Hotel Verde

Hotel Verde is the first hotel in the world to be certified LEED Platinum by the United States Green Building Council, and is also certified with a six-star rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA), achieving its goal of being Africa’s greenest hotel.

Location

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Client

Dematech

Project Value

ZAR 10.2 million

Project Status

Completed in 2011

Awards

Platinum LEED certification (USGBC)
6-Star Green Star SA rating (GBCSA)
World Responsible Tourism Award for Best City Hotel
Global winner - Skål International Sustainable Tourism Awards

Design challenges

Dematech, the client, wanted this contemporary hotel, aptly named Hotel Verde – ‘verde’ meaning green in Italian – to be Africa’s greenest hotel and pursue LEED accreditation, America’s equivalent to the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).

Located less than 500 metres from the Cape Town International Airport, it needed to provide domestic and international travellers with somewhere to stay that had harmonious and environmentally friendly technologies and products, which meant that the focus was on sustainable construction and operation practices. It also required a three-star category, although the room sizes, services and fittings were designed to be similar to a four-star hotel.

Hotel Rooms

145 145

Distance to Airport

500m 500m

Solutions

Dematech brought in WSP to provide the design, management, supervision and cost control of all electronics. The hotel comprises 145 bedrooms, conference facilities, a restaurant, a fitness centre and much more – all with state-of-the-art electronics, including transmission infrastructure, active and wireless network, audio and video, CCTV, access control, building management systems, front of house lighting, fire detection and voice evacuation.

Since completion, Hotel Verde has won numerous awards for its eco-friendly construction and operation practices, achieving its goal of being Africa’s greenest hotel.

It is the first hotel in the world to have achieved two Platinum LEED certification from the United States Green Building Council. The first LEED certification was awarded in 2014 for the design and construction, as well as the operations and maintenance. The second – and most recent – certification was awarded for the Existing Building Operations & Maintenance of the hotel, proving that Hotel Verde is, in fact, Africa’s greenest hotel.
In November 2014, it was awarded the World Responsible Tourism Award for Best City Hotel at World Travel Market Landon. The hotel was nominated by Cape Town Tourism in recognition of the preservation of, respect for and benefit to the City of Cape Town and its local community.
It received a 6-star rating from the GBCSA, which ensures that the hotel is continually operated with stringent efficiency and sustainability targets.
It was voted the global winner in the Urban Accommodation category during the 15th annual Skål International Sustainable Tourism Awards.