Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa March/April 2015 | Page 54

cap to the building – it is surrounded with back painted
glass as per the façade and has had vertical LED strip
lights added to act as a coronet. The plant room also
received a decorative pergola to help conceal it from the
view of offices looking down onto the building. “This area
proved to be very restricted and the coordination thereof
complex, however, the LED lights in the crown at the top
of the building clearly identify Atrium on 5th within the
Sandton City nightscape,” comments Pat Henry.
All sanitary ware and other water fixtures were replaced
with new water-efficient units which have the potential to
reduce the use of potable water by up to 37%. A BMS
system has also been installed to monitor all systems for
leaks, wastage and maintenance requirements.
Significant energy efficiency upgrades were implemented wherever possible to save on future running
costs and maintenance. Electronic sub-metering has
been installed to manage and control future energy
loads and an Ammonia Chiller was installed on the HVAC
system to contribute to energy savings.
The design of the electrical system optimizes the two
requirements of efficiency and economy by combining
reduced losses with cost effective operation through the
use of efficient light fittings, correctly rated cables, heat
pumps, etc and by reducing dependence on resistive
heating, inefficient light sources and unswitched circuits.
The floor trunking installed with the original building
installation has been reused thus saving on the
manufacture and installation of new ducts and the cost
of demolishing the existing ducts, removing them to
scrap and wasting an operable resource.
The architect specified power skirting around the
perimeter of the office floors formed by the new façade.
The first choice of material for this skirting, considering
the curvature of the building, was PVC. Howeve