Some positive South African property news; a new green hotel is in the pipe-line for Cape Town. The Hotel Verde is in its final stages of approval with the construction expected to be complete by early 2013.

The hotel name “Verde” means green in Italian but that isn’t the only reason why it is called a green hotel.  This 143 room, 3-star hotel is located just 500m from the terminal building of the Cape Town International building.  The room sizes, services and fittings will however be similar to those of a 4 star hotel.

Hotel Verde is registered with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold, a stringent programme spearheaded by the US Green Building Council.  The South African property version; the Green Building Council of South Africa’s Green Star SA is fairly new thus does not have a rating tool for hotels.

Hotel Verde will have three 17m – high wind turbines, a greywater recycling system, double-glazed, high performance windows to optimise solar heat gain and thermal insulation. The hotel’s dishwashers and washing machines will use low energy, and very little water consumption. The North-facing roof will be covered with photovoltaic solar panels to help generate large amounts of power that will go into battery banks.

Electric car hire will be available for guests to do their Cape Town based travelling. The hotel will also provide free electric shuttles for guests to and from the airport terminal building.