Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa May/June 2015

PROJECT 17 Park Lane This building has been rated 5 Stars and is, as far as the GBCSA is aware, the first Chapter 9 Institution in South Africa to be green star SA rated. 17 PARK LANE Century City, Cape Town CLIENT GIMCO DEVELOPER AssetMatrix ARCHITECTS mlh architects & planners QUANTITY SURVEYORS De Leeuw Cape Town STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS S & T Consulting Engineers ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS DSV Consulting Engineers MECHANICAL ENGINEERS Sutherland Engineering OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY Solid State Group GREEN STAR CONSULTANTS Terramanzi Environmental Consulting MAIN CONTRACTOR Tri-Star Building PHOTOGRAPHY Fiona Barclay Smith TEXT Courtesy of mlh architects & planners 34 T he architects were approached by AssetMatrix and GIMCO (Pty) Ltd in late 2012 to design an office building on four consolidated erven in the Park Lane precinct in the heart of Century City. ARCHITECT’S REPORT Introduction What followed were extensive consultations with the Century City Property Owners Association, during which time the design of the building was refined. Client’s Brief From the outset, it was clear that 17 Park Lane needed to offer prestigious A+ Grade 5 Star Green Rated office accommodation, with plentiful on-site parking for both conventional and electrical vehicles. The brief was to design an office building which was flexible enough to either be multi-tenanted or to be occupied by a single tenant, the size of building being governed by the allowable bulk of the site. This has resulted in an office building with 2 office levels over a semi-basement parking level, where 4 parking bays per 100m2 of office space have been provided. The Site The 3,480m2 irregularly shaped site, which is bordered by Century Way to the east, Oasis Lane to the south, Park Lane to the west and Park Lane Close to the north, had many unique opportunities and challenges. It is subject to the prevailing harsh south easterly summer winds. Virtually the entire site lay approximately 1.7 metres below the back of pavement level of the surrounding roads, with a particularly high water table surface Park Lane

Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa May/June 2015 | Page 34