CBD precinct to get R5bn revamp

A scale model of the proposed Kopanong Precinct was prominently on display at the Gauteng Infrastructure Investment Conference at Gallagher Estate. Pic: Jacques Stoltz

A scale model of the proposed Kopanong Precinct was prominently on display at the Gauteng Infrastructure Investment Conference at Gallagher Estate. Pic: Jacques Stoltz

Published Jul 28, 2015

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Johannesburg - The face of Joburg’s CBD is set to be transformed with the official launch of the on-off Kopanong Gauteng Government Precinct.

Kopanong initially involved 10 inner-city buildings that were to become linked government departments through a series of walkways and underground tunnels.

The project was started, but several buildings bought by the government had been standing empty, partially renovated, then left to disintegrate, creating an eyesore in the city centre, said Herbert Prins, a heritage architect.

It was first mooted in 2003, but was put on hold in 2010 partly because of objections from heritage bodies.

But the go-ahead for the project was announced this morning by Gauteng’s Infrastructure Development Department MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza.

“The R3 billion Kopanong precinct is an investment project aimed at bringing about economic development and the aesthetic facelift of the Joburg CBD,” said Khoza.

According to a report on the relaunch, it will entail the rehabilitation, development and management of 21 buildings.

Prins says the objectives of the project are:

- To improve service delivery through efficient interrelations.

- To identify a vehicle of changing ownership in the CBD.

- To eliminate work disruptions by security of tenure.

- To boost urban office design and regenerate the CBD.

At the end of last month, the Gauteng Department of Finance issued a tender for the appointment of a project officer at a cost of R10.7 million.

Those tender documents note that four buildings in the precinct are listed heritage sites: the New Library Hotel, The South African Reserve Bank, Clegg House and Montrose House; and six buildings are older than 60 years: the New Library Hotel, the Absa Building, Old Reserve Bank Building, the SA Permanent Bank Building, the South African Reserve Bank and Clegg House.

The report states that heritage permits will have to be obtained before starting with the development of the affected properties.

“Heritage permits were controversially issued in 2005 for the demolition of some of the buildings in the precinct, causing an uproar from the heritage community.

“In this context, the tender document states that existing permits would need to be scrutinised to determine their continued validity,” said Prins.

The document states that issues of heritage have been identified “as critical perspectives for memorialisation in the precinct of its history on the one hand, and its vision as a stepping stone to a new history”.

Some alterations were carried out after 2005, which, among others, resulted in the destruction of important panels by artist Eduardo Villa and the alteration of the Rand Water Building “to the point where the architectural significance of the structure has been ruined”, according to Prins. Buildings such as Clegg House subsequently became targets of the “pink paint” project in which several artists were allowed to pour pink paint over the buildings in protest that they were not being used.

The new precinct will include a street underpass, skywalks joining buildings and underground parking around a focal point like a square.

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