Gauteng Business 2017-18 edition

New city-like developments are
springing up in Gauteng
Infrastructure spending is on the increase.
South African television viewers have been
treated to nostalgia-tinged television advertisement
which tells the story of how Sandton
was transformed from farmland to the
richest square mile in Africa, from a sparsely populated
area north of Johannesburg to a bustling mixture of
shops, offices, flats, entertainment complexes and
hotels that is a key component of the city-region’s
economy. With the Liberty Group among the financiers,
Sandton City shopping centre, with 50 000m² of
lettable space, opened in 1973 and sparked fantastically
fast growth around it, mostly at the expense of
Johannesburg’s central business district (CBD).
A new wave of development is sweeping over
Sandton again and the area’s 10 000 businesses and
300 000 residents are spoilt for accommodation
choices, but city-like developments are springing
up in other parts of Gauteng as well, partly as a reaction
to new trends in transport (the Gautrain and bus
rapid transport) and partly in response to the concept
of corridor development being pursued by the City
of Johannesburg and the Provincial Government
of Gauteng.
Some of South Africa’s biggest companies are
building new headquarters in Sandton. Sasol has
constructed its new global head office to the latest
green specifications and Paragon Architects
created a 4 000m² roof garden encompassing
four biomes. Discovery’s new group headquarters
also follows green principles. The building’s three
towers offer a total of 110 00m² lettable space,
developed and jointly owned by Growthpoint
Properties and Zenprop Property Holdings.
Ironically, Liberty’s modern headquarters are in
the centre of Johannesburg, but the rejuvenation
of the inner city is the subject of a separate article.
The Sandton model
Something like the Sandton model is being replicated
in other parts of Gauteng with existing
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