Context
It is in this context of this precinct that many
developers have taken the opportunity to develop
mixed-use projects offering various combinations
of residential, medical, hospitality, office and retail
functionality. Key to the precinct design controls
is the imperative to create retail functionality at
street level and in the medium term, this will
activate sidewalks and create a lively, walkable
city centre. Growthpoint decided to purchase a
city block, and over a number of phases developed
a group of mixed use buildings focusing on offices
as the primary development driver. The Boulevard
was conceived to occupy half the block, enjoying
significant exposure to the north onto the major
east/west arterial connecting Umhlanga and the
burgeoning Cornubia to the west.
34
Design Solution
Within the stipulated town planning framework,
Growthpoint generated a brief for some 11,000m 2
of lettable, multi-tenanted offices over three levels
atop mandatory retail space at sidewalk level. The
typical model for the New Town Centre demands
a minimum of four stories with an open central
parking court, thus distributing all built mass to
the periphery of the site, with build to line dictating
street interfaces. The Boulevard entirely embraces
this format and delivers 12m wide office floor
plates to accommodate flexible small to mid size
office tenants on the lower levels.
A single tenant, RHDLV, on a long term lease,
occupies most of the upper two floors and this
anchors the development. On the inner edges of
the floor plates is a louvred circulation ambulatory
The Boulevard