Estate Living Magazine #liveyourbestlife - Issue 46 December 2019 | Page 54

L I v E
The 520-hectare property had ‘strong rural-urban linkages, is close
to an impoverished urban village with a high unemployment rate,
while being in an area of great natural beauty.’
CMAI Architects, of which Dr Mulder is a director, studied
the property in minute detail – analysing every aspect of the
environment, testing the soils for compatibility with agricultural
use, and learning and understanding the make-up of the landscape
– before recommending which portions should be designated
as ‘no-go’ areas (about 180ha of the farm now reserved strictly for
conservation), ‘slow-go’ areas (167ha reserved for agriculture), and
‘go-go’ areas (173ha suitable for human settlement).
The design concept for Crossways Farm Village thus establishes
a number of smaller ‘hamlets’ within the farm environment, with
unimpeded access paths for the cattle (‘the members of our
exclusive club, with their own clubhouse in the milking parlour’).
There’s also a light industrial work area that faces the N2, and that
has space for non-polluting businesses, as well as a visitor node that’s
centered on an Apple Express train station (although the Apple
Express’s locos and carriages have been restored, and have been
seen in operation on non-scheduled services in the Port Elizabeth
area, the line itself is to be restored in phases, so the train will only
reach Crossways Farm Village within another year or two).
The interesting aspect of Crossways, though, is its management
model. While all properties are sold freehold (stands range from
220 to 8,500 square metres in size), all buildings on the project
must conform to strict design and environmental guidelines, with
requirements for energy efficiency, water harvesting (depending
on stand size), and sewage (which is fed into the farm’s own bio-
scrubbing system that delivers clean water to a wetland that further
purifies it into its organic, chemical-free, natural state).
S M A R T
Mulder. This includes what he calls ‘embedded design’ or ‘labour-
intensive design’, in which elements like, for example, lamp posts
or bollards must be made by local workers from raw materials, and
must conform to a high level of artistry.
‘In addition, we’ve created sustainability for the Thornhill Trust
– which sees to the needs of Thornhill Village – by mandating a
donation of 2.5% of the initial purchase price of each title deed as a
donation to the Trust, and a further 0.5% of the resale value of each
property in perpetuity.’ (This requirement is included in each title
deed.)
Membership of the HOA is compulsory for all home owners, who
are required to assent to, and sign, a raft of different documents,
including the constitution, and environmental and architectural
design bibles.
Chris Mulder
When you listen to him talk, you begin to understand why Chris
Mulder has decided to move permanently from his home in
Thesen Islands, Knysna, to Crossways, where he and his wife, Pat,
will concentrate on making a success of Crossways Farm Village
(where six phases, with about 100 erven each, are still awaiting
development and sale).
But, given the fact that his concept is so far from that of the standard
golf estate, you have to wonder why he thinks agriculture is the new
golf – when in reality, agriculture looks more like the new future.
As ‘South Africa’s first declared Rural New Town’, Crossways Farm
Village’s HOA (which was constituted almost four years ago after
the first two phases were sold out, and which is currently in sound
financial condition) runs the development as a municipality of its
own, buying its top-up electricity needs from Eskom, and its potable
water from the municipality of Port Elizabeth, and selling them on to
residents. It has also built its own wastewater treatment plant, and
manages the public areas, including streetside vegetable gardens
and the commercial dairy operation – with all its infrastructure – on
behalf of the residents. (The farmland – the land on high-potential
soils – has been registered under a separate title deed so that it will
remain zoned for agriculture forever.)
'Although Thornhill isn’t a direct neighbour, we have made
provision for the people who live there – creating jobs as well as
entrepreneurial opportunities that will benefit them directly,’ said Dr
image: Samantha Brauteseth
crosswaysfarmvillage.co.za