A Cape Town hotel was awarded the highest accolade of a 6 Star rating in the Green Star SA Existing Building Performance tool with 82 points, a first for a hotel in South Africa, by the Green Building Council of South Africa.

Hotel Verde’s new rating is valid for a period of 3 years in order to ensure the building is continually operated on stringent efficiency and sustainability targets.

Brian Wilkinson, CEO of the GBCSA, comments, “We’re thrilled to award a 6-Star Green Star SA Existing Building Performance rating, to such a deserving development. An added achievement is being the very first hotel to achieve such a rating, making green building history in South Africa.”

“The Existing Building Performance rating tool enables the effective measurement of a building’s environmental performance in relation to its operation and management. It provides indicators to ensure that the building’s environmental performance is efficiently maintained or improved upon over time and offers the hotel industry an effective way to benchmark their green credentials.”

“We want many more hotel owners and operators to follow the example set by Hotel Verde. The hotel management have shown that green innovations and implementations are not only possible in the tourism industry but add an additional dimension to their service offering,” he adds.

New version of the EBP tool

Hotel Verde was certified while the Existing Buildings Performance (EBP) tool was still in its pilot phase, launched in October 2013.

Version 1 has now (2015) been launched and all further certification will occur under the criteria of this version (or subsequent versions).

Before this tool was launched, the GBCSA’s rating tools focused largely on the design and construction of new buildings and major refurbishments, all with design and construction elements.

There was very little focus, therefore on ongoing building operations and management. The EBP tool now addresses a far wider scope of buildings to undergo certification.

“What the six star green rating in essence means is that Hotel Verde has been recognised for world leadership in sustainable development.

“Something we have been working very hard at over the past few years. And to prove to the Tourism industry at large, that it can be done, sustainably and viably, without compromising the guest experience,” says André Harms from Ecolution Consulting.