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City improvement districts
Redefine contributed more than R2 million to city improvement
districts which directly benefits the neighbourhoods in
which its properties are located.
Maintenance and improvement of properties
Redefine applies the highest standards of maintenance
to its buildings, protecting against degradation and decay
to ensure there is no negative impact on the immediate
environment in which they are located. Redefine also actively
improves its properties to ensure their sustainability
over time.
Protecting our heritage
In accordance with the National Heritage Resources Act,
Redefine adheres to provisions which have been put in
place to recognise and protect South Africa’s heritage.
Green building principles
Redefine has adopted and applied green building design
and technologies to new property developments such as
Upper East Side and Convention Tower. In Upper East Side,
there is no need for air conditioners, as the concrete
panels that run in front of the window cut out direct
sun and reduce the heat in the units, while allowing the
light in. Where air conditioners are necessary, engineers
have designed a system to capture the warm air produced
behind the units, which is repiped to the boiler. This
increases the water temperature so that the energy required
to heat the water to hot shower temperature is less than
25% of what is required to heat a geyser. Wherever possible,
materials from renewable sources such as linoleum, corcoleum
and bamboo were incorporated. Grey water is pumped to
a tank on top of the building to be kept for fire sprinkling
systems and will also be used for landscaping. Masonry
was sourced from suppliers close to the site to save on
transport energy and emissions and the supplier manufactures
its products from almost exclusively recycled aggregate,
with the lowest level of carbon emissions of any masonry
product available on the market. The energy saving achieved
during the construction of Upper East Side through the
choice of masonry alone would be enough to power 300 medium
size houses for a year, and the reduction in carbon emissions
achieved is equivalent to removing almost 90 cars from
the roads for a year. This masonry is also naturally thermally
efficient.
At Convention Tower, all office and meeting areas are
equipped with infra red detectors which cause the lighting
in the area to be switched off when not in use. LED lighting,
which requires only 7% of the energy demanded by conventional
fluorescent lighting, was used on the signature light
band that frames the building. In addition, heat reflecting
glass, double glazing and filigree sunscreens have reduced
air conditioning costs and improved the environmental
efficiency of the building.
Retrofitting buildings
Although a major and costly challenge to property owners,
Redefine is converting older buildings to operate in a
more energy efficient manner. The company has retrofitted
a number of its top properties in the portfolio following
consultation with leaders in the field of energy saving
and alternative energy. The arduous process of upgrading
the properties to an acceptable level of energy efficiency
is underway, and monthly cost savings are evident where
these initiatives have been implemented.
Energy efficiency programmes
Redefine is committed to achieving energy efficiencies
wherever possible, and has formed a partnership agreement
with Rural Maintenance, whose electronic wireless energy
metering system allows Redefine to monitor energy consumption
within its buildings on a live feed. The energy metering
system allows for the metering and effective management
of the carbon footprint by portfolio, by building and
by tenant. The current billing system and invoicing reflects
the carbon impact to the tenant along with the proposed
penalty targets as set out by the energy regulators. Redefine
is assisting tenants to reduce their existing energy demand
by rolling out a programme to automate tenants’ premises.
This includes the installation of various cost saving
devices such as timer switches, motion sensors and other
demand management practises and tools, which allows tenants
to control their usage effectively. In addition, Redefine
has enlisted the services of energy consultants to further
investigate the design efficiencies of the higher consumption
properties. The process entails the investigation into
areas such as building design, HVAC and mechanical design
integrated with the electrical and tenant design layouts,
and educating tenants on more efficient building design
and utilisation in order to reduce electricity consumption
and carbon footprint of the buildings and impact on the
environment.
Environmental assessments
Environmental impact studies are undertaken with the guidance
of industry experts prior to undertaking new developments
where required.
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