Absa Towers West: Going Green

Absa Towers West covers three city blocks. It will consist of two office buildings and a parkade. The two office buildings will comprise 15 storeys with eight levels of office space, three levels of combination space and four levels of basement parking. The parkade will provide 12 levels of parking space, with four basements and eight storeys above ground.

Green Elements Incorporated
A green building is one which reduces environmental impact in terms of energy and water consumption as well as material sources and emissions. It provides improved indoor environmental quality, which has been proven to improve the productivity of employees.

The Absa Towers West project makes all of these a priority.

In terms of location, the building is in the central business district therefore close to many amenities and public transport for staff. It also contributes to urban regeneration, making the city a safer place.

With regards to water, the project has a grey water system which will be the largest system installed in Southern Africa. The system has a capacity of recycling 43 000 litres (43 m3) of water a day. The water is collected from the showers in the gym and then reused to flush the toilets and urinals.

Another energy saving advantage is that the hot water required for the showers and the wash hand basins is heated through heat recovery at the chiller plant.

For lighting, a digital addressable lighting interface system will be installed combined with very efficient light fittings. All light fittings are fitted with motion sensors and daylight dimmers. Motion sensors will also be installed in the parkade to keep the energy requirements to a minimum.

The heating and cooling ventilation system has an economy cycle incorporated. This cycle uses the outside air to provide free cooling when the conditions are favourable. The system is designed to reduce the energy consumption associated with the mechanical cooling of the air as well as flush the air in the building during the night to cool it down.

Green Building specifications also require that the use of construction materials such as polyvinyl chloride is kept to a minimum. This promotes the use of sustainable timber, the use of local products, low volatile organic compound paints and carpets to improve the indoor air quality.

Absa's Chief Administration Officer (CAO), Ian Russell, said that as a bank our direct impact on the environment would be from Absa's buildings. Therefore by building ‘green' Absa's contribution to reducing the country as well as our own carbon footprint will be great.

"The office building is very much a signature building. Intricate and efficient, the design is supportive of Absa's strategic initiatives and embraces a new idea of working space," Ian said. Absa Towers West introduces an all new mindset and with that comes a very different environment and way-of-working.

Green Power for Absa Towers Campus

In late 2006 an initial investigation was undertaken to evaluate all power generation options; including diesel emergency generators, rotary UPS systems, gas engines and gas turbines. The concept of an Energy Centre, which is a self generation of electricity through gas, was motivated by the need to create a reliable energy back-up supply for all Absa buildings within Johannesburg CBD.

The go ahead was then given to install the Energy Centre, to be located in the basement of the Towers West building. A gas engine solution was selected as it was clearly the most environmentally friendly and cost effective option, after investigation revealed that other solutions have increase energy consumption or are to complex to operate and maintain. The energy centre will go live in May 2010.

During peak electricity demand the cost is higher for electricity. If Absa run on its own generators we save more than 2/3rds of our current electricity running costs, in just one year. The gas engines, off which the Energy Centre will run, are quiet and effective with no smoke or exhaust gas smells. The gas engines include provision to be able to recover waste heat from the engines and exhaust, which can be used for heating and cooling of our buildings. This provides exciting opportunities for even further improvements of the energy efficiency, and will reduce our running costs even more.

Not only will we save cost but because gas engines have half the greenhouse gas emissions compared to coal power stations, they are considered socially acceptable. So by Absa using gas, our carbon footprint will be reduced substantially. This will put Absa in the position of being able to sell or trade carbon credits.

The Energy Centre will also help Eskom reduce load on the electrical network & load shedding; and also ease the load of the Absa Campus, off the City Power grid during peak times when the country's power supply is under pressure.

Where will the Energy Centre be Situated?

The Energy Centre forms part of Absa's new flagship, Absa Towers West and will be situated in the building. Absa employees will not see, hear or smell the Energy Centre. The Energy Centre will operate between 7am and 8pm weekdays with a high level of sound attenuation to prevent disturbance to the surrounding areas.

The Next Steps going Forward

The Energy Centre offers exciting opportunities by making use of waste heat and further reduces the Energy Consumption of the Campus. This will further reduce emissions and costs making for an even greener Campus.

How will this energy centre be manned?
› Technical Absa employees.
› A computerised building management system.