Recession as Opportunity Commissioned and built entirely during the hardest economic recession in living memory , this building is a statement of faith in the future of Johannesburg and a measure of what can be achieved when well integrated teams meet around singular challenges . Importantly , the co-developer and main contractor are part of the same group of companies and , in this way , the developer formed part of the construction team . This coming together of interests led to a substantial investment in terms of time , skills development , and retention of key company skills in this unique project . Given the general recession in the industry , the construction company used this project and its construction challenges as a positive force , applying key high level management skills into the project and incentivising well experienced senior staff to remain with the company by applying their skills to this particular project . In busier times , it may have been difficult to find the right concentration and spread of construction skills focused onto this project , and its design and quality may well have been different .
Similarly , certain labour intensive sub contracts could be procured at reasonable rates , and the building as such benefits from a high level of hand finished detail . A case in point are the hand formed aluminium sheet ‘ boxes ’ that give depth to the east and west façades with their intricate upstand seams and dense patterning .
Much commercial architecture commissioned by developers for end user tenants is defined by lowest common denominator functional requirements , and is cost engineered down to
122 15 Alice Lane