It was certified by the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) to have met the necessary requirements to earn an esteemed five-star rating. A 'green' building is a building that, in its design, construction or operation, reduces or eliminates negative impacts and can create positive impacts, on the climate and natural environment.
On Tuesday, Time Projects and Wheki (Pty) Ltd celebrated the unveiling of the Net Zero carbon and five-Star As-Built rating plaque awarded to Mashatu Terrace by the GBCSA. Mashatu Terrace is among the few certified Green Buildings in Botswana and is the only Five-Star As-Built rated green building in Botswana. It is also the first and only Net-Zero Carbon certified building in the country. "The As-Built rating means that the completed building was assessed against a set of criteria and scored above the minimum requirement for a five-star rating. The criteria include the procurement and waste management process during the construction phase, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with operational energy consumption, indoor environment quality and other environmental factors. The Net Zero-Carbon, Level One means that the building is energy efficient and the installed solar photovoltaic system can meet the modelled demand of the base building," the project overseer, Kagiso Sebetso of Time Projects said on Tuesday.
She further said following the historic certification, Time Projects and Primetime seek to be leaders in the Green Building as the two entities look to cure the Green Building syndrome in the country. "Time (Projects) and Primetime are pioneering the green label space in Botswana and as a result we encounter challenges along the way. Among these are the risk of the 'Green Label Syndrome'. We are so aware of the importance of ensuring that it does not end with getting the certification but that operational performance monitoring continues after construction. We look forward to working the end-users to ensure optimisation of our green buildings throughout their lifecycle," Sebetso said. For his part, Time Projects general manager, Brett Marlin urged for more companies to get into the Green Label space. He said this would help in preserving power in the country as the buildings will depend on the solar energy. "Under ideal conditions, solar panels on the roof can supply to 100% of the demand. Obviously they will be issues when the clouds come over but under ideal conditions, they produce more than sufficient power to run this building. “I am sure you can imagine that if 50% of the buildings in Botswana had solar panels on the roof. On a very good day BPC (Botswana Power Corporation) will hardly have to produce any energy," Marlin said.
The Mashatu Terrace's current occupants include SADC departments, Bank Gaborone, Huawei, Africa Lighthouse and TLS.
