Fairvest Property Holdings goes the solar route

CAPE TOWN – Fairvest Property Holdings is planning to increase its alternative electricity solutions after installing photovoltaic rooftop solar systems on 10 of its 44 peri-urban shopping centres for R36.6 million during the six months to end December.

Chief executive Darren Wilder yesterday said that the group had already started the expansion on seven more properties with a further R24.7m committed.

Wilder said the installations were meant to reduce Fairvest’s environmental footprint and increase the attractiveness of its shopping centres.

“They (the solar panels) are quite costly to put up, but they are also profitable, and pay for themselves,” Wilder said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Wilder said cost containment and efficient recoveries of municipal charges remained a strategic focus.