Absa finds a new 5-star green home
12 offices consolidated as bank signs 10-year lease for Bridge Park in Century City
BANKING group Absa has found a new home in Bridge Park, Century City. The bank said at the weekend it had consolidated 12 of its offices in the Western Cape to one regional office campus centrally located at Century City.
Absa signed a 10-year lease for 18000m2 of offices in a deal believed to be the most significant in the city over the last five years.
The building was designed by DHK Architects and developed as a joint venture between Rabie Property Group and Growthpoint Properties at a cost of R450 million.
Bridge Park is set over a shared parking basement and podium and located on a high visibility site in Century City’s new conference precinct, destined to become Cape Town’s new commercial and hospitality hub.
In line with Absa’s commitment to mitigating the environmental impact of its operations, the development has been rated as a 5-Star Green Star development by the Green Building Council of South Africa.
Doug Walker, managing executive of Absa in the Western Cape, said the bank decided to relocate to Century City to consolidate its various offices into one central location and Century City provided the optimal solution.
“Consolidating our 12 offices has various benefits for colleagues and customers alike.
“For example, cross-functional teamwork and co-creation between diverse areas, business units and customer segments enables various shifts in culture, such as increased productivity and improved turnaround times.
“This is all done with a single purpose in mind: making the everyday lives of our employees and customers better.”
Walker said a happy employee is a productive employee and increased productivity often results in an improved bottom line.
“At an employee level, it takes a little longer to change the culture and DNA of the business,” he said.
“Our new offices are state-of-the-art and send a clear message that we are not only serious about the well-being of our staff, but we are also fostering a company culture that attracts and retains the best employees the market has to offer.”
Bridge Park is adjacent to the R1billion Century City Square project which includes the new Century City Conference Centre for 1 200 delegates over 20 venues, a new 125-room hotel, 15 000m2 of offices, 51 apartments, numerous restaurants and coffee shops flowing onto a public square as well as basement and structured parking for 1300 vehicles.
The conference precinct is being developed as part of “an all-green precinct” at Century City which is already home to, among others, The Business Centre, Phillip Morris and Chevron, all of which have been accredited by the Green Building Council of South Africa.
Colin Anderson, a director of Rabie Property Group said there had been strong interest in Bridge Park from a number of large corporates and work on two additional buildings in the precinct would begin shortly.
Anderson said Bridge Park and The Square had both benefited from recent infrastructure projects totalling more than R130m.