ABSA TOWERS
ABSA TOWERS Kwazulu-Natal Regional Head Offices , Durban
CLIENT ABSA Bank Limited
ARCHITECT Elphick Proome Architects
PROJECT MANAGER Maponya Developments
PRINCIPAL PROJECT MANAGER Key Projects
QUANTITY SURVEYOR FWJK Quantity Surveyors
CIVIL & STRUCTURAL ENGINEER WSP in Africa
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER ABSA REAM
MECHANICAL ENGINEER ABSA REAM
WET SERVICES & FIRE ENGINEERS WSP in Africa
GEOTECHNICAL & HYDRAULIC ENGINEERS Drennan Maud & Partners
LIFT CONSULTANTS WAC Projects
PROJECT MANAGEMENT & BUILDING CONSULTANTS JM Henrey & Associates
MAIN CONTRACTOR Siyeza Ross JV comprising : JT Ross & Son PG Mavundla Projects DLDMIC Construction
PHOTOGRAPHY Elphick Proome Architects
In 1958 , the new United Building Society Head Office was completed in Durban ’ s Central Business District . Typical of centre city buildings of its time , this nondescript , fourteen-storey structure exhibited bland , modernist façades to its street frontages with blank facebrick to east and west bookends , terrazzo-clad structural fins and granite spandrels . Accommodating a banking hall on pavement level , a mean , uncelebrated entrance , six-storey parking garage and thirteen office floor plates , the building adequately satisfied the tenants ’ needs until the new millennium .
Programme ABSA ’ s spiralling growth in the late twentieth century demanded the need to relocate burgeoning divisions accommodated in various buildings scattered around Durban to a central Regional Head Office . Operational needs , consolidation and centralisation to effect efficiency are what precipitated the remodelling of the UBS building . The brief and accommodation programme required the following :
• Remodelling of 8,000m 2 of existing office space ;
• Addition of 1,200m 2 of new executive facilities , canteen and training spaces ;
ABSA Towers occupies a highly prominent site in Durban , diagonally opposite Francis Farewell Square
42 Absa Towers