Construction World March 2015

PROJECTS AND CONTRACT S

Eastern Cape EMPLOYMENT BOOST The opening of the R1,7-billion Baywest Mall in Port Elizabeth this April – the Eastern Cape’s largest retail and entertainment centre – will bring with it the creation of up to 2 500 permanent jobs, while development to the tune of R500-million rolls out around the centre, say the developers. tenant list would be revealed in the weeks leading up to the April opening. Blows said a key attraction at the ABOVE: This aerial photograph, taken on 12 January 2015 shows progress on the R1,7-billion double-storey mall, as well as the R300-million road network surrounding the mall.

mall was its R100-million Fun Factory wing featuring the province’s only ice rink, allowing for the formation of ice hockey leagues and school sports teams. Eight Ster-Kinekor cinemas, restaurants, a ten-pin bowling alley and a state-of-the-art games arcade would also form part of the Fun Factory, he said. Also included in Phase I of the Baywest City development is a gym, a private school and hospital, 100 000 m² of office and commercial tenants and about 2 000 housing opportunities. Phase II will add another 2 000 housing opportunities, a light indus- trial park and value retail developments. “Baywest City is a long term investment in the region,” said Blows. “It’s going to change the face of the city and put the Bay on the leisure and corporate tourism map, growing much the same way as Century City in Cape Town has grown around Canal Walk shopping centre.”

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development will continue around the mall once it opens in April,” Blows explained. “We already have R500-million worth of develop- ment lined up for this year, which includes office blocks and a motor showroom.” Tenants, such as Shoprite-Checkers, have begun the hunt for employees to staff their Baywest outlets with advertisements in the local media and CV collection points at their Port Elizabeth stores. “We have been inundated with requests for work at the mall,” said Blows. “Our community liaison officer has already received more than 500 CVs for our data- base. We will pass the database on to our tenants as they begin their search for staff.” With major anchor tenants including Woolworths, Game, Shoprite-Checkers, Pick n Pay, Edgars and Blows said the centre’s full

The project is a joint venture between Billion Group, headed by Johannesburg-based property

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magnate Sisa Ngebulana, and the Stellen- bosch-based Abacas Asset Management, responsible for Cape Town’s Cape Gate shopping centre and Mooi Rivier Mall in Potchefstroom, among others. Speaking about the economic impact of the mall on the region, Baywest MD Gavin Blows said an average of 10 permanent jobs would be created to staff the mall’s 250 retail outlets. On top of this, staff would be needed for security and cleaning services at the 90 000 m² (gross leasable area/GLA) centre – contracts which would be advertised in the coming weeks, he said. “Because Baywest Mall is the catalyst to the entire Baywest City development,

Workers carefully lay the piping which forms the foundation of the 2 300 m² Baywest ice rink in the mall’s R100-million Fun Factory wing. The mall will open this April, upon which time development around the centre to the value of R500-million will commence.

Facts about Baywest • The mall size, 90 000 m², is the gross leasable area and excludes the parking area for about 3 200 vehicles. • The development of the mall is a joint venture between Abacus Asset Management and Billion Group. • The construction value of the mall is approximately R1,7-billion, with a further R300-million being spent on developing the road network in the area. • The mall is central to the development of the greater Baywest City project, which will be similar in concept to Cape Town’s Century City development. • About 25% of the 320 ha Baywest City site has been allocated for environmental preservation and will not be developed at all.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD MARCH 2015