Estate Living Magazine Invest SA - Issue 41 May 2019 | Page 31

P R O P E R T Y
&
I N V E S T M E N T
Bowes explains that it was a key objective to introduce new play
equipment for the Estate's children. She went on to say it was also
necessary to create ecosystems that would add to residents’ overall
experience of the Estate, planting indigenous gardens that would
attract birds and butterflies, for instance.
S
That’s not to say that Kyalami Estates has neglected the lifestyle
aspect of estate living. On the contrary, Bowes believes that this is
at the root of the Estate’s special community feeling. The multitude
of parks have a significant role to play in this regard: visit any of these
areas at any time, and you’ll notice a crowd of children meeting and
making friends.
Although these renovations were part of a budgeted and
meticulously rolled out plan formulated by the homeowners
association, Philip Coetzee, Communications Director, reports that
a number of residents are busy with refurbishing their own homes.
What’s interesting about these renovations is that they amplify the
singular character of each home. This is another of Kyalami Estates’
attributes, Coetzee maintains: where most estates enforce rigid
architectural guidelines, resulting in a cookie-cutter sameness, the
variety that gives Kyalami Estates its trademark appearance is one
of its key assets. ‘I love the fact that when you look across the Estate,
you don’t see rows and rows of cloned roofs. We have houses here
to suit everyone, from the very modern to the Mediterranean-
influenced, from country cottage to classic.’ He says that this
individuality came about thanks to Kyalami Estates’ slow and steady
evolution. ‘The Estate was one of the first of its kind,’ he points
out. ‘Back then, the accent was very much on providing a secure
alternative to suburban living. There wasn’t the intense emphasis on
lifestyle and architectural guidelines, as there is now.’