Portside epitomises healthiest urban working environment

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Portside epitomises healthiest urban
working environment
Portside is an environmentally
friendly and optimally responsible building, which offers
many green features at a time
when the adoption of green
concepts in building projects
is needed
W
ith the current surge of
green building evolution, GnD has chosen
to highlight the Portside Building
as one of the healthiest urban
working environments and most
desirable office spaces for corporate tenants and quality corporate businesses.
Portside development in the
rapidly expanding Cape Town’s
Central Business District (CBD)
epitomises a world class working
environment.
Portside is the first significant
South African green skyscraper,
developed in the Cape Town’s
central business district. The
building is set to be a world class
working environment and boasts
an advanced design of environmentally friendly and flexible
spaces that can accommodate a
variety of businesses.
With Cape Town developing into a global business city,
Portside – both as a perfectly
positioned commercial gateway
to the city and an attractive international corporate hub – will
streamline urban access to the
city’s business centre, while
stimulating a paradigm shift in
how people work and do business in South Africa.
Strategically located at the tip
of the African continent, South
Africa continues to be a key investment location, both for the
market opportunities that lie
within its borders and for the opportunity in utilising the country
as a gateway to the rest of the
continent. The Portside development capitalises on this location
as it was borne out of the need
to bridge a gap when it comes to
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premium office accommodation
in Cape Town.
“Portside has embraced new
technologies and incorporated
them into the building, creating
a technically advanced and efficient building with a focus on its
operational expenses through its
life cycle,” says Faieda Jacobs,
Regional General Manager at
Old Mutual Property.
The development is a significant achievement, creating
a corporate hub with a global
standard, and that will incubate
diverse business units, commercial innovation and complete
corporate city experience. The
building is a cornerstone of the
new financial district in the city
centre and is one of the icons of
the developing inner city. Portside is more than just a corporate
hub. It’s a pioneering urban lifestyle centre that not only enables
one to live with purpose, but also
ensures the sustainability of future generations.
The 32 storey, eco-friendly office block, towering 139 metres
high provides 52 000 m² of prime
AAA office space, 1 200 m² of
retail and banking space on the
ground level and 1 382 parking
bays. All offices feature exceptional views as they are constructed on top of seven levels
of above-ground parking. Each
office floor is designed to be flexible and easily adaptable to meet
tenants’ specific requirements,
making the green unit a versatile product that can be used as
a corporate office, or any kind of
space you can imagine.
Portside offers commanding views of Table Moun-
tain, Table Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
Situated in a prime location and
comprising a full city block, bordered by Buitengracht, Hans Strijdom, Bree and Mechau Streets,
the development capitalises on the
magnificent panoramas of its surrounding views, while complementing the beauty of the Mother City
and expanding its corporate environment.
Portside introduces innovation in integrated technologies and smart systems designed for longevity
As a smart building, Portside epitomises the latest in cutting-edge
technology and design. Integral to
this is the installation from day one
of Information & communication
technology and remarkably intelligent infrastructure.
“Portside contains a fibre backbone facilitating all communications.
All the technology platforms, including addressable lighting systems,
smoke and fire detection, public address systems, smart metering systems, access control systems, grey
water systems and CCTV systems,
are controlled on an individual basis
and managed through an integrated
Building Management system” concluded Jacobs.
The development, conveniently
located in the city centre which is
currently undergoing expansion, is
just minutes away from five international hotels, the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the
V&A Waterfront and Cape Town
Harbour. It is a ten minute drive
from the 2010 World Cup Stadium and Table Mountain and a 20
minute drive to Cape Town International Airport.
The port city of Cape Town has
been identified as one of the world’s
leading tourist destinations and has
grown in popularity since the start
of democracy in South Africa.
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It proves how Old Mutual
Property in conjunction with
the FirstRand Bank, have endeavoured to transform an
unattractive environment into
one of the most desirable office spaces.
Portside development and
the expansion of the Cape
Town International Convention Centre not only constitute
rapidly expanding tourist infrastructure in the city, but are
also interconnecting business
centres that have earned a vibrant social reputation.
Energy saving is what
this building is all about
The newly efficient energy innovations will significantly reduce Portside’s ‘energy costs
by up to 30%. And despite the
domestic energy price hikes
in South Africa, this will result
in tenants saving 30% of their
electricity bills.
Portside is the first high
rise building in South Africa
to utilise LED technology exclusively for all its lighting requirements. Office areas use
an individually addressable
DALI system with occupancy
sensors grouped to not exceed
four lights per sensor. The
LED lights used in the parking
area contain individual daylight
and occupancy sensors ramping light levels as required.
Fresh air is introduced
through centralised air handling units which maintain
the minimum requirements
for fresh air and when external conditions are favourable,
fresh air intake is increased to
a maximum of 100%. This has
been done to provide more
natural air in the building and
lessen the need for air conditioning.
Portside also has the advantage of being situated on three
of the widest streets in Cape
Town, with large spaces separating the development from
most of the surrounding properties. In contrast to a squat
building, as a tower Portside
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will cast a narrow shadow in an
area with wide streets.
Old Mutual project management team when embarking on
this magnificent project, Old
Mutual Property had no higher
aim than to see an on-spec,
intelligent building materialise.
The building is a purpose- built
office block, ensuring that energy saving remains sustainable, all the systems installed
are operated at optimal levels
and the building standards are
optimally efficient.
During the pre-construction
stage green architectural planning was expertly designed by
DHK Architects as an initial
step which included surveying,
by De Leeuw Quantity Surveyors, as well as putting the
correct procedures in place to
achieve a proudly South African green purpose driven.
Portside is an environmentally friendly and optimally responsible building, which offers
many green features at a time
when the adoption of green
concepts in building projects
is needed. It proves how Old
Mutual Property in conjunction
with the FirstRand Bank, have
endeavoured to transform an
unattractive environment into
one of the most desirable office spaces.
The relevant teams demonstrated the right leadership and
solutions-focussed effort at
every stage, particularly when
the challenges emerged. They
have worked collectively and
thinking innovatively to achieve
an impressive building to exact
professional standards. The
project’s development was has
been generally problem free
during both the construction
and planning stages.
www.wspgroup.com
WSP Green by Design worked hand in hand with the Portside project team
contributing expertise in the sustainability and green building fields to insure the
delivery of a healthiest urban working environment.
Pentafloor™ having recently won the prestigious manufacturers award and said to be the largest
access flooring company on the continent, is proud to be associated with the magnificent Portside
project as this building provides a show case for a locally manufactured raised access floor whilst
offering a contemporary and functional floor & finish. Pentafloor™ also carries and distributes an
extensive range of flooring finishes widely used by designers and space planners alike.
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