Discovery Place, the new high-performance global headquarters developed for Discovery in a joint venture of two of South Africa’s leading property companies, Growthpoint Properties and Zenprop Property Holdings, is the overall winner of the prestigious South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) Awards 2019.
In addition to Discovery’s new head office receiving top honours, it was also given the awards for Best Corporate Office and Best Interior. Discovery Place was designed by Boogertman + Partners Architects with Paragon Interface undertaking the interior design. The principal contractor on the project was a joint venture of Tiber and WBHO.
The awards, which recognise significant contributions made through innovation and excellence within the property sector, were announced at a gala event in Cape Town recently.
The SAPOA awards not only consider the quality of a development and how it enhances our cities and towns, but also the successful functionality of each development. Importantly, Discovery’s consolidation into one resource-efficient, cost-effective and environmentally-innovative head office has had multiple financial, performance and flexibility benefits for the business.
The iconic new 112 000sqm Discovery head office in Sandton Central, is the largest single-phase commercial office development in Africa to date. It also became the largest new build project to receive a 5-Star Green Star rating by the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA).
Located on the corner of Rivonia Road and Katherine Street, diagonally opposite Sandton City and a block from the Sandton Gautrain Station, the aesthetically impressive building comprises three linked office towers which consist of a ground floor, eight office floors and a roof level with various sports facilities. It also offers nine basements with over 5 000 parking bays.
From its excellent site in sought-after Sandton Central to its outstanding green credentials, this is indeed a landmark and a new benchmark in efficient workspace in every sense. The healthy and enjoyable place to work is also less costly to operate and maintain, has a reduced environmental footprint, and fosters positive performance.
The four-year development programme began in 2014 and Discovery officially started operating from the new head office building, which is owned by Growthpoint (55%) and Zenprop (45%), at the beginning of 2018.
David Pierre-Eugene, Discovery’s Head of Group Facilities, says: “These awards are a great reflection of the collaborative work achieved by the professional team in conjunction with the internal Discovery team to bring our brief for the building to life. We envisioned a physical manifestation of the Discovery brand, our core purpose and ambition to make people healthier and this is intrinsic to the design. Congratulations to the Growthpoint and Zenprop development teams and all the professional teams involved in creating a world-class facility.”
James Tannenberger, Zenprop Property Holdings CEO, says, “We’re ecstatic to receive this award as a testament to the commitment to excellence, the culture of collaboration and innovation, and the drive to exceed Discovery’s expectations that underpinned this joint venture of Zenprop and Growthpoint. Every single person who was part of this hardworking team can be as proud of this award as they can be of their contribution to the exceptional final product that is Discovery Place.”
Rudolf Pienaar, Growthpoint’s Chief Development and Investment Officer, comments: “Growthpoint congratulates all involved in creating this leading-edge development. We appreciate that this development took place over several years; it was a marathon rather than a sprint, and every step in the journey and every person on this phenomenal team has made an amazing contribution. We are particularly proud of this building because rarely in the development industry are aesthetics, sustainability, agile workspace, functionality and cost-effectiveness combined in such harmony. It is a privilege to have Discovery as a client and work with its passionate, talented people. Growthpoint’s in-house development team couldn’t be prouder to have partnered with Zenprop to play a part in creating a workplace where Discovery, and its people, can truly thrive.”
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