Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa February 2016 | Page 56

GREEN

The Green Footprint
Grows in West Africa
Ghana’s One Airport Square

O

ne Airport Square in Accra is West Africa’s
first commercial green building and the
management of this prestigious development
has been awarded to JHI Ghana.
The nine-storey 20 250m2 building, designed by
renowned sustainability architect Mario Cucinella,
won the coveted International Property Awards Africa
in 2014. It brings together a number of innovations not
seen before in the rapidly-growing West African oil
hub. These include the maximum use of natural light,
a façade with overhangs to minimise solar exposure
which in turn reduces demand on the air-conditioning
system, motion sensors to control the lighting, and the
harvesting of rainwater for ablutions and irrigation.
A mixed-mode ventilation strategy is adopted that
permits the building to be operational in natural
ventilation mode up to 25% of the year, even in warm
and humid climatic conditions.
Extensive environmental analysis were undertaken
to optimise the design of the overhangs at every floor
level and orientation in combination with evaluating
different glazed façade configurations; a total reduction
of over 30% in active cooling was achieved through
these passive design measures.
‘One Airport Square is located in Airport City, a few
minutes from Kotoka International Airport, a modern
business precinct that is already proving to be highly
desirable. It’s also about four kilometres from Accra
Mall – West Africa’s first large-scale shopping centre,’
says Adriaan Otto, general manager: JHI Africa. ‘The
development offers almost 1,500m2 of retail space
that includes a restaurant, bistro and coffee bar and
there are two floors of underground parking serving
the commercial component. The building has sufficient
water storage for four days use and its own standby
generators.

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FEBRUARY 016 SA Real Estate Investor

‘In spite of depressed oil prices there is still demand
for prestigious business space in Ghana by both local
and international companies. Rental rates for quality
office space remain in the US$37 to US$35/m2 zone
and I’m pleased to report that vacancies in the portfolio
managed by JHI are remarkably low,’ adds Otto.
One Airport Square is a joint-venture project
between Boston Investments and Actis, the latter one
of the most successful emerging market investors with
US$7.6billion in assets employing more than 114 000
people.
Depending on specifics, green buildings can reduce
carbon dioxide emissions by 35%, reduce electricity use
by 30 to 50% and cut water usage by 40% compared
to traditional design and construction methods. In
addition, by making better use of natural light and –
where appropriate – natural ventilation the working
environment for occupants is greatly enhanced leading
to improved productivity. A win:win for people and the
environment.
The Ghana Green Building Council promotes a
whole-building approach to sustainability by using
a building rating system that measures five key
areas; sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and
atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor
environment quality.
JHI provides a bouquet of property-related services
in 16 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa in
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