NEWS
‘ Greenovation’ is the name of the game
Engineering students can now achieve green glory too!
Images by Growthpoint
Inspiring and encouraging university students to discover, explore and invent ways to live more sustainably, the Greenovate Awards Programme is taking environmental innovation even further this year by introducing a new category to the awards for engineering students.
The programme, founded by Growthpoint Properties with the Green Building Council South Africa( GBCSA), sets students of the built environment on a quest to find more sustainable ways of living. It stimulates green building thinking and rewards excellence in its application.
A first of its kind in South Africa, the University of Cape Town, University of the Witwatersrand and University of Pretoria piloted the flourishing programme for the built environment in 2015 in the property studies and construction faculties of these universities. Last year, students of these faculties at University of Free State and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University joined the pursuit to find innovative ways to support more sustainable living.
Now in its third year, the programme has been extended to include students from another high-impact stream – engineering. The competition is open to students of the electric, electronic, mechanical and civil engineering fields.
Eight leading South Africa universities are contending to demonstrate their environmental achievements. Engineering faculties from Stellenbosch University and the University of the North West have also joined the programme.
The University of Cape Town, winner of the Greenovate Award property and construction studies faculty category for two years running, will now also compete in the engineering category, therefore it will compete in both categories this year.
Rudolf Pienaar, Growthpoint Properties office division director and chair of the GBCSA, says,“ We are thrilled to invite engineers onto the programme.”
Head of sustainability at Growthpoint, Werner van Antwerpen, says,“ It’ s exciting to see South Africa’ s future industry leaders showcase their understanding of the importance of preserving our natural environment. Growthpoint is proud to include the Greenovate Awards among our initiatives to extend our business commitment to sustainability and climate change mitigation.”
Dorah Modise, CEO of the GBCSA, says that the organisation is excited about the extension into the engineering faculty.“ The student awards have exceeded our expectations, and have received wide acclaim.”
Werner van Antwerpen, head of sustainability at Growthpoint Properties.
Rudolf Pienaar, Growthpoint Properties office division director and chair of the GBCSA.
The awards programme is set for final-year and honours university students to come up with ideas that result in a research project that promotes a more sustainable built environment. These ideas can apply to any aspect of a building such as design, development, planning, construction, materials or a collaboration across different areas. The same goes for the engineering awards, including electric, electrical, mechanical or civil engineering.
The best green ideas stand a chance to win R110 000. The winning team from each of the two streams – property and construction studies and engineering – will take home R30 000. The winners will present their research to leading built environment professionals at the esteemed annual GBCSA Green Building Convention the following year. Second and third prizes for both streams are R15 000 and R10 000 respectively plus they receive tickets to the GBCSA Convention.
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JULY- AUGUST 2017
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