ATLANTIC HILLS BUSINESS PARK,
CAPE TOWN
SITARI FIELDS, SOMERSET WEST
The new retail complex at the very successful Sitari Fields development
in Somerset West is taking shape. Designed by Steyn Le Roux Truter
Architects, it is the official lifestyle centre that complements 800 residential
units, a retirement facility and private schools on the estate.
The design guidelines inevitably has to pay lip service to a contemporary
Cape vernacular in materials and finishes with enough freedom to make
it an exciting challenge architecturally. It is understated with dark grey
roofscapes, toned plastered white walls, colonnades and shaded areas. It is
contextually designed to blend in an earlier rural, now semi-urban landscape
taking its cues from the planning guidelines of the estate.
There was a deliberate attempt to avoid specific styles, but instead to
use careful detailing to integrate the surroundings as an upmarket attractive
shopping experience to a wider clientele. It has to fulfil the requirements
of commercial dictates without the pitfalls experienced in the run of the
mill centres of the past 30 years. It is generally understated and timeless
without superfluous decoration to be sustainable and appropriate for its
user body and its future impact in the vicinity.
The development is scaled down to an almost residential level, despite
the overall size in accommodating an anchor of 3,600m 2 partly tucking it
in below the major road to the east. It was partly achieved by dividing
the roofscape into smaller pitched roofs and flat sections hiding services.
The main façades responding to the parking area introduce wide covered
walkways with low eave lines in reference to the stoeps of historic
homesteads, similar to those in the area. Special attention is given to the
overall three dimensional aspect which includes broken urban forms, a
variety of interfaces and reducing blank façades.
The total area for the phases of the centre comprise 12,500m 2 . Ample
parking, in excess of 600 bays in a carefully landscaped environment is
integrated aesthetically and add to a visually attractive appearance from
the major feeder road as well as attempting to be an advertisement for
the Sitari estate. Further user facilities, a gymnasium and related service
components are at future planning stages.
It is believed that it will become a lifestyle asset not only for Sitari, the
adjacent De Eike, Kelderhof and Croydon, but also for the greater Hottentots
Holland Basin.
16
Abland have announced five new developments that offer
direct access to the M12 with an immediate connection to
the N7, providing them with easy access to the Cape Town
Harbour. The developments are situated at the 72ha Atlantic
Hills Business Park in Cape Town.
The first four developments are being developed
on behalf of POD Property Fund, with a total value of
R300 million. Time Link, Hi Calibre, Brand In-Store and
Symphony Forwarding
SA, were completed at
the end of March 2019. In
June 2019, construction
commenced on the addi-
tional developments of
11,000m² and 8,000m²
which are being built for
future tenants.
The final development,
which is a 17,000m² cold
storage facility and head office for South Africa Fruit
Terminals (SAFT), is being developed on behalf of SAFT.
The cold storage facility for SAFT will be completed at the
end on June 2019, boasts 20 air locked loading as well as
both rapid and sterilisation cooling tunnels with a 5,500
pallet capacity.
“We are extremely pleased with the progress of the
development at Atlantic Hills. The business park has large
tracts of serviced land that can be developed for large
warehouses or can be subdivided for smaller warehouses.
This gives us flexibility to develop buildings to the exact
specification of the tenant. Industrial tenants are also
attracted to the business park due to its high visibility,
convenient location close to Durbanville, Milnerton and
Plattekloof, and excellent transport links for logistics
companies to Cape Town Harbour,” says James Cresswell,
Cape Regional Director, Abland.
In 2018, Abland opened the Atlantic Hills bridge at Atlantic
Hills Drive on the M12 in Cape Town. The bridge was
required in order to provide access and egress to and from
the business park to the M12. Since then, the extension of
the M12 on Giel Basson Drive, in partnership with the City of
Cape Town, is well underway with all roads and infrastructure
set for completion in August 2019 providing easy access for
commuters to Cape Town International Airport.
Thereafter, Abland intends to roll out the development
of the remaining warehouses and expects Atlantic Hills to
be fully completed in 2023.
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