Bosch Holdings Enginuity December 2006 | Page 6

Bridge City – Phase 1 steams ahead SBA has been appointed as consulting engineers for the civil engineering of the Bridge City project, a joint venture between Moreland Developments and eThekwini Municipality. Bosch Projects is responsible for planning the electrical infrastructure for this prestigious development. Sherwyn Jairam - Electrical Engineer, Bosch Projects, Cary Kroeger - Director SBA; Nishan Mohanlall - Design Engineer and Derick Serfontein - Director Bosch Projects. B ridge City, which is a multi million Rand new town centre development for the Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma and Kwamashu areas just outside Durban, is expected to be fully developed in phases within eight years. Construction of phase 1 commences at the end of 2006. “The 43 hectare site, situated on the southern side of the MR 93, between the KwaMashu and Ntuzuma interchanges, opposite Phoenix Industrial Park, was originally developed for industrial use,” says Howard Goodes, project manager of SBA. “However, regional planning undertaken by Moreland Developments and the eThekweni Municipality shows it would be better to change the land use from ‘industrial’ to a ‘mixed-use’ town centre.” Development on individual sites will generally be retail/commercial on the ground and first floor, with additional floors of residential units, to a maximum height of eight storeys. Included in this development are A government regional hospital of 450 beds A regional magistrates court A 40 000 m 2 shopping centre An intermodal transport facility A subterranean railway station Three petrol stations Open spaces An SMME precinct A new half diamond interchange onto the MR 93 and Approximately 4 000 individual residential apartments. Keep Durban beautiful MSA staff and children from the Lamontville community supported a DSW ‘Keep Durban Beautiful’ campaign held in Durban. 6 Bridge City site plan. The Bosch Projects appointment comprises three elements Planning – final load determination and development of a master implementation plan for this area Medium voltage reticulation – provision of a medium voltage backbone for the development in the area Public lighting – street and public open area lighting that will also enhance general security “Although still in the preliminary design phase, the project load demand is in the order of 40 MVA. Existing electrical capacity is available in the area, however, it is expected that the initial developments in the area will outstrip demand in the short to medium term,” says Derick Serfontein, director of Bosch Projects. “Discussions have been initiated with eThekwini Electricity to make provision for a new major substation in the area and potential sites are currently being investigated.” “The overall brief is that development standards will be along similar lines as new developments in the Umhlanga Ridge new town centre, meaning location is not an excuse for diminished quality. In order to meet these requirements, a world class public lighting installation is being planned. Public and roadway lighting will form an integral part of the security solution for this development.” Contact Derick Serfontein – [email protected]