance,ā says Wayne Megaw, Deloitte Africa Operations Leader. āAchieving certification means that we have succeeded in building a high-performing, productive workplace that is healthier for our people and the environment.ā
River Creek, a sparkling glass building in the heart of Waterfall City, consists of a ground floor with six stories of offices and four basement parking levels housing nearly 2,000 parking bays. Built with sustainability in mind, the buildingās energy performance is optimised with solar panels, renewable back-up power, and enhanced ventilation to reduce electricity usage from air-conditioners.
Other features include blinds that track the sun, rainwater harvesting and storage, indigenous landscaping, and a bottling plant in the basement of the building to provide glass-bottled water as an alternative to plastic bottles. Water from the water harvesting system is used to irrigate the gardens around the exterior of the building and for flushing the toilets to limit wastage of potable water. During construction, materials with a low environmental impact were prioritised.
For its 3,500 inhabitants, River Creek performs as an inspiring, comfortable and collaborative workspace, providing flexibility around how they work and encouraging interaction. They have access to a staff restaurant, coffee shop, client and internal meeting rooms equipped with cutting-edge technology, sleeping pods (for those long nights), a games room, library, yoga room and interactive spaces to encourage client and team engagement.
There are no private offices for any staff, including the executives. Instead, hot desking has been embraced to support openness, chance interactions, teamwork and increased collaboration by Deloitteās rapidly evolving talent pool, and range of working activities and styles.
