Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa October 2016 | Page 41

DEVELOPMENT Newbie on the ‘Blok’ Changing the face of new developments BY KATE THOMPSON-DUWE S ynonymous with celebrating city living, urban property development brand Blok has recently celebrated its second birthday. The idea for the brand was sparked when Jacques and Lior van Embden, a formidable husband and wife business team with a shared passion for design, moved to Sea Point in 2012 and fell in love with the urban lifestyle offered by the area. “We started seeing the trend of people looking to move into the city and other desirable parts of Cape Town, however no one was making homes in the sky. We also immediately realised the value of living a connected urban lifestyle- knowing your local barrista, recognising neighbours - there’s a sense of security and familiarity that our parents used to speak about. Urban lifestyles need not be cold and unforgiving. We felt that there was a need for us to create urban homes for the future and an opportunity arose with us being offered a property in Sea Point,” shares Jacques van Embden, the MD & Co-Founder of the company. From the beginning, they aimed to do business unusual and set itself apart through its emphasis on Urban Homes, Urban Living and Design – the three pillars on which the brand is built. Van Embden explains: “To many South Africans, living in urban areas traditionally meant being confined to a small box with no garden and limited choice of schools, parking and space. Van Embden aims to change all of this by creating beautiful urban homes that are thoughtfully and intuitively designed by city dwellers, for city dwellers.” He continues: “We believe that home doesn’t stop at the front door and that the comfort of our apartments should always extend into the surrounding neighbourhood. We want to be www.reimag.co.za a positive contributor to the communities in which we develop. That’s why we engage with stakeholders to find opportunities to make lasting and meaningful changes, ranging from crime ‘n grime initiatives and greening to urban interventions.” Urban intervention projects implemented by Blok include the Thornhill Park revamp in Greenpoint, the co-creation of the Parklet on Regent Road, Sea Point with the City of Cape Town. “Good design has the power to improve lives. From our brand to our buildings and their surrounding communities, we strive to create design that is as beautiful as it is practical,” adds Lior van Embden, Blok ’s Sales and Marketing Manager. Since inception, nine developments have been launched, with two handed over to owners late last year and earlier this year . “We see ourselves spreading our wings a little bit further into Cape Town and will be bringing out a few new product variations that will add something never before seen to the marketplace.” Van Embden concludes: “We want to be consistently contributing positively to the urban fabric of Cape Town and believe that if we continue to innovate in terms of urban homes, urban living and design, we will give a layer and a quality to Cape Town that is going to take it into the future in terms of its urban space. We want all of Cape Town to be uplifted to a world-class, innovative urban environment which is at the forefront of what it means to live in an urban African city.”§ RESOURCES blok OCTOBER 2016 SA Real Estate Investor 39