The Civil Engineering Contractor February 2019 | Page 19

ON SITE
There was minimal earthworks, as the pit was shallow.
featuring Johannesburg Mayor
Herman Mashaba.
“We will thereafter start to
refit the existing buildings, and
construction of the new building will
commence early in 2019, with phased
completions starting from November
2019 up to April 2020,” Pautz says.
The project is being handled by
ATThemba, which is a partnership
between Atterbury and iThemba
Property (previously Circlevest).
DiverCity Urban Property Fund,
the owner of the development, is
jointly owned by a group of investors
— Atterbury Properties, iThemba,
Tallis Holdings, RMH Properties, and
Nedbank Properties — and invests
in specifically mixed-use inner-city
precincts with a focus on affordable
housing with all the ancillary services
around it.
“This fund is on a mission to invest
in inner cities in South Africa, with
some commercial development to
create job opportunities around it,”
explains Carel Kleynhans, director:
iThemba Property Development.
Rentals range between R2 500 and
R6 000/month, for anything from
www.civilsonline.co.za
a small studio to a two-bedroom
apartment.
“DiverCity’s strategy is to take a
nodal approach, focused on upgrading
specific areas, rather than a shotgun
approach,” explains Kleynhans. The
R2-billion investment by DiverCity
represents approximately 2 600
apartments and about 30 000m 2 of
retail and commercial development,
with Atterbury and iThemba
executing the developments. Jewel
City phase 2 will be between
R400-million and R600-million.
With the 1 000 residential units
as part of the build, there will be an
additional 1 400 DiverCity-owned
units outside of the precinct, within a
few hundred metre walking distance.
This will ultimately lead to over
7 000 people (with an average three
to four people per apartment) staying
in and around Jewel City.
It is targeting the working- and
middle-class individual and family.
Sod-turning ceremony
Opening the sod-turning ceremony
on 19 November last year, director
of Atterbury Property Fund, Phuti
Mahanyele, said: “This development
speaks to the issue of undoing
the divides created by apartheid:
we’re looking at segregation in our
cities by race and class divide and
rather including people into more
integrated neighbourhoods, close
to job opportunities and amenities.
This precinct is close to Absa,
which ensures that for those people
living here, it will be a wholesome
environment; close to work, to a gym,
as well as a health care centre. This is
an area that was previously closed
off: there was previously a number
of hubs — Maboneng and the Absa
precinct — functioning in isolation
that are now going to be linked and
integrated into a single mixed-use
precinct, with people living here
in affordable homes, with shopping
centres and with commercial activity.
“The major issue facing our
country is the need for more
affordable homes. This project
also creates jobs: 1 279 temporary
jobs will be created and 1 834
permanent jobs. Reconstruction
starts at the end of January 2019,
with the first units being available
CEC February 2019 | 17