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Green Building Council confirms its leaders and grows its board

Posted On Tuesday, 01 March 2016 16:34 Published by
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Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA), which promotes green building development in the country, has re-elected Seana Nkhahle as its non-executive chairman and Rudolf Pienaar as non-executive deputy chairman for a second term.

GBCSA_Chairman_Seana_Nkhahle

They will continue as key role-players on the board of one of the most active green building councils worldwide.

GBCSA has also welcomed three new board members, expanding its knowledge-base with leading minds in their fields of speciality. They are: Nkosinathi Manzana, Colin Devenish, and Anthony Stroebel.

Commenting on the appointments, Brian Wilkinson, CEO of GBCSA, says: “We are fortunate to have such experienced and passionate people on our board. The leadership that Seana and Rudolf bring to our vision and agenda are invaluable, especially with the huge environmental challenges South Africa, and indeed the world, face. We need to respond with innovative thinking and bold action, and the pioneering insights of Nkosinathi, Colin and Anthony will no doubt support this.”

Seana Nkhahle is the Executive Manager in the Office of the Chief Executive Officer at the South African Local Government Association (SALGA). SALGA is mandated by the South African constitution to transform local government towards continuous improvement in the delivery of their constitutional mandates.

He is widely recognised as an innovator and activist for sustainable development. Nkhahle has extensive experience in sustainable urban development and local governance. He has facilitated numerous partnerships to support municipalities to improve sustainability and environmental responsiveness in their operations. Before joining SALGA, Nkhahle worked as the Executive Manager for Programming at the South African Cities Network (SACN). Prior to SACN, he was the Managing Director at Syn-Consult, a consulting firm that focuses on managing sustainability in the built environment. He is also chairperson of Planact.

Rudolf Pienaar is the Divisional Director: Office Sector for South Africa’s largest JSE-listed REIT, Growthpoint Properties. Growthpoint, a JSE ALSI 40 company, owns or co-owns the largest portfolio of green buildings of any company in South Africa. With 30 years’ experience in the property industry, Pienaar has served in senior management positions of five listed property companies. He is a director of Growthpoint, Acucap and a member of the property committee of the V&A Waterfront, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Department of Construction Economics at the University of Pretoria. Pienaar has been a member of the GBCSA board since 2010 and sits on its executive committee. He is also a director of the World Green Building Council (World GBC).

Nkosinathi Manzana is the Head: Professional and Technical Services within the Group Real Estate Services of Standard Bank. In this role, he is responsible for development management of strategic properties, maintenance, engineering and energy management.

He has over nineteen years of experience in the built environment in South Africa. Manzana has been involved in the planning, design and implementation of a broad range of multidisciplinary projects such as transport infrastructure, buildings, petrochemical pipelines and pump stations, ports and municipal engineering services. 

He is passionate about sustainability, green buildings and energy management. He forms part of the core Standard Bank team that has overseen the green building certification of four bank-owned buildings in the last three years.

Colin Devenish is the Executive Manager of Operations at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, one of South Africa’s most iconic and visited destinations. Colin is responsible for all operations-related services for both its existing and development properties. Prior to the V&A he was National Facilities Manager at Old Mutual Properties.

Colin also spent 14 years in the mining industry where he was involved in rehabilitating old mines back into agricultural land. He chairs the V&A Waterfront’s Sustainability Committee. Under his guidance, the V&A Waterfront achieved a Platinum rating on the Heritage Environmental Rating System and various other sustainability awards.

He was integral in implementing practices which led to the V&A Waterfront being awarded Best Destination at the World Responsible Tourism Awards for its focus on sustainable development and the role it plays in creating jobs and boosting the local economy.

Anthony Stroebel is Group Marketing Director at Pam Golding Properties, where his role is to engineer a sustainable future through innovative strategies for the company, which includes integrating a ‘green agenda’ into the future of residential property in South Africa.

His personal mission is to drive green consciousness in the minds of homeowners to the extent that the green credentials of a home become integral to their value as perceived by buyers and, in so doing, become part of the journey towards a more sustainable planet. Prior to Pam Golding Properties, Anthony spent 13 years in the advertising industry, the last five of which he was CEO of J. Walter Thompson in Cape Town.

GBCSA is an independent, non-profit, membership-based organisation formed in 2007 by leaders from all sectors of the commercial property industry. It is the official certification body of commercial buildings under the Green Star SA Rating System and residential buildings under the EDGE certification system. The organisation aims to ensure that all buildings are built and operated in an environmentally sustainable way so all South Africans work and live in healthy, effective and productive environments.

A total of 25 Green Building Councils from around the world unveiled national commitments to transform the sustainability of their buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that the building and construction industry plays its part in limiting global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees. The GBCSA made an ambitious commitment at COP21 in Paris to introduce a net zero/positive building certification scheme by 2020.

Buildings currently account for around one third of global emissions. But, green building is one of the most cost-effective solutions to climate change, and generates significant environmental, economic and societal benefits.

Last modified on Tuesday, 01 March 2016 16:47
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