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New home for SA Home Loan

New home for SA Home Loan

Date: 2014-02-28
SA Home Loan's R150 million new head officeon Durban's up-market La Lucia Ridge is that rarest of office buildings, a structure that combines a striking contemporary design with sweeping ocean and city views, while still managing to be low impact, both visually and environmentally.

For Kevin Penwarden, Chief Executive of the leading independent mortgage provider, the new SA Home Loans HQ has exceeded all his expectations... and they were extremely high to start with. "We were after a structure that would comfortably accommodate our staff from five separate buildings, bringing them together in a cutting edge, environmentally friendly new headquarters, one that was purpose built with a primary aim in mind - to provide the optimal working conditions to serve our customers," Penwarden recalls.

In addition, the building needed to be delivered on budget to an extremely tight deadline, while at the same time ensuring near zero staff and IT system downtime. "It was a complex, highly ambitious goal, but I'm delighted to report we achieved it with flying colours," says Penwarden adding that the move had also created several gratifying spin-offs in the form of a heightened sense of community spirit and company pride among staff, as well as improved productivity. It also marks a bold new direction for SA Home Loans from renting premises to owning its own property.

The move also promises to be a savvy financial investment for SA Home Loans. The company estimates that it will settle the loan on the development within 11 years paying exactly the same amount as the rent to a landlord, leaving it the sole owner of Durban's most substantial Financial Services Head Office and one of the largest of all offices on the Ridge.

And thanks to a host of clever 'green building' features incorporated into the design, it's also among the most environmentally friendly, offering the company significant savings on its energy bills.

The two-storey, high-tech building management system optimises power usage and equipment control, with motion sensors automatically switching lights on and off in zones outside of core office hours, depending on activity.

"We've achieved everything we set out to with the move and more. And while our staff are loving their new workplace, it's our clients who are the real winners," concludes Penwarden.