Estate Living Magazine Invest SA - Issue 41 May 2019 | Page 11

P R O P E R T Y
&
I N V E S T M E N T
The façade will be restored, and the building fabric kept intact.
‘Certain elements of the building are in fair condition and can be
retained and restored, such as the entrance area and walkway
mosaic flooring,’ says Dodd.
Once the upgrade is complete, Vannin Court management will be
able to interface with the neighbouring building owners and the
eKhaya neighbourhood precinct management, to integrate the
building back into the precinct and to upgrade the existing urban
amenities – the pocket park and the playground.
The units in Beaconsfield Court, meanwhile, are to be completely
reconfigured to allow for a range of unit types from bachelor to one-
and two-bedroom units for families. Envisaged here is a mixed-use
development, with ground floor retail like Shoprite or Pick n Pay,
and above that the low-cost rentals. At the top could be a penthouse
for a much higher price. 
Two of the buildings are in the heart of Hillbrow: the council-owned
Vannin Court in Pietersen Street, and Beaconsfield Court in Edith
Cavell Street. Both buildings are over 60 years old, and were once
coveted for their location, but today they are overcrowded, run by
slumlords, and in a sad state of disrepair.
‘Hijacked buildings are a major problem, with people living in
deplorable conditions and being abused by slumlords who extort
money from them. At Vannin Court, a council-owned building,
it was found that the occupiers are renting beds in the units from
“owners” for between R250 and R1,200 per person,’ Mashaba told
TimesLIVE in 2017 after the rejuvenation plan was launched.
R
Dryden Projects won the tender to restore these two grandes
dames, which are reimagined as clean, contemporary residential
units for families, students and working professionals. Dryden is
working in partnership with architect Heather Dodd of Savage +
Dodd Architects, which has worked on other buildings in Hillbrow
for 16 years.
The degradation of inner-city Johannesburg has been a headache
for city managers for nearly 20 years, with dozens of buildings being
taken over from absentee owners. Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba
identified the problem as a key priority of his office soon after he
was elected executive mayor in 2016, stating that he planned to take
drastic measures to restore law and order in the inner city. Since
then, he has held dozens of meetings with property developers
and owners to present his vision and revive the inner city. Private
developers submitted their refurbishment proposals to the city by
the end of December 2017.
Currently this building is characterised by very large, old-fashioned
units, with 12 units per floor. ‘We are looking at how we can
reconfigure the building into a range of unit types – for instance,
one or two bedrooms, or even bigger units where three families can
share. A lot of people share units in the inner city, so we want to see
how we can accommodate that,’ says Dodd.
‘Vannin Court dates to the period between 1930 and 1950, an
example of a modernist building with some Art Deco elements.
Beaconsfield Court is an example of the facebrick modernist
building typical of the 1950s period,’ says Dodd.
Vannin Court - Current condition