CITICHAT 38/2008 - 26 September 2008
Outdoor Advertising -1
Received an e-mail yesterday morning from the National Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) inviting comment on the Draft Revised South African Manual for Outdoor Advertising Control (SAMOAC) which is available on the Department's website http://www.deat.gov.za The SAMOAC “constitutes only a framework and guidelines for outdoor advertising” and is to be adapted by local authorities to serve their own needs.
The Foreword contains a number of interesting comments such as “Outdoor advertising and information transfer fulfills an essential function in modern society. It directs guides and informs as to locality, product, activity or service and contributes to economic growth in general. However, if outdoor advertising is not controlled properly, it could have a very real impact on tourism resources and the human living environment as was experienced in countries such as the United States of America.
It addresses the ‘visual human environment’ as follows: “The visual environment also plays an important role in creating better human living environments for all communities in South Africa. Section 24 of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of South Africa states that “……everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing….” The visual environment is a key to ensuring mental health and psychological well-being. It has an immense impact on how we think and act as human beings. Research has shown that the visual environment has a definite influence on human behavioural patterns such as vandalism, attitudes that determine the productivity of office workers or even the crime rate. It also plays an important role in creating healthy communities. A sense of place and identity is created by means of the visual environment that leads to community pride, a sense of security and permanent belonging, human dignity and enthusiastic citizen involvement.”
Whilst I don’t have any dispute, in general, with those lofty words, I really have to ask myself what sense of place and identity we are actually creating in the Johannesburg inner city through the medium of outdoor advertising? Community pride, a sense of security, permanent belonging, human dignity?????? No ways! I think we are providing messages that are directly opposed to those desirable attributes. After all, we must have more square metres advertising malt and liquor than any other city in the country! Much of it is displayed on the massive ‘wrap around’ advertising that disfigures or hides our local architecture – good, bad or indifferent as some of it may be. Some wrap-around advertising has draped empty inner city buildings for years with the owner earning more in advertising income than what could be earned from rentals were the building to be let. One example is the last building on the right hand side of Bertha Street, Braamfontein as one starts to drive across the Nelson Mandela Bridge. Actually, in that location, wrap around advertising on both sides of the street form the ‘gateway’ into Newtown which is quite disgusting.
This therefore became a subject raised and debated at the workshops that were the prelude to drawing up The Inner City Charter last year. The general feeling was that the inner city had increasingly become cluttered with inappropriate and tacky advertising signs attached to buildings. The debate ultimately culminated in the following three commitments being included in the Charter:
• By December 2007 the City of Johannesburg will review its current policy governing outdoor advertising and building wraps through a consultative process involving a range of stakeholders.
• As part of this review the City will introduce strict regulations prohibiting the full wrapping of buildings on a semi-permanent or permanent basis, in lieu of using the building for its established use.
• The City will make every effort to collect revenue from outdoor advertising due to it, with funds accruing from outdoor advertising in the Inner City being devoted to public environment upgrading in the area.
To give some background to the by-laws, in 2000 new advertising policies had been adopted by the now defunct Southern Metropolitan Local Council. The basic tenet of these by-laws was “To exempt outdoor adverting signs displayed in the Inner City from certain of the requirements of the Outdoor Advertising By-Laws and the Code of Practice by way of promoting the use of larger, colourful and vibrant outdoor advertising signs as a mechanism for urban regeneration.” Thus 15% of the rental derived from the advertising had to be “applied to an appropriate urban renewal initiative”. As far as I know that never ever happened. Then, in February 2007 new draft by-laws had been prepared and the intent was to amend the previous by-laws of 2000. This intent was published in April 2007. This evidently led to a great deal of input both from within and from outside the Council which led to a second draft of the by-laws being prepared. These were then further amended to take into consideration the Summit commitments and the new revised by-laws were published in the Provincial Gazette Extraordinary on the 13th June 2008 to be effective from 1 July.
The by-laws appear to be very extensive covering everything from signs suspended under verandas or canopies, projecting signs, pylon signs, advertising signs placed flat on buildings or bridges, sky signs, etc etc etc through to advertising on blimps!
The by-laws are very specific as to how one applies for outdoor advertising including specifying a multitude of supporting documentation that must accompany applications.
Once the application is made the applicant must advertise their intent in two local newspapers; display a notice for 21 days in a conspicuous place visible to the public on a street front of the property on which the proposed sign will be erected. Those fortunate enough to have seen the newspaper notice or the notice in the street, may make an objection to the proposal. Objectors must write to the Council which must consider the objection themselves and provide the applicant 14 days to reply to the objection. The Council must then also notify every interested party of their decision within 21 days including providing written reasons for their decision if requested.
In considering an application, the Council must: “have due regard to the compatibility of the proposed advertising sign with the environment and with the amenity of the immediate neighbourhood, urban design and streetscape…” and to whether the sign will “obscure any feature which in the opinion of the Council is a natural feature, architectural feature or visual line of civic, architectural, historical or heritage significance or in the Council’s opinion, be unsightly or objectionable or detrimentally impact on the architectural design of any building on the property concerned or any adjacent property.”
The owner of the property on the other hand “must ensure that such sign is designed or located so as not to be detrimental to the nature of the streetscape, urban design or detract from the architecture of any building on which or where such sign is to be located, by reason of abnormal size, appearance, intensity of illumination workmanship design or its existence
I couldn’t find the Charter commitment that “strict regulations prohibiting the full wrapping of buildings on a semi-permanent or permanent basis, in lieu of using the building for its established use” incorporated in the by-laws. The only reference in regard to ‘wrap around signs’ (not called such in the bylaws) seems to be that “The total area of an advertising sign placed flat or painted on a wall of a building may not exceed 20m2 for every 15m2 of frontage of the building concerned facing a public street. Nor may it exceed 40m2 in extent in an area of partial control and 80m2 in an area of minimum control if “on-premises” advertising or 80m2 and 200m2 respectively if “third party” advertising. The issue of ‘areas of control’ is set out separately in an attached schedule to the by-laws. The classification of the areas of control for outdoor advertising are based on the current and (near) future zoning of the property concerned. (Don’t ask what that means, I haven’t a clue!) The areas are “Natural Landscape” and “Rural Landscape” which are subject to maximum control; and then Urban Areas of Maximum Control, Partial Control and Minimum Control.
Urban areas of Maximum Control are “precincts deemed sensitive to visual control”(e.g. natural open spaces, residential areas, architectural and historic sites and heritage and protected areas, etc) Urban areas of Partial Control are “in most cases characterized by a greater degree of integration and complexity of land use, facilities and activities that allows for limited freedom with regard to size, number and position of advertisements” (e.g. Shopping centres, educational institutions, sports fields, government enclaves, etc). Urban areas of Minimum Control are “centres, areas and nodes of concentrated economic activity where the dominant concern and motivation is to conduct business and to sell products and services. This calls for the display of advertisements and signs in stronger and more obvious form” (e.g.Commercial districts, industrial areas entertainment districts, etc) The physical areas will have to be determined by the Council and am sure that this will create much argument!
Greater sizes than those quoted may be entertained “if it is in the interests of the aesthetic appearance of the building” or, and here the third Charter Commitment seems to be covered, “if it is in the Inner City, as indicated in the Council’s Spatial Development Framework, of the area of jurisdiction of the Council where an urban renewal programme on the said building or area concerned as determined by Council, is being undertaken and the approval of such sign is subject to an annual prescribed financial contribution to be utilized for an Inner City Renewal Project” ????? I assume this means that the annual contribution of R100.00 per square metre of advertising display shall be payable to a regeneration project (public or private) from advertising proceeds of any approved sign.
I thought we were re-looking at by-laws to make them more simple but this doesn’t appear to be the case with outdoor advertising! Next week we’ll try to have a look at what all this means in terms of what exists at the moment in the Inner City. Ending with another quote from SAMOAC:
“Managing outdoor advertising sufficiently is important in order to prevent the deterioration of the aesthetic environment which forms an important tourism resource, contributes to healthy psychological living environments and increases property values. Uncontrolled outdoor advertising may also have various other negative impacts such as contributing to light and sound pollution, increasing traffic safety problems, creating occupational health risks and displaying advertising messages that may be indecent or prejudicial to public morals. On the other hand, outdoor advertisements and signs have various economic and functional benefits and well-designed advertising structures, such as street furniture, may even enhance streetscapes and other aesthetic resources.”
Ciao, neil
PS Forgot to tell you the most important issue from last week’s Western Cape travels – the crime in the country towns I mentioned is remarkably low. In fact, in one place we visited, the police station operates only on weekdays and then only between 07h00 and 18h00!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Western Cape Citichat 19 September 2008
CITICHAT 37/2008 - 19 September 2008
Western Cape
Quite a number of years ago my wife and I spent about ten days exploring west coast towns and villages such as Yzerfontein, Vredenburg, Paternoster, Velddrif, Lambert’s Bay, etc. This last week we did the same but in the Western Cape; Riebeek Kasteel, Gouda, Tulbagh, Prince Alfred Hamlet, McGregor. Bredasdorp, Napier, Bot River, etc as well as the larger and better known towns in-between. The weather was mainly awful, overcast, cold winds and rain with just one real Cape summer day and, of course, when we left this morning it was great! . But the scenery was amazing – we do live in a magnificent country and the Western Cape must have been in front of the queue when beauty was handed out.
It’s always interesting being a tourist in your own country and finding out what visitors to our shore experience. Because it is off-season we didn’t book anywhere but stopped at tourist/information bureaus in whatever place we decided to overnight. We found them all to be very efficient and able to provide us with the information we were looking for. This included details of self-catering establishments. We wanted basic accommodation with cooking facilities and here we experienced a vast range in standard, all at the same price. From places where cobwebs hung from ceilings and mattresses were thin and sheets grey to cottages superbly appointed with wonderful views. From rooms equipped with a microwave, fridge and knives, forks and spoons to kitchenettes with the full monty and then some. Some had tea, coffee and rusks whilst others were totally bare of refreshments. In one place we never saw a single person (even paid by electronic transfer) in others, friendly hosts would show concern as to our comfort. After a night in the ‘don’t care’ variety, a visitor to South Africa, must perceive the country as quite primitive whilst in the ‘full monty’, for the very same price, they would think that the country offers real luxury and warmth.
The provincial roads were almost all in great shape. Not so with all municipal roads - in a couple of places access clearly wasn’t a priority and roads were potholed and not in a good shape.
At the entrance to Riebeek Kasteel a large board proudly proclaims that the town was voted the cleanest in the country in 2006/7 and, in fact, every town and village of the between twenty and thirty we visited had noticeably clean streets and public environment. Yet some viewing sites on the edges of the many passes that we drove over to get from one place to another, are filthy. Foreign tourists? I doubt it.
One of the things that struck us in some of the bigger towns in particular, was the quite extreme mixture of buildings in the town centres. The older towns’ high streets had the most beautiful historic buildings rubbing cheek by jowl with hideous McDonald’s and ‘South African modern’ single storey retail stores interspersed with residential buildings of varying ages and condition. Eclectic? No, messy! Obviously absolutely no thought or direction given to developers who generally seem to take the attitude that ‘anything will do’ provided they pay the rates! Lack of sound planning can also be seen in the sprawl that has been allowed. As the town centre expands, mostly residentially, vineyards are being sacrificed on the periphery, which is rather like selling our crown jewels! We didn’t see any evidence of spatial integration – most places appeared to still have ‘white’ residential suburbs, or just extensions of the town centre, whilst other races are still located in the more distant townships. On the other hand we saw no informal traders, ‘stop street sellers, beggars or homeless people.
Back to the mill on Monday and back to talking about Joeys next Friday!
Ciao, neil
Western Cape
Quite a number of years ago my wife and I spent about ten days exploring west coast towns and villages such as Yzerfontein, Vredenburg, Paternoster, Velddrif, Lambert’s Bay, etc. This last week we did the same but in the Western Cape; Riebeek Kasteel, Gouda, Tulbagh, Prince Alfred Hamlet, McGregor. Bredasdorp, Napier, Bot River, etc as well as the larger and better known towns in-between. The weather was mainly awful, overcast, cold winds and rain with just one real Cape summer day and, of course, when we left this morning it was great! . But the scenery was amazing – we do live in a magnificent country and the Western Cape must have been in front of the queue when beauty was handed out.
It’s always interesting being a tourist in your own country and finding out what visitors to our shore experience. Because it is off-season we didn’t book anywhere but stopped at tourist/information bureaus in whatever place we decided to overnight. We found them all to be very efficient and able to provide us with the information we were looking for. This included details of self-catering establishments. We wanted basic accommodation with cooking facilities and here we experienced a vast range in standard, all at the same price. From places where cobwebs hung from ceilings and mattresses were thin and sheets grey to cottages superbly appointed with wonderful views. From rooms equipped with a microwave, fridge and knives, forks and spoons to kitchenettes with the full monty and then some. Some had tea, coffee and rusks whilst others were totally bare of refreshments. In one place we never saw a single person (even paid by electronic transfer) in others, friendly hosts would show concern as to our comfort. After a night in the ‘don’t care’ variety, a visitor to South Africa, must perceive the country as quite primitive whilst in the ‘full monty’, for the very same price, they would think that the country offers real luxury and warmth.
The provincial roads were almost all in great shape. Not so with all municipal roads - in a couple of places access clearly wasn’t a priority and roads were potholed and not in a good shape.
At the entrance to Riebeek Kasteel a large board proudly proclaims that the town was voted the cleanest in the country in 2006/7 and, in fact, every town and village of the between twenty and thirty we visited had noticeably clean streets and public environment. Yet some viewing sites on the edges of the many passes that we drove over to get from one place to another, are filthy. Foreign tourists? I doubt it.
One of the things that struck us in some of the bigger towns in particular, was the quite extreme mixture of buildings in the town centres. The older towns’ high streets had the most beautiful historic buildings rubbing cheek by jowl with hideous McDonald’s and ‘South African modern’ single storey retail stores interspersed with residential buildings of varying ages and condition. Eclectic? No, messy! Obviously absolutely no thought or direction given to developers who generally seem to take the attitude that ‘anything will do’ provided they pay the rates! Lack of sound planning can also be seen in the sprawl that has been allowed. As the town centre expands, mostly residentially, vineyards are being sacrificed on the periphery, which is rather like selling our crown jewels! We didn’t see any evidence of spatial integration – most places appeared to still have ‘white’ residential suburbs, or just extensions of the town centre, whilst other races are still located in the more distant townships. On the other hand we saw no informal traders, ‘stop street sellers, beggars or homeless people.
Back to the mill on Monday and back to talking about Joeys next Friday!
Ciao, neil
Friday, September 12, 2008
Upgrading 2 Citichat 12 September 2008
CITICHAT 36/2008 - 12 September 2008
Inner City Upgrading Grows Apace – 2
Picking up from where we left off last week and starting on the west side of the inner city at Pageview, Vrededorp and Fordsburg. A professional team has been appointed and is currently finalising the urban design framework which will be followed by a modest public environment upgrading. I know the folk in these areas have been quite concerned that they were being left out of the City’s plan, so am sure that they are delighted at the potential progress. The work is planned to be completed by 30th June 2009. The work should also include some public artwork firstly to the railway bridge ‘gateway’ from Fordsburg to Fietas and then the reinstatement of the heritage plaques in the Fietas area.
In fact there is a budget of some millions for the year ending June 2008 for additional public art through the inner city.
On the northwest corner of Bree and Quinn Streets, the refurbishment of a group of fascinating old buildings into a mixed use development of 3 600 square metres to be known as ‘Newtown Quarter’ is looking good The project has a courtyard and will be ideal for various types of eating establishments. It will substantially and positively impact on the area.
I have been assured that the deal on Transport House is now signed and sealed – I think the process has taken over two years – one would think that the City’s property company would understand the cyclical nature of the industry and try to be more expeditious once a deal has been done. At last, after many years of visual decay, illegal squatting and vandalism, this building will start to positively re-inforce the area instead of blighting it. I believe plans include an hotel, residential accommodation and retail.
Diagonally opposite Transport House, the new R4 million home for ‘Moving into Dance’ is well underway after a delay caused by snags with the foundation piling. This is a great advance for both the organisation and Newtown as it will replace the temporary buildings that the organisation has worked out of for many years. The large tract of land that this building is part of, Central Place, already houses No. 1 Central Place, home to Kaya FM and the Gauteng Tourism Authority; the Workers’ Library and Museum, Sci Bono and the Blue IQ offices. The likelihood is that the latter, another temporary structure, will be demolished to make way for a building or structure that will add to Newtown’s entertainment and cultural offering. The balance of the site was offered to developers some years back and submissions received included some high rise apartment buildings, commercial space, retail and recreation development. The Heritage authorities were unhappy, particularly with the high-rise developments, as they destroyed the historic industrial feel of Newtown and a long, long period of negotiations was entered into to clarify the situation. So long that the economic cycle changed and the original development proposals were not pursued. Fresh proposals were called for in the past few months and, although some response was received, interest in that particular area appears to have waned temporarily given the current economic climate. It again underlines the necessity for public authorities to work a lot faster than they have become used to!
Carr Street, the street that runs at right angles to the Nelson Mandela Bridge in a westerly direction is to be upgraded starting in October this year. The area between Carr Street and Museum Africa looks set for a huge development including an hotel and a major retail initiative. This will substantially change the nature of the area to the better if it proceeds.
A budget has been approved for the refurbishment of The Workers Museum, design work is already underway and the on-site work will start this year for completion by end April 2009. The extension to the Sci Bono technology centre is really moving at a rapid rate and one can see the new components of auditorium and other uses quite clearly. Another restoration that is about to begin is that to Kippies, once in danger of being demolished. The beautiful historic Park Station building still stands neglected although the Inner City Charter called for progress with an alternative use to be developed by June 2008.
I have always felt that one of the negatives of entering Newtown from the north is that you drive over the iconic Nelson Mandela Bridge and are greeted on your left by a messy informal taxi rank with accompanying informal activities. I remember some years ago taking a bus load of folk on an inner city tour and there was a gigantic pile of sheep and cow heads attracting thousands of flies and heaven knows what besides. This space desperately needs to be cleaned up. In the macro plan of things it was hoped that it would form part of the proposed International Transit and Shopping Centre (ITSC) where long distance taxis and buses would be accommodated in a huge structure which would also cater for appropriate trading directed to the cross border trade. It would also form the base for a number of residential and commercial blocks. Originally this was to be in part completed by 2010. No more. In the medium to long term the property (currently owned by Transnet) will probably not be taken over by the city as Transnet appear to be in talks with PIC in relationship to the future ownership of the site. In the short term there is an opportunity for the site to be leased to the City to accommodate the ever-growing number of cross-border buses and taxis that have absolutely no official ranking facilities elsewhere in the city. So every time they find an open piece of land in lower Braamfontein to rank on, they get chased away! I think the City has got entirely the wrong approach. This isn’t a bus and taxi ranking problem, it is an economic opportunity that will be lost to the City if they don’t do something appropriate and quickly too. The cross border business brings in a revenue of nearly R20 billion a year for the city! We should be falling over ourselves to suitably accommodate and manage them.
The other initiative that the City should be looking at is the creation of a suitable “Gateway” into Newtown at the foot of the Nelson Mandela Bridge.
I recently went to visit a friend whose business has taken offices in the commercial area of Turbine Hall and I continue to be whacked by the great expanse that this project has produced and the airy wonderful space that the private offices ie apart from Anglo Gold Ashanti, offer. The good news about the geographic area in which the building is located, which has seen a great deal of activity recently in institutional purchases, is that a major urban upgrade of Diagonal Street is now no longer on the ‘wish list’ but will in fact be completed by June next year. Urban designers have been appointed and are already underway.
Moving to Ferreirasdorp, Marshalltown, south of Newtown, the Johannesburg Land Company’s new office building for Zurich Re grows daily and will have a major impact on this rather neglected area west of the Magistrates Court. It will certainly act as a catalyst for more development in the area although we still seem to be making no progress with the adjacent Chinatown upgrade.
As mentioned last week Market and Commissioner are about to be torn up to provide the dedicated lanes for the BRT and their stations. There still is no real news about Beyers Naude Square or the Rissik Street Post Office other than what I recently provided But good news again is that the Oppenheimer Gardens will be cleaned up and landscaped as it forms part of the Retail Improvement District’s exciting plans for this central area of the city. There is also some othe good news about this area, but I’ll hold it till later.
The Fashion District is entering its final stage of construction and more street upgrading in the area has been approved.
I received a notice of the selling of residential units in the ‘new’ Colosseum on the corner of Commissioner and Kruis Street. This site has a really interesting history previously being the site of the Colosseum theatre built in 1933. A couple of stories regarding the original building, its demolition and even rebuilding as an office block before its current conversion to residential, bear telling, but let’s leave that for a future date. Suffice it so quote Clive Chipkin (Joburg Style) in regard to the interior of the theatre: “The Gothic fantasy of the interior was the work of the architect-artist William M. Timlin, whose susceptibilities to a dream world of his own creation were so pronounced that we may regard them as a distinct form of disengagement from the world of monetary and political crisis outside.”
Let’s see, then there is the upgrading to the Yeoville Recreation Centre the cleaning up of Pullingerkop, the establishment of the Ekhaya Neighbourhood Park in Hillbrow, the partial reconstruction of the Governor’s House opposite the Fort (badly damaged by fire); the reconstruction of the Quartz Street Market in Hillbrow; additional work in Bertrams and the Hillbrow Health Precinct and substantial public environment upgrading in Greater Doornfontein.
All proof of the headline over the past two weeks “Inner City Upgrading grows Apace”!
Enjoy the weekend, regards, neil
Inner City Upgrading Grows Apace – 2
Picking up from where we left off last week and starting on the west side of the inner city at Pageview, Vrededorp and Fordsburg. A professional team has been appointed and is currently finalising the urban design framework which will be followed by a modest public environment upgrading. I know the folk in these areas have been quite concerned that they were being left out of the City’s plan, so am sure that they are delighted at the potential progress. The work is planned to be completed by 30th June 2009. The work should also include some public artwork firstly to the railway bridge ‘gateway’ from Fordsburg to Fietas and then the reinstatement of the heritage plaques in the Fietas area.
In fact there is a budget of some millions for the year ending June 2008 for additional public art through the inner city.
On the northwest corner of Bree and Quinn Streets, the refurbishment of a group of fascinating old buildings into a mixed use development of 3 600 square metres to be known as ‘Newtown Quarter’ is looking good The project has a courtyard and will be ideal for various types of eating establishments. It will substantially and positively impact on the area.
I have been assured that the deal on Transport House is now signed and sealed – I think the process has taken over two years – one would think that the City’s property company would understand the cyclical nature of the industry and try to be more expeditious once a deal has been done. At last, after many years of visual decay, illegal squatting and vandalism, this building will start to positively re-inforce the area instead of blighting it. I believe plans include an hotel, residential accommodation and retail.
Diagonally opposite Transport House, the new R4 million home for ‘Moving into Dance’ is well underway after a delay caused by snags with the foundation piling. This is a great advance for both the organisation and Newtown as it will replace the temporary buildings that the organisation has worked out of for many years. The large tract of land that this building is part of, Central Place, already houses No. 1 Central Place, home to Kaya FM and the Gauteng Tourism Authority; the Workers’ Library and Museum, Sci Bono and the Blue IQ offices. The likelihood is that the latter, another temporary structure, will be demolished to make way for a building or structure that will add to Newtown’s entertainment and cultural offering. The balance of the site was offered to developers some years back and submissions received included some high rise apartment buildings, commercial space, retail and recreation development. The Heritage authorities were unhappy, particularly with the high-rise developments, as they destroyed the historic industrial feel of Newtown and a long, long period of negotiations was entered into to clarify the situation. So long that the economic cycle changed and the original development proposals were not pursued. Fresh proposals were called for in the past few months and, although some response was received, interest in that particular area appears to have waned temporarily given the current economic climate. It again underlines the necessity for public authorities to work a lot faster than they have become used to!
Carr Street, the street that runs at right angles to the Nelson Mandela Bridge in a westerly direction is to be upgraded starting in October this year. The area between Carr Street and Museum Africa looks set for a huge development including an hotel and a major retail initiative. This will substantially change the nature of the area to the better if it proceeds.
A budget has been approved for the refurbishment of The Workers Museum, design work is already underway and the on-site work will start this year for completion by end April 2009. The extension to the Sci Bono technology centre is really moving at a rapid rate and one can see the new components of auditorium and other uses quite clearly. Another restoration that is about to begin is that to Kippies, once in danger of being demolished. The beautiful historic Park Station building still stands neglected although the Inner City Charter called for progress with an alternative use to be developed by June 2008.
I have always felt that one of the negatives of entering Newtown from the north is that you drive over the iconic Nelson Mandela Bridge and are greeted on your left by a messy informal taxi rank with accompanying informal activities. I remember some years ago taking a bus load of folk on an inner city tour and there was a gigantic pile of sheep and cow heads attracting thousands of flies and heaven knows what besides. This space desperately needs to be cleaned up. In the macro plan of things it was hoped that it would form part of the proposed International Transit and Shopping Centre (ITSC) where long distance taxis and buses would be accommodated in a huge structure which would also cater for appropriate trading directed to the cross border trade. It would also form the base for a number of residential and commercial blocks. Originally this was to be in part completed by 2010. No more. In the medium to long term the property (currently owned by Transnet) will probably not be taken over by the city as Transnet appear to be in talks with PIC in relationship to the future ownership of the site. In the short term there is an opportunity for the site to be leased to the City to accommodate the ever-growing number of cross-border buses and taxis that have absolutely no official ranking facilities elsewhere in the city. So every time they find an open piece of land in lower Braamfontein to rank on, they get chased away! I think the City has got entirely the wrong approach. This isn’t a bus and taxi ranking problem, it is an economic opportunity that will be lost to the City if they don’t do something appropriate and quickly too. The cross border business brings in a revenue of nearly R20 billion a year for the city! We should be falling over ourselves to suitably accommodate and manage them.
The other initiative that the City should be looking at is the creation of a suitable “Gateway” into Newtown at the foot of the Nelson Mandela Bridge.
I recently went to visit a friend whose business has taken offices in the commercial area of Turbine Hall and I continue to be whacked by the great expanse that this project has produced and the airy wonderful space that the private offices ie apart from Anglo Gold Ashanti, offer. The good news about the geographic area in which the building is located, which has seen a great deal of activity recently in institutional purchases, is that a major urban upgrade of Diagonal Street is now no longer on the ‘wish list’ but will in fact be completed by June next year. Urban designers have been appointed and are already underway.
Moving to Ferreirasdorp, Marshalltown, south of Newtown, the Johannesburg Land Company’s new office building for Zurich Re grows daily and will have a major impact on this rather neglected area west of the Magistrates Court. It will certainly act as a catalyst for more development in the area although we still seem to be making no progress with the adjacent Chinatown upgrade.
As mentioned last week Market and Commissioner are about to be torn up to provide the dedicated lanes for the BRT and their stations. There still is no real news about Beyers Naude Square or the Rissik Street Post Office other than what I recently provided But good news again is that the Oppenheimer Gardens will be cleaned up and landscaped as it forms part of the Retail Improvement District’s exciting plans for this central area of the city. There is also some othe good news about this area, but I’ll hold it till later.
The Fashion District is entering its final stage of construction and more street upgrading in the area has been approved.
I received a notice of the selling of residential units in the ‘new’ Colosseum on the corner of Commissioner and Kruis Street. This site has a really interesting history previously being the site of the Colosseum theatre built in 1933. A couple of stories regarding the original building, its demolition and even rebuilding as an office block before its current conversion to residential, bear telling, but let’s leave that for a future date. Suffice it so quote Clive Chipkin (Joburg Style) in regard to the interior of the theatre: “The Gothic fantasy of the interior was the work of the architect-artist William M. Timlin, whose susceptibilities to a dream world of his own creation were so pronounced that we may regard them as a distinct form of disengagement from the world of monetary and political crisis outside.”
Let’s see, then there is the upgrading to the Yeoville Recreation Centre the cleaning up of Pullingerkop, the establishment of the Ekhaya Neighbourhood Park in Hillbrow, the partial reconstruction of the Governor’s House opposite the Fort (badly damaged by fire); the reconstruction of the Quartz Street Market in Hillbrow; additional work in Bertrams and the Hillbrow Health Precinct and substantial public environment upgrading in Greater Doornfontein.
All proof of the headline over the past two weeks “Inner City Upgrading grows Apace”!
Enjoy the weekend, regards, neil
Friday, September 5, 2008
BRT and Upgradings Citichat 5 September 2008
CITICHAT 35/2008 - 5 September 2008
Inner City Upgrading Grows Apace - 1
Roll on 2010! The inner city is getting more and more like a gigantic building site and I don’t see much respite for the next two years as the days count down and construction activity becomes more frenetic. I tried to do a bit of a forecast way back in May 2004 of what we might be able to expect regarding the impact of 2010 on the inner city (Citichat 16/2004). I quoted from some research by G.M.P.Swann of the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester who stated that four broad categories of benefits that can in principle result from large scale events of the 2010 type are;
1. new sports facilities and associated amenities built for the event
2. the short-term economic stimulus stemming from new construction and other investment in the advance of the event, and visitor spending during the event
3. the marketing opportunity to attract new business and promote tourism
4. urban redevelopment.
What wasn’t spelt out was the activity and disruption that is needed to get there! Items 1, most of 2 and 4 are certainly benefits that the country and ourselves, as one of the host cities, are and will continue to enjoy. I haven’t seen much in the way of serious marketing but maybe you have to be outside of the country to experience that.
In so far as 4 is concerned, urban redevelopment, some may argue that all the initiatives now under way would have happened anyway – I doubt it very much for 2010 has acted as a giant accelerator or catalyst that has removed many “wish” list initiatives off the shelves and changed them into reality.
Probably the single biggest intervention that is and will continue to impact on the inner city, both in its implementation and in its final form, is the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system. The final routing has at last been agreed and various roads are being well and truly ripped up and redone to accommodate the dedicated lanes for the new buses. The new buses’ axle loads are higher than anything we currently have so it does mean stripping existing road surfaces and their layered bases and providing a more dense and deeper base than we have at the moment. Otherwise the surface will only last five years. Sections that are under construction at present are Bertrams Road from its intersection with Bezuidenhout through to when it becomes Charlton and then Saratoga. A section continuing Saratoga along Wolmarans is due to start shortly. This will link to the section currently under construction down Troye alongside Joubert Park which continues south until it intersects with Commisioner and Market. Early next year the loop will be closed by the linkage of Market and Bezuidenhout which in turn will tie into Bertrams Road.
Edith Cavell is also under construction and Smit & Wolmarans Streets are to start quite shortly. The contract for the Market, Commissioner, Twist and Troye Street sections have been awarded and the contractor actually moved onto site earlier this week. Expect some pretty rough traffic situations in Market and Commissioner as each will be reduced to half the number of existing lanes whilst the contractors work on the other half. Both streets take a heavy volume of traffic as well as having a large volume crossing them. The good news is that they should be completed during the first quarter of next year in time for the Confederations Cup. There is a loop planned around Hoofd, Joubert Street Extension and Loveday Street Extension (in other words around the Metro Centre) which has been planned and tendered This will connect to the Commissioner/Market Loop via Rissik Street. A large contract has been let for some 26 BRT stations within the Inner City that will partly will be prefabricated off site – the prototype for the BRT station is already being built next to Joubert Park.
Outside of the Inner City, some of the BRT roadways around Nasrec have been completed and will ultimately connect to Anderson Street and into Commissioner and Market whilst Main Reef Road to Portland/Perth will link into Empire/Jan Smuts. At Nasrec the pedestrian promenade and bridges connecting to the World Cup Stadium are also in progress. The BRT will also go down Oxford Street, so Rosebank will have more than its fair share of disruption. Oh well, as they say, no gain without pain!
The Gautrain Station, north of Park Station appears to be well advanced whilst work is progressing on the upgrading of the Doornfontein station and surrounds.
The next Station east of the Doornfontein Station is the Ellis Park Station which sits at the apex of a triangle with Sivewright as one of the sides and Lower Railway Station as the other and Market Street the base. This area contained some really dodgy industrial and residential buildings in the centre of which was a taxi rank. This was quite a rough area – an informal butcher used to slaughter cows on the pavement and sell the meat. The whole area has been transformed – the buildings have been bought by AFHCO who are retaining both industrial and residential uses but on a properly managed basis and the taxi rank, known as Transport Square, has been rebuilt and provides a magnificent public space. Some mosaic work on buildings and pavements, a half sized volleyball court for off-duty drivers and some unique artwork. The artist, Andrew Lindsay, has provided a number of groups of concrete cows, life size, lazing in the sun and a favourite destination for the local kids. They are painted, some covered in mosaics and, whilst reminding the locals of the Informal Butcher, are a wonderful touch to what has become a lovely space. Another public art piece worthy of a close look is the ‘waterfall’ on the rock cliff of Pullinger’s Kop opposite the Windybrow. All the refurbed parks also have new public art.
Talking of art and refurbishment, I mentioned some time ago the recent purchase of the old DF Corlett yard and offices which is directly opposite the eastern end of Jewel City on the block Berea, Fox and Marshall. Went to have a look how they were getting on this week and this is going to be a superb addition not just to the East side of the inner city but to Joeys itself. The 1911 buildings with their high ceilings are being turned into sectional title office/studio space for the creative industries. Currently constructing a courtyard to be planted with grass, olive and lemon trees it will have a high quality mediterranean restaurant with bar areas, an outdoor cinema, art bookstores and studios. One large single volume building in the complex has been let to William Kentridge. Really exciting stuff in an otherwise gritty part of the city – watch the area raise the interest level and fresh investment!
Hillbrow has had a massive urban environment upgrade with some 234 city blocks having pavements replaced, new improved street lighting standards and street furniture, landscaping, paving and litter bins Two practical problems encountered with the new design litter bins is that the single stem swing bin can evidently be pushed over quite easily; whilst the two legged swing bin is more sturdy but the perforated drum of the bin is ideal for informal traders to cook on! We will undoubtedly see a further change in bin design! About to be tackled are the ‘sanitary lanes’ in Hillbrow, clearly more correctly named ‘unsanitary lanes’! The big problem with all this urban environment upgrading is management and the upgrading of the lanes simply won’t be fully carried through all the 77 that exist if someone or some body doesn’t take responsibility for them A reader made the following comment regarding the management of the overall Hillbrow upgrade “The city have gone all the way to invest more than R100 million towards upgrading Hillbrow and Yeoville but over the weekend I saw hawkers back on the new nicely decorated pavements and as per norm they threw rubbish everywhere even though there are now adequate rubbish bins around. I do agree with the idea of a CID but what are the metro police for? Aren’t they supposed to make sure that the by-laws are abided by? They should be walking on the streets of Hillbrow and Yeoville to make sure that these people sell their stuff on their hawker dedicated stalls. How are we expecting to attract investments while we mess up areas like Hillbrow in which the upgrade projects haven’t been even completed?
If you listen to 702, you will realise that people do not approve of metro police because they are not even helping in fighting the likes of smash-and-grab as they leave guys standing in our intersections pretending to be sellers while their intentions are different”.
I must say it has been a particular bleat of mine for years, that urban upgrading is not merely throwing money at an area, it is actually the maintenance and management that will make it sustainable. It is no secret that little private sector investment is provided towards public sector upgrades unless a plan is in place for maintenance and management via a CID or other initiative. That’s why areas such as Ekhaya and will work in Hillbrow and berea because there are responsible community leaders to co-ordinate and ensure that the maintenance and management are provided.
Anyway back to ‘Jobuild’ -
In Hillbrow. Berea and Yeoville in addition to the public environment upgrading, five city parks have been upgraded and refurbished and two new public toilet blocks have been built. I visited some of the parks a week back and the most popular addition has been 5-a-side soccer pitches which are finished with astro turf. They were all drawing large crowds of spectators and players and I hear that this is not just on weekends! The old Governor’s House opposite the east end of the Fort was seriously damaged in a fire some months back and this Heritage Building is currently being restored as a community facility. The Hillbrow Tower will shortly look well and truly pregnant when the large 2010 soccer ball is attached around the tower. The Quartz Street market is being rebuilt. Public environment upgrades are also taking place in Yeoville, Doornfontein, New Doornfontein around Jewel City and the Fashion District precincts but we’ll pick up the rest of the inner city next week.
Till then, have a great weekend, regards, neil
Inner City Upgrading Grows Apace - 1
Roll on 2010! The inner city is getting more and more like a gigantic building site and I don’t see much respite for the next two years as the days count down and construction activity becomes more frenetic. I tried to do a bit of a forecast way back in May 2004 of what we might be able to expect regarding the impact of 2010 on the inner city (Citichat 16/2004). I quoted from some research by G.M.P.Swann of the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester who stated that four broad categories of benefits that can in principle result from large scale events of the 2010 type are;
1. new sports facilities and associated amenities built for the event
2. the short-term economic stimulus stemming from new construction and other investment in the advance of the event, and visitor spending during the event
3. the marketing opportunity to attract new business and promote tourism
4. urban redevelopment.
What wasn’t spelt out was the activity and disruption that is needed to get there! Items 1, most of 2 and 4 are certainly benefits that the country and ourselves, as one of the host cities, are and will continue to enjoy. I haven’t seen much in the way of serious marketing but maybe you have to be outside of the country to experience that.
In so far as 4 is concerned, urban redevelopment, some may argue that all the initiatives now under way would have happened anyway – I doubt it very much for 2010 has acted as a giant accelerator or catalyst that has removed many “wish” list initiatives off the shelves and changed them into reality.
Probably the single biggest intervention that is and will continue to impact on the inner city, both in its implementation and in its final form, is the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system. The final routing has at last been agreed and various roads are being well and truly ripped up and redone to accommodate the dedicated lanes for the new buses. The new buses’ axle loads are higher than anything we currently have so it does mean stripping existing road surfaces and their layered bases and providing a more dense and deeper base than we have at the moment. Otherwise the surface will only last five years. Sections that are under construction at present are Bertrams Road from its intersection with Bezuidenhout through to when it becomes Charlton and then Saratoga. A section continuing Saratoga along Wolmarans is due to start shortly. This will link to the section currently under construction down Troye alongside Joubert Park which continues south until it intersects with Commisioner and Market. Early next year the loop will be closed by the linkage of Market and Bezuidenhout which in turn will tie into Bertrams Road.
Edith Cavell is also under construction and Smit & Wolmarans Streets are to start quite shortly. The contract for the Market, Commissioner, Twist and Troye Street sections have been awarded and the contractor actually moved onto site earlier this week. Expect some pretty rough traffic situations in Market and Commissioner as each will be reduced to half the number of existing lanes whilst the contractors work on the other half. Both streets take a heavy volume of traffic as well as having a large volume crossing them. The good news is that they should be completed during the first quarter of next year in time for the Confederations Cup. There is a loop planned around Hoofd, Joubert Street Extension and Loveday Street Extension (in other words around the Metro Centre) which has been planned and tendered This will connect to the Commissioner/Market Loop via Rissik Street. A large contract has been let for some 26 BRT stations within the Inner City that will partly will be prefabricated off site – the prototype for the BRT station is already being built next to Joubert Park.
Outside of the Inner City, some of the BRT roadways around Nasrec have been completed and will ultimately connect to Anderson Street and into Commissioner and Market whilst Main Reef Road to Portland/Perth will link into Empire/Jan Smuts. At Nasrec the pedestrian promenade and bridges connecting to the World Cup Stadium are also in progress. The BRT will also go down Oxford Street, so Rosebank will have more than its fair share of disruption. Oh well, as they say, no gain without pain!
The Gautrain Station, north of Park Station appears to be well advanced whilst work is progressing on the upgrading of the Doornfontein station and surrounds.
The next Station east of the Doornfontein Station is the Ellis Park Station which sits at the apex of a triangle with Sivewright as one of the sides and Lower Railway Station as the other and Market Street the base. This area contained some really dodgy industrial and residential buildings in the centre of which was a taxi rank. This was quite a rough area – an informal butcher used to slaughter cows on the pavement and sell the meat. The whole area has been transformed – the buildings have been bought by AFHCO who are retaining both industrial and residential uses but on a properly managed basis and the taxi rank, known as Transport Square, has been rebuilt and provides a magnificent public space. Some mosaic work on buildings and pavements, a half sized volleyball court for off-duty drivers and some unique artwork. The artist, Andrew Lindsay, has provided a number of groups of concrete cows, life size, lazing in the sun and a favourite destination for the local kids. They are painted, some covered in mosaics and, whilst reminding the locals of the Informal Butcher, are a wonderful touch to what has become a lovely space. Another public art piece worthy of a close look is the ‘waterfall’ on the rock cliff of Pullinger’s Kop opposite the Windybrow. All the refurbed parks also have new public art.
Talking of art and refurbishment, I mentioned some time ago the recent purchase of the old DF Corlett yard and offices which is directly opposite the eastern end of Jewel City on the block Berea, Fox and Marshall. Went to have a look how they were getting on this week and this is going to be a superb addition not just to the East side of the inner city but to Joeys itself. The 1911 buildings with their high ceilings are being turned into sectional title office/studio space for the creative industries. Currently constructing a courtyard to be planted with grass, olive and lemon trees it will have a high quality mediterranean restaurant with bar areas, an outdoor cinema, art bookstores and studios. One large single volume building in the complex has been let to William Kentridge. Really exciting stuff in an otherwise gritty part of the city – watch the area raise the interest level and fresh investment!
Hillbrow has had a massive urban environment upgrade with some 234 city blocks having pavements replaced, new improved street lighting standards and street furniture, landscaping, paving and litter bins Two practical problems encountered with the new design litter bins is that the single stem swing bin can evidently be pushed over quite easily; whilst the two legged swing bin is more sturdy but the perforated drum of the bin is ideal for informal traders to cook on! We will undoubtedly see a further change in bin design! About to be tackled are the ‘sanitary lanes’ in Hillbrow, clearly more correctly named ‘unsanitary lanes’! The big problem with all this urban environment upgrading is management and the upgrading of the lanes simply won’t be fully carried through all the 77 that exist if someone or some body doesn’t take responsibility for them A reader made the following comment regarding the management of the overall Hillbrow upgrade “The city have gone all the way to invest more than R100 million towards upgrading Hillbrow and Yeoville but over the weekend I saw hawkers back on the new nicely decorated pavements and as per norm they threw rubbish everywhere even though there are now adequate rubbish bins around. I do agree with the idea of a CID but what are the metro police for? Aren’t they supposed to make sure that the by-laws are abided by? They should be walking on the streets of Hillbrow and Yeoville to make sure that these people sell their stuff on their hawker dedicated stalls. How are we expecting to attract investments while we mess up areas like Hillbrow in which the upgrade projects haven’t been even completed?
If you listen to 702, you will realise that people do not approve of metro police because they are not even helping in fighting the likes of smash-and-grab as they leave guys standing in our intersections pretending to be sellers while their intentions are different”.
I must say it has been a particular bleat of mine for years, that urban upgrading is not merely throwing money at an area, it is actually the maintenance and management that will make it sustainable. It is no secret that little private sector investment is provided towards public sector upgrades unless a plan is in place for maintenance and management via a CID or other initiative. That’s why areas such as Ekhaya and will work in Hillbrow and berea because there are responsible community leaders to co-ordinate and ensure that the maintenance and management are provided.
Anyway back to ‘Jobuild’ -
In Hillbrow. Berea and Yeoville in addition to the public environment upgrading, five city parks have been upgraded and refurbished and two new public toilet blocks have been built. I visited some of the parks a week back and the most popular addition has been 5-a-side soccer pitches which are finished with astro turf. They were all drawing large crowds of spectators and players and I hear that this is not just on weekends! The old Governor’s House opposite the east end of the Fort was seriously damaged in a fire some months back and this Heritage Building is currently being restored as a community facility. The Hillbrow Tower will shortly look well and truly pregnant when the large 2010 soccer ball is attached around the tower. The Quartz Street market is being rebuilt. Public environment upgrades are also taking place in Yeoville, Doornfontein, New Doornfontein around Jewel City and the Fashion District precincts but we’ll pick up the rest of the inner city next week.
Till then, have a great weekend, regards, neil
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