The Client’s brief was for the design consultant team to design a redeveloped building and landscape that would earn a minimum of 5 stars with the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).
The previous formal landscape consisted of many plants that had been planted by the late Mrs Rupert, whose son, Mr Johann Rupert is the chairman of the Remgro company.
The look and feel of the formal gardens either side of building entrance was to be retained as far as possible due to the sentimental value, and thus all large tree ferns and protected cycads were specially protected throughout construction.
Almost 50% of the property consisted of an impenetrable alien infested wetland. The client requested that this land be reclaimed from infestation and become accessible for staff use, while attracting birdlife back to the property.
Appointed at start of design process with the rest of the design consultant team the role was to focus on mainly Soft Landscape design and contract, but other aspects included design input into hard surface treatment, boardwalk detailing and external lighting. Carrying out Green Star reporting through design stage and as built stage.
Millennia Park, new office premises for Remgro Ltd in Stellenbosch, achieved a 5 Star Office Design rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA). The rehabilitation of the wetland on the site, together with improving the overall ecological value of the landscape contributed greatly to increasing the green star credits.
The site is located at the confluence of the Eerste and Plankenbrug Rivers, and special consideration for the design of stormwater attenuation and filtration had to been applied across the site. Integrated systems work together around the site to capture and filter stormwater, while also providing focal and varied elements of interest in the landscape. The individual elements of the sustainable urban drainage system include the permeable paving within the parking area, vegetated swales leading from hard surfaces to the wetland, a detention pond that also features as a permanent water feature during the dry summer months, and most notably, the onsite rehabilitated wetland. Wetland rehabilitation involved extensive removal of alien vegetation, reshaping of the land, and active endemic and indigenous planting.
Prior to redevelopment, the formal landscape around the building consisted of extensive water intensive kikuyu lawns, exotic planting beds and protected cycads. All the kikuyu lawns were removed and donated to a local school facility. The ‘lawnscape’ was then converted into a water wise endemic garden, consisting of groundcovers and low to medium high shrubs. Much of the exotic small shrubs were taken off site, however, most of the existing trees, namely oak species were retained to maintain the value of the mature ‘treescape’, and the oak tree character that Stellenbosch is known for. Existing poplars at the bottom edge of the wetland will be phased out as newly planted indigenous tree species mature. Existing large and protected cycads were transplanted at the start of construction, held in an onsite nursery and replanted as feature planting either side of the building entrance.