The development has taken top honours in the annual South African Property Owner’s Association (SAPOA) Innovative Excellence in Property Development Awards 2009. 

The Place at 1 Sandton Drive, an exclusive 30,500sqm joint venture office development by Investec Property and Growthpoint Properties Limited, located at Sandton's most sought-after address, earned a merit award.

The annual SAPOA awards recognize leading property developments undertaken by South African developers, both locally and internationally. Sponsored by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, the 2009 awards feature a number of category winners. These include; Irene Village Mall, developed and owned by Retail Africa (retail); FUEL Group Logistics Centre, developed by Eris Property Group and owned by Emira Property Fund (industrial); Bougain Villas, developed and owned by Rabie Property Group (residential); Sandton Court, developed and owned by Tiber and Zenprop (refurbishments); The Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs), developed and owned by The University of Pretoria (other); and eKhaya Neighbourhood Improvement Programme, a Johannesburg Social Housing Company initiative (social). Special merits were awarded to The District, developed by Gateway Property Development (mixed-use); and Timbuktu Mali Library & Archive, developed jointly by the South African and Mali Government Initiative and owned by Coessa Holdings (international). This year marks the introduction of the Green Award. This was awarded to Brettenwood Coastal Estate, developed and owned by Hulett Development Company.

Overall winner, The Fairland’s Project, was developed by Eris Property Group and designed by Continuum Architects. This iconic landmark is located on a previous wasteland at the confluence of the N1 and Beyers Naude Drive, and provides office accommodation for 5,000 employees. It has a proudly South African architectural approach and importantly, the use of material and finishes is not extravagant.

Neil Gopal, SAPOA CEO, says the awards showcase a number of trends leading the property development industry. “Green building in South Africa is becoming an imperative, and The Fairland’s Project is a good example of sensitivity to sustainability criteria.” 

The awards also ably demonstrate that despite the economic woes in the wake of the global recession, the South African commercial property sector is increasingly delivering quality and innovation. “This is a worthy accomplishment and a positive indicator for the sector, and the fact that we had a record 46 entries, is another achievement,” says Gopal.

Frank Berkeley, managing executive of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance says that it is pleasing to see the awards evolving in line with the changing market. “It is especially encouraging to see that special recognition will be given to entries where particular attention has been paid to addressing the “green” aspects of property development.  This is something that is close to our hearts, with Nedbank continuing to make every effort to play its part in addressing global issues,” says Berkeley.

Chairman of the SAPOA Awards Committee, John Truter concurs that innovation to support green building principles was a recurring theme for many of the winning projects across all categories. “A large number of submissions demonstrated that there’s a shift to a more integrated approach, with developers not restricting themselves only to visual appeal, but rather focusing on economically viable, practical solutions to meet urban challenges.”

Gopal says that the SAPOA 2009 Awards have successfully achieved their objectives. “We set out to showcase the excellence of world-class South African property developments across the different sectors of the market, and this has unearthed some sterling examples. My personal hope is that these will inspire and lead to sustainable, green development as a norm and not just as a preference.”

Berkely adds that recognising excellence in the industry is an integral part of the vision of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance.  “As always, we commend SAPOA on their continuing support of this initiative and its passion in recognising and rewarding excellence.”