PROJECT FEATURE
THE
BOULEVARD
THE BOULEVARD
Umhlanga
CLIENT, DEVELOPER &
PROJECT MANAGERS
Growthpoint Properties
DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS
Key Developments
PROJECT MANAGERS
Growthpoint Properties
ARCHITECT
Elphick Proome Architects
QUANTITY SURVEYOR
Webber Associates
MULTIDISCIPLINARY ENGINEERS
Royal HaskoningDHV
MAIN CONTRACTOR
WBHO Construction
PHOTOGRAPHY
Karl Beath
32
I
n the late 1980s Old Mutual Properties took a leap of faith and commenced the
development of the Gateway Theatre of Shopping. This co-existed with Tongaat
Hulett’s Head Office as two somewhat isolated developments in the sugar cane
fields north of Durban. The shopping centre was conceived as the genesis of a new
city, an opportunity seized by Moreland Developments, the development division of
the Tongaat Hulett Sugar Company.
Today, 30 years later, Umhlanga is the equivalent of the Sandton of Johannesburg or
the Nørdhaven of Copenhagen: a parallel or binary city distanced, but umbilically-linked
to the original CBD of Durban. This shift has substantially altered the nature and quality
of the original city centre and the new urbanism situated north has generated significant
and ongoing development within the framework of a series of design controlled precincts.
In contrast to the plethora of gated ‘potato stamp’ suburban estates and mono-functional
office parks which have characterised the growth of Umhlanga over the last 20 years, the
New Town Centre offers a well structured mixed-use urban precinct. The framework plan,
conceived by GAPP Architects and Urban Planners, provides the vision and controls for
an integrated city to develop in the medium term. Imbued with carefully considered public
piazzas, parks and wide tree-lined boulevards, the precinct enjoys ongoing development
expansion within well constructed controls, delivering a well scaled urban environment.
The Boulevard