Balancing real estate development in Africa with environmental and social considerations is fundamental to our operations. As an environmentally conscious business, GREA has adopted an Environmental Management Framework, enabling us to formalise and monitor our environmental goals through consistent review, evaluation, and improvement in line with established guidelines at every stage of construction.

We work closely with our tenants to integrate sustainable energy and lifestyle features into our buildings, such as the optimal use of natural light and ventilation, stable ambient temperatures, minimal greenhouse gas emissions, energy sub-metering, lighting power density, the recycling of waste, local sourcing and bicycle parking with showers and change rooms for cyclists.

Our development of www.theprecinct.mu in Grand Baie, Mauritius is a good example of how modern office design can promote business flexibility by combining work, wellness, and social lifestyle to futureproof the development and ensure sustainability.

Every aspect of the design is considered from a position of promoting well-being and efficiencies, such as the natural flow of air and light, green features to reduce the carbon footprint and the incorporation of nature elements.

Where possible, we use internationally accepted building processes and designs to reduce our carbon footprint and water consumption, such as EDGE, an innovation of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. EDGE is a green building standard and a certification system that empowers building professionals to quickly and easily determine the most cost-effective ways to build green, based on building type and the local climate.

Level 1 EDGE certification requires 20% or more savings in energy, water and embodied energy in materials compared to conventional building methods. An advanced certification requires at least 40% savings in on-site energy.

GREA is targeting EDGE certification for our development of an A-grade, five-story, custom designed tower with training facilities and a career centre for CCI Global, the largest international contact centre operator in Africa at Tatu City, Kenya.

The building, Eneo at Tatu Central, is the latest in a strategic partnership between GREA and Rendeavour, which spans commercial, warehousing and logistics developments at Rendeavour’s new cities in East and West Africa.

This development will boast a range of design features to promote a lower environmental impact, including: self-shading façades, high-performance glass in some areas, natural ventilation, rainwater collection tanks in the basement, dedicated hybrid vehicle and bicycle parking, energy efficient lighting, water efficient sanitary ware, solar panels and waste recycling.

To promote biodiversity, ground-level retail stores will have vegetation on their roofs and creates a visual connection to green space.

Our environmental policies are aligned with our corporate philosophy of local empowerment and re-investing back into the communities in which we operate. In this regard we partner with a number of local professional firms and make use of local artisans and materials wherever possible.

Considering our track record of successful developments across a range of assets and countries in Africa, we’re very proud of being able to unlock value for our clients in a responsible way that promotes a journey to a net-zero carbon footprint with positive social impact.

Because we have #OnlyOneEarth.