In response to the energy crisis facing South Africa, it was decided that the development would be as energy efficient as possible.

Architecturally, the building is thermally treated to reduce the cooling and heating load by way of a landscaped and insulated concrete roof, double glazing on the full height South facades, and single performance glazing on the North facades.

A number of energy efficient features in the design of the air conditioning system ensures that the building’s impact on the environment is reduced, while at the same time, also creating a more healthy and comfortable environment for the occupants.

The cooling and heating system is optimised in terms of equipment selection and operating conditions, and is constantly controlled and monitored by a computerised Building Management System (BMS).

The Data Centre cooling is done by a Kyoto Cooling System which maintains conditions in the data centre for 87% of the time without any mechanical cooling, making it the most efficient cooling system available.

In addition, a heat recovery cycle is introduced on the Data Centre which captures the Data Centre heat and pre-heat fresh air to the building in winter, reducing the heating load by approximately 50%.

Lighting is controlled by the BMS via sensors located throughout the building.

Emphasis has been placed on the utilisation of natural day lighting, with artificial lighting activated only as and when required.

During the evenings, the BMS will control the switching on and off of lights to the office, public, service, and circulation areas to ensure that lighting is always available to those working late, but that lighting to all uninhabited areas is automatically switched off.