+IMPACT MAGAZINE ISSUE 18

PROJECT
South African Council
for the Architectural Profession
Makhosazana Mthethwa has been an architect
and sustainable design consultant at Solid
Green Consulting in Johannesburg since
2018. Under her guidance and expertise,
the company’s sustainable building design input in the
Rewardsco Block B office building in Umhlanga Ridge,
eThekwini, helped achieve the precinct’s five-star Green
Star Office Design v1.1 certification, in November 2021.
Block B is the Umhlanga commercial precinct’s second
Rewardsco building with a Green Star Office Design
certification from the Green Building Council South
Africa (GBCSA). The first Rewardsco office, Block C, was
completed in 2014.
The precinct has five office buildings and a hotel. The
newest Rewardsco Block B has four levels of office space
and three parking levels. Rewardsco is a leading provider
of outsourced sales services, with its consultants working
on behalf of blue-chip clients. The site is within walking
distance of Umhlanga Arch and numerous amenities.
Mthethwa is in her thirties and has straddled a career that
has morphed between pure architecture and sustainable
design practices. “This means I help develop solutions
to reduce the development’s environmental impact and
carbon footprint. In that way, I guide the project design
team to create comfortable, healthy buildings that are
highly efficient in their energy, water and resource usage.
Whatever the project requires, we work towards that,” she
says. “I also coordinate the green design certifications for
these buildings.”
CLEAN VISION
“Sustainable design is impacted by every discipline –
whether it’s architecture, mechanical or electrical
engineering – we coordinate those designs and provide
supporting green technical advice so we can achieve
the project’s overall sustainability goals.” How might
this be implemented? “With the architecture side, we
look at how to help the project architect to optimise
the building’s form, making sure that designs are well
orientated. Or if there is a lot of glass, we’ll advise on
climate-appropriate glazing selections, particularly for
buildings with higher glazing ratios that would require
high performance glass and perhaps shading solutions.”
Mthethwa says to predict a building’s performance, they
carry out iterative computer base-model simulations for
solar control, daylight availability, thermal comfort and
energy analysis. “Using this simulated modelling allows us
to give the design team an idea of the impact of different
design variations – for instance, the impact of solar control
on daylight availability and thermal comfort.” Where
required, they also assist with post-occupancy surveys
that offer user feedback on how occupants experience the
buildings once completed.
“It’s important for sustainable developments to have all
members of the design team collaborating quite early in
the design process, starting from concept to close-out, and
even through to operations. In the sustainable design world,
we call it the integrated design process,” she says. This
results in balanced designs and reduced resource waste.
BUILDING A SAFE HOUSE
No person can erect a building/house without approved building plans prepared by a registered
architectural professional.
Any member of the public who erects a building/house without approved building plan prepared by
registered architectural professional is considered guilt of an offence.
A member of the public will also suffer losses because the building will be demolished.
Furthermore, a person who is not registered with the South African Council for the architectural
profession (SACAP) will not be able to advise a member of the public not to build a house on a site
which is subject to flooding or does not drain properly.
Rewardsco B Building
in Umhlanga Ridge
has a 5-Star Green
Star certification.
A building plan prepared by a person who is not registered will be dangerous to
To check if your architectural profession
is registered contact SACAP on:
Tel: 011 479 5000
Email: info@sacapsa.com
51 Wessel Road, Rivonia Sandton,2128
Makhosazana Mthethwa has been a green building consultant at Solid Green
since 2018. Her role is to facilitate green building design certifications as well as
technically assist project teams to deliver sustainable buildings. Mthethwa is also an
assistant lecturer at UCT for the Simulated Office School of Architecture, Planning
and Geomatics faculty. Before joining Solid Green, she was a design architect at
dhk where she used her experience to incorporate sustainability initiatives into the
architectural designs from concept level. From 2009 to 2015, Mthethwa worked
at PJCarew Consulting. She joined as an academic intern and a year later began
working as a green building design consultant. Thereafter she moved to part-time
work to pursue a master’s degree from 2012.
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