Environment Philosophy

The Green Building Council

Growthpoint Properties is a Platinum Founding Member of the Green Building Council, on which we model our green building philosophy. Many of our building practices already follow the guidelines of this philosophy, and we will continue to use this as a baseline for our environmental behaviour.

Green building, energy saving

Growthpoint’s various green building and energy-saving efforts strive to:
arrowReduce our direct impact on the environment and support the broader international drive towards carbon reduction
arrowAddress the challenges of rising energy prices, South Africa’s energy supply shortages and increasing pressure on companies to adopt environmentally friendly practices

Growthpoint's Energy Forum

Our recently formed Energy Forum, comprising Growthpoint divisional heads, is responsible for guiding our business units on how to approach energy issues and is the conduit for Growthpoint’s engagement with the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) on energy-related matters.

Growthpoint's current initiatives

We have also implemented initiatives to address energy/green challenges:
arrowOur energy efficiency programme aims to reduce overall energy consumption by between 10% and 20% where applicable, via ongoing energy and water audits.
arrowGrowthpoint has become a signatory to the National Energy Efficiency Accord.
arrowOur green building practices are evident in Lincoln on the Lake, for which we have applied for a four-star rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa (this will be the first in KwaZulu-Natal).
arrowWSP Green by Design (an engineering consultancy) is helping us to make existing Growthpoint buildings more efficient from a green building perspective.
arrowOur employee education drive focuses on raising staff awareness of green building and green-related challenges.
arrowOur Green Team initiative, run by volunteer employees, is working on its Partnering for Change Programme, which enables us to share environmental best practices with tenants and suppliers.
arrowWe have initiated a carbon footprint assessment of our operations (measuring, tracking and managing carbon and water usage), beginning with our head office in Sandton (The Place).
arrowGrowthpoint participates actively in the Climate Change Response Programme through the National Business Initiative Carbon Disclosure Project and the Carbon Disclosure Project in London.