Architect and Builder August/September 2018 | Page 12

ROSSLYN HUB. TSHWANE
Rosslyn Hub, a R3-billion mixed use development, is set to enable
the city of Tshwane to become the automotive capital of Africa.
The development of Rosslyn Hub is a crucial step towards
the creation of the Tshwane Auto City (TAC) - a vision shared by
government and the automotive industry to transform the area into
the leading automotive investment destination in Africa. This Auto
City is a R50 billion project that will be funded by private sector
investment and could be a blueprint of how to develop Africa’s
future SmartCities in a sustainable way.
According to Brendan Falkson, Director of Rosslyn Hub, it is
envisioned that Rosslyn, which is already home to four automotive
plants - BMW, Nissan, Iveco and Tata - along with an array of
automotive suppliers, will emulate well-established automotive
cities like those in Spain, China, Germany and Japan. This will create
a second ”CBD” in the north-west of Tshwane on the doorstep
of Garankuwa and Soshanguve, anchored by a labour intensive
automotive manufacturing core that will enable workers to walk to
work and re-dress the poor land decisions of the past.
So how do you build a new city by unlocking private sector
investment? Through collaboration and a common shared vision. In
this case, the shared vision is building Africa’s first Auto City, whilst
the collaboration is achieved by involving all stakeholders right from
the beginning. In 2012, the Automotive Investment Development
Centre, or AIDC- a wholly owned government subsidiary, was
tasked with project managing the Tshwane Auto City. Through this
process, the AIDC brought the major role-players in the auto-industry,
private sector developers and landowners together with the key
city, provincial and parastatal players, in order to draw up a Spatial
Development Framework and then a Master Plan, to show how this
vision could be achieved.
Through this process, developers of Rosslyn Hub worked with
the AIDC in order to align their development with the vision of the
Tshwane Auto City. “Although the re-design and town-planning
changes seemed pain-full at the time, we could see the long term
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benefits for ourselves and the region, of the Tshwane Auto City’s
impact”, says Falkson, “The support and assistance we have received
from both the City of Tshwane and the Gauteng government,
has enabled us to re-design our lay-out to address six of the key
components required for the Auto City. The most important of these
is to provide a logistics node, vehicle distribution centre and main
access road for the new Transnet approved Logistics Hub.”
The master plan was able to identify the key access road that is
required to be built by government to unlock the project. This road
will enable the logistics hub required for the auto industry to be linked
to the N4 highway and Transnet’s freight line- a key component in
achieving export efficiencies. At the same time the northern portion
of the road will link the ±500,000 people in the greater Garankuwa
& Soshanguve with work opportunities and transport nodes within
Rosslyn and the Auto City. For the first time, the entry-level workers
will be able to live within walking distance of work. The money and
time saved on transport can be directly invested in assets like homes,
whilst increasing the time available for family time and quality of life.
By bringing more people into Rosslyn, this road will also trigger a
R3 billion, private sector investment in Rosslyn Hub, which in turn
will act as a catalyst for the R50 billion Tshwane Auto City.
Rosslyn Hub Will Include:
• 1,200 houses and 250 rental apartments;
• A crèche, primary and high school;
• A university with student housing;
• Two shopping centres, a value centre and filling station;
• A logistics park and vehicle distribution centre, with access to a
world class rail logistics hub;
• A truck staging area and truck stop;
• Motor showrooms and a motor retail area;
• A hospital and clinic;
• A hotel and conference centre; and
• An outdoor automotive pavilion.
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