OVERALL HERITAGE WINNER
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT WINNER
Drostdy Hotel
West Hills Mall
The Drostdy Hotel is situated in the historic centre of GraaffReinet. The second oldest building in South Africa, the Drostdy and
its courtyard garden are of great historic and cultural significance
within the town as they played a central role in the life of the original
town’s burghers.
The his toric slave cottages located along a ‘mews’ street on the
side of the Drostdy Hotel property also bear great significance from
a historic and cultural point of view. These buildings serve as a
reminder of the agricultural past of the town and its history of slavery.
The architects, dhk, sought to integrate the historic fabric with
new interventions throughout the property, creating a seamless
experience of the rich heritage of the site, while bringing the hotel
up to 5 star luxury country hotel standard. The project included the
masterplan of the entire site, sensitive restoration of significant
historic buildings, and architectural design of new insertions.
The reinvigorated Drostdy Hotel now accommodates 48 new
hotel rooms with three swimming pools, a fine dining restaurant,
bar and lounges, art gallery, wine shop, vinotheque, and spa as well
as other associated hotel amenities.
Open spaces between the various complexes have been
reactivated, providing courtyards, swimming pools and terraces,
creating a sense of community and open circulation routes.
New interventions were designed to sit sensitively within the
historic fabric, and respond in design and material to the contrasting
Cape Dutch and Victorian aesthetics.
The restoration project has returned the Drostdy Hotel to the
stately property it once was and has re-established its reputation as
the finest accommodation in Graaff-Reinet and the surrounding area.
Westhills Mall is a new shopping destination in Ghana. As the
largest mall in West Africa with 27,700m², it is the first of its kind
in the country. Westhills Mall has changed the face of Accra and
has become a major hub for the Western Accra catchment area,
which previously had no modern retail. The development has
provided an unrivalled blend of shopping and leisure facilities. The
Mall is designed for excellent access and visibility and is situated
on the new Cape Coast Highway in western Accra.
Westhills Mall was developed jointly by AttAfrica Limited and
Ghana’s Social Security and National Insurance trust (SSNIT).
AttAfrica Limited is a Mauritius based company focused on investing,
developing and acquiring A-grade shopping centres in key SubSaharan African Markets excluding South Africa. Opportunities exist
as Africa continues to grow economically with rapid urbanisation
and the emergence of a middle and consumer class. In addition, the
expansion of South African, African and European retailers has also
created a demand for A-Grade retail space.
Ghana is benefiting from an emerging middle class and Accra is
the hub of retail in the country. Although modern shopping malls
still represent a small portion of Accra’s retail market, its growing
prosperity and population means that it has a great capacity for more
formal retail.
Westhills Mall will bring top national and international retailers to
this increasingly sophisticated consumer market. The anchors at
Westhills are Shoprite and Palace, with key tenants including Edgars,
Jet, Truworths, Identity, the Foschini Group and Woolworths.
From a design perspective, the architects, ARC Architects
Pretoria, included continous clerestory windows that fill the Mall
volumes with daylight to coax the predominantly external retail
culture indoors. African ‘adinkra’ symbolism is represented
abstracedly via ‘duafe’ comb walls piercing the entrances. A stitching
of dark bands of louvres ties the façade together.
Developer: De Oude Graaff Reinetse Drostdy
Architects: dhk
Quantity Surveyors: De Leeuw Quantity Surveyors
Structural Engineers: Aurecon
Mechanical & Electrical Engineers: Aurecon
Fire Consultants: Aurecon
Heritage Consultants: Moffat Whitlock Architects;
Urban Concepts
Environmental Consultants: Moorhouse Consulting
Land Surveyors: Setzkorn & Van der Walt
Landscaping: Blok Designs
Interior Design: Stephen Falcke Interior Design
Main Contractor: GVK-Siya Zama
Photography: Wieland Gleich
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Developer: AttAfrica; SSNIT
Project Managers: GHC Africa
Architects: ARC Architects (Pretoria)
Quantity Surveyors: DeQS
Civil Engineers: Aurecon Group
Structural Engineers: BSM Baker
Mechanical Engineers: Aurecon Group
Electrical Engineers: Aurecon
Fire Consultants: Specialised Fire Technology
Main Contractor: WBHO Construction North
SAPOA Awards