Page 68 - Waterfall City Special Edition 2022

With innovation, along with the welfare of people and Underpinned by the uninterrupted integrated fibre
the planet at the core of its operations, Waterfall City has optic and wireless telecommunications infrastructure,
positioned itself as a mindful partner in the residential Waterfall City uses data-driven communications to enhance
and commercial sector, providing integrated and seamless community satisfaction.
connectivity, energy efficient building practices, astute water The Go Waterfall app, developed specifically for those
and waste management, and future-fit road infrastructure. living and working in Waterfall City, has become part of daily
life in the precinct, creating a more tightly-knit community.
SMART CITY CONNECTIVITY Waterfall City residents and staff can use the app to stay
Creating and managing a development like Waterfall abreast of the latest events, order groceries online for door-
City takes careful planning across various aspects, to-door delivery, listen to Waterfall City podcasts and even
including the critical component of connectivity. To this take a geotagged photograph of a pothole, a security risk, or
end, the City features integrated fibre optic and wireless an accident and submit it through the app.
telecommunications infrastructure that meets the global
standard of uninterrupted superfast communication. Besides ENERGY EFFICIENCY FOCUS
33 strategically placed cell masts, it boasts a dedicated fibre Waterfall City has adopted a strong environmentally-
optic cable link between the development and the Teraco conscious approach to planning and development when
Data Environments in Johannesburg, so that Waterfall City is it comes to energy. The intention is to keep the carbon
not reliant on other third parties for connectivity, and open footprint small, air pollution low, and energy efficiency high.
accessibility is stretched to the extreme. Given the greenfield nature of the development and how
Currently, there is 714km of underground ducting across almost every building in Waterfall City is, in effect, a new
Waterfall City and the network is fully redundant, resulting build, it was an ideal opportunity to implement passive
in limited to no downtime. Parallel streams of network climate design principles and introduce green innovation
infrastructure have been installed, so that if a fibre cable for greater sustainability.
is broken during excavation, there is another backup fibre To date, Waterfall City has 31 green-rated buildings.
cable to which Internet and voice traffic can be redirected. Passive energy measures applied to the building envelope
All possible connectivity risks have been mitigated, and the use of glass, in addition to active systems like
including the ongoing scourge of load-shedding, where lighting and heating, have been implemented to work in
backup generators have been installed to provide support unison with one another, with solar being the last step.
to primary generators. Additionally, the entire connectivity Illustrating this, Mall of Africa boasts the world’s largest
layer is run on DC power, which completely removes the rooftop solar PV/diesel integrated plant, which covers most
risks associated with power spikes from Eskom. of the available roof space, approximately 45 000m², and the

66 | WATERFALL CITY SPECIAL EDITION