As well as being the overall winner, 115 West Street won the award in the Corporate Office Developments Category.
115 West Street Sandton was designed to meet the needs for new office accommodation for financial services company, Alexander Forbes, while also serving as a long-term investment for Zenprop Property Holdings.
Occupying a prominent site in Sandton on the corner of West Street and Rivonia Road, and positioned opposite the Gautrain station, this iconic building reflects the Alexander Forbes refreshed corporate identity in the Sandton CBD.
Zenprop strives to ensure efficiencies are achieved through implementing best design and construction practices across the entire development process. The objective of the design, undertaken by Paragon Architects, was to deliver a contemporary building with convenient lifestyle offerings.
The office component consists of eight large floor plates, a central core and two enclosed atriums connected by link bridges spanning across the atrium. Skylights in the atrium roof provide an ever-changing play of light within the atrium volume, while also drawing generous amounts of natural light into the office areas. Work stations generally have a view of the outdoor environment and the internal atrium, encouraging staff productivity and wellbeing.
All services are centralised and accessed via a series of impressive floating bridges and easy vertical movement between floors by means of both elevators and escalators. The design of the building has successfully utilised the site to its full extent and incorporates lush xeriscaped landscaping and
indigenous low water consumption plants.
The building provides a wide variety of staff amenities including: a crèche, gym, health studio, nondenominational prayer room, 200-seater auditorium, state-of-the-art audio-visual meeting rooms, a fully integrated and serviced kitchen and canteen, as well as a bar and coffee shop.
The building has achieved a 4-Star Green Star rating which has translated into water and energy savings. This has been achieved, amongst other practices, through rain and greywater recycling, passive heating and cooling and an engineered façade design. This was realised with the commitment and focus of the professional team, Zenprop and Alexander Forbes from initial design conception to construction completion.
Zenprop Property Holdings (Pty) Ltd is one of the largest private property development and investment companies in South Africa. Driven by innovation and powered by expertise, Zenprop has the core competencies, management skills, experience and track record needed to develop commercial, retail and industrial facilities with uncompromised efficiency, quality and superior service delivery.