November 6 2026 14:30
The V&A Waterfront and Amazon’s Cape Town developments dominated this year’s Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) Leadership Awards, presented at the 19th Green Building Convention in Cape Town last week. JSE-listed Redefine, Growthpoint and Attacq also took home honours.
The awards were handed out at the convention’s gala dinner on 28 October, midway through the three-day event at the Century City Conference Centre, which drew more than 800 property and sustainability professionals. Balwin Properties was lead sponsor.
A record pipeline of certified buildings
Presenting the awards, GBCSA Head of Technical Dash Coville said the council certified 291 projects across its Green Star, Net Zero and EDGE rating systems during the awards period, which ran from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
That work involved roughly 100 applicant organisations, 24 green building consultancies and 85 assessment roles.
Coville also singled out projects that have recently certified while piloting the new Green Star New Build Version 2 tool, among them the Club Med Beach & Safari Resort, 10 Parks Boulevard and 55 Eastwood. These fell outside the awards window but point to where the next round of certifications is heading.
V&A Waterfront sweeps existing buildings
The V&A Waterfront won the top project prize for existing buildings and the owner-level award to match.
- Highest Rated Project – Existing Operations: No. 6 Silo Radisson RED Hotel, with The Ridge as runner-up. Both are owned by V&A Waterfront Holdings, with Mellissa Titus of Sow & Reap Consulting as accredited professional.
- Green Star Leader for Existing Operations: V&A Waterfront Holdings. Runner-up: Absa Group.
- Best Quality Submission – Existing Operations: The MARC, owned by Eris Property, with Danika Taylor of Solid Green Consulting. Runners-up: The Ridge, and Growthpoint’s Newlands on Main (Sinethemba Ndlovu, Zutari).
Amazon’s Cape Town projects lead new developments
Amazon Development Centre (South Africa) featured in every new-development category, with Makhosazana Mthethwa of Solid Green as accredited professional on both its winning projects.
- Highest Rated Project – New Development: CPT14 AWS Central. Joint runners-up: CPT15 CS West and the Bank of Botswana (Cebisa Mafukuzela, Solid Green).
- Best Quality Submission – New Developments: CPT14 AWS Central and CPT15 CS West shared the award, which goes to submissions that hit the highest share of their targeted points in the first assessment round.
- Green Star Leader for New Developments: Bank of Botswana. Joint runners-up: Amazon Development Centre (South Africa) and Zenprop Property Holdings.
EDGE and Net Zero winners
- EDGE Residential Leader: Respublica Student Living, Balwin Properties and Divercity Urban Property Group shared the award.
- EDGE Commercial Leader: Attacq.
- Net Zero Champion: Growthpoint Properties’ Meadowbrook Estate (Serra Services), for Net Zero Carbon Level 2 on measured building and occupant emissions. Hlologelo Manthose of WSP was the accredited professional. Runner-up: dsm-firmenich South Africa, for Net Zero Water Level 2 (Simon Penso, Solid Green).
Redefine recognised for scale
JSE-listed REIT Redefine Properties received special recognition for certifying the largest volume of Green Star floor area during the period. GBCSA said the result shows how portfolio-wide sustainability commitments can drive real change in the market.
It is the latest in a string of GBCSA accolades for Redefine, which won the Net Zero Champion title in 2025 and the existing-buildings leadership award in 2024.
The people behind the ratings
- Established Green Star: André Harms, Ecolution Consulting. Runner-up: Mike Aldous, MPAMOT.
- Rising Green Star: Dr Linus Naik, Green Gap Consulting. Runner-up: Sinethemba Ndlovu, Zutari.
- EDGE Auditor Excellence: Yvonne Pelser, Inside Out Consulting, who also took the title in 2025. Runner-up: Cornelia Mey, Cornelia Mey Consulting.
Refiner Anene and Tshepiso Kobile were announced as the winners of the 2026 Women in Green Building Competition, run by GBCSA with the International Finance Corporation. The two winners received passes to the convention and recognition at the event.
A new chief executive’s target
This was the first convention under Georgina Smit, who took over as GBCSA CEO in May 2026 after previously heading the council’s technical team. Smit set out an ambition for the council to become, by 2030, “the catalyst that makes sustainable property the market law”, driving a decarbonised and more resilient property sector.
For landlords and developers, the message from Century City was clear: green certification is no longer a niche badge but an expected feature of quality, investable property.
247@propertyflash.co.za
