In a pioneering public-private initiative in late 2009, the City of Cape Town, Eskom, and the South African Property Owners' Association (SAPOA) collaborated to form an Energy Efficiency Forum for commercial buildings in Cape Town. The forum is co-funded by Santam and the South African Council for Shopping Centres (SACSC), and supported by organisations such as Accelerate Cape Town, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Cape Town Partnership, the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape.

At the first energy efficiency workshop held in September 2009, a large majority of attendants called for the establishment of a regular forum on this topic. A full 78% voted to become members of the Forum. Feedback results showed that well over 90% felt that the event organisation, the usefulness of the content and the interactive nature of it were all ’good or outstanding‘. The overall rating of the event was 42% 'good' and 56% excellent (combined, this is 98% positive result).

The aspects members found most useful were:

• Knowledge sharing with others in their industry (including the presentations)
• Practical knowledge
• Being updated and becoming aware of related issues, for example about regulations
• Networking
• Learning about the range of possible saving measures