Western Cape Business 2018 edition

OVERVIEW Construction

OVERVIEW Construction and property Affordable accommodation is on the agenda of developers. SECTOR INSIGHT Fancourt Golf Estate has released new plots for the first time in a decade. • A 42-storey giant will soon appear on Adderley Street. The release by the City of Cape Town of sites in Woodstock and Salt River could lead to new housing for 4 000 lower-income households. The city wants private developers and social housing institutions to create affordable housing on the 11 sites that it has earmarked. Some R16-billion has been invested since 2012 in the four districts comprising the City of Cape Town CBD, but developers are being asked to include affordable accommodation in their plans so that the old apartheid spatial divide is not perpetuated. House prices in Cape Town are moving upwards faster than anywhere else in the country, both in terms of inflation (10.35% vs 5.59%, Lighthouse) and average house prices (11.89% vs 5.6%, Pam Golding). A six-bedroomed Clifton house sold for a record R90-million in November 2016. As a symptom of how vibrant Cape Town’s property market is, Spear Reit has listed on the Alternate Exchange, becoming the first property fund to list as a Western Cape entity. The gross lettable area of the real estate investment trust (REIT) is 172 000m² and the intention is to take advantage in Cape Town’s building boom. A huge new tower will soon dominate one of Cape Town’s iconic corners. The Zero-2-One Tower to be constructed on the corner of Adderley and Strand streets will be the tallest building in Cape Town at 42 storeys. Of the 860 planned apartments, 312 will be in the affordable category, aligning the development with broader social goals. The site currently houses the Old Mutual Centre and Exchange Place. Land Equity and FWJK Developments are the developers. In another new development, there will be 250 residential units WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018 100

OVERVIEW at a new building to be called 100 Buitengracht, together with 4 000m² for shops. Developer Vantage Property is aiming for a Green Star rating and says that the design will respect the building’s position between Riebeeck Square on Buitengracht and the historic Bo-Kaap neighbourhood. Growth areas Brackengate 2 is a new industrial area that has been developed east of the R300 highway. It is intended as a warehousing and distribution node, given the easy access to the N1 and N2 highways. Shoprite has a distribution centre at the site. Brackengate Business Park, the first phase of the development, has tenants such as Fruit and Veg City, Docufile, Pearson and British American Tobacco. Voortrekker Road is the subject of several interventions to encourage bulking up (businesses and residential). The Greater Tygerberg Partnership is working to provide a catalyst for new developments that will build on the area’s existing strengths: transport links, medical facilities, retail, motor dealerships and residential. Possible construction projects could arise out of the fact that about 100 000 students are in the area. The Greater Tygerberg Partnership has done a study on students’ accommodation needs and encouraged building owners to cater to this need. Two buildings have recently been purchased with the intention of turning them into student accommodation. The Voortrekker Road Corridor already has services and an established built environment but it also has some dilapidated structures and lots of open spaces. In other words, it has lots of potential. A pilot scheme is being launched on the 22ha site of the old Conradie Hospital, which lies not far from Voortrekker Road in the suburb of Pinelands. A 3 000 housing unit development is planned there which will align with the provincial government’s concept of Live, Work, and Play. With the state (provincial or city government) putting in the bulk infrastructure, costs for developers would be significantly reduced – the quid pro quo is that the developer must then set aside a certain number of housing units (49%) to grant-funded housing. Spatial planning also underpins the thinking behind the concept of an “aerotropolis”, the idea of using a city’s airport to be a catalyst for growth across multiple sectors. The airport’s cluster of industries and storage facilities should be linked to the metropolitan south-east and two sections in Phillipi: the industrial area and the horticultural area An area that continues to grow in terms of residential property is the West Coast. With mountains to the east, it is logical that areas north of Cape Town will grow: the only constraint is access to water. Blouberg, Parklands and Sunningdale continue to grow and attract good houses for residential property. Several schools have been built in the area. George on the southern Cape coast has seen some substantial new developments, including a private hospital built for Mediclinic, some new malls and a number of estates being completed. The famous Fancourt facility, which incorporates residential holiday accommodation and a hotel, also has three golf courses (but one has a very exclusive membership). Fancourt in George was one of the first golf estates in South Africa. In 2017 a set of new plots were offered for sale on what was described as its “prized northern slopes”. Kingswood is another premier golf estate in George. Pam Golding was selling a three-bedroomed townhouse at Kingswood in 2016 for R2.35-million. ONLINE RESOURCES Construction Industry Development Board: www.cidb.org.za Master Builders and Allied Trades Association, Western Cape: www.mbawc.org.za SA Estate Agency Affairs Board: www.eaab.org.za SA Institute of Architects: www.saia.org.za SA Institute of Valuers: www.saiv.org.za SA Property Owners Association: www.sapoa.org.za. 101 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018