Construction World October 2015

PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS

Collaborating in the right places According to the tate of Cape Town Central City Report 2014 (published annually by the Cape Town Central City Improvement District as an investment guide into the CBD), as at December 2014, SAPOA vacancy rates indicated: • Of the 515 535 m 2 of B-grade space available in the CBD, 53 862 m 2 was available for leasing, ranging from R80 to R115/m 2 ; • Of the 145 178 m 2 of C-grade space available in the CBD, 31 711 m 2 was available for leasing, ranging from R47 to R95/m 2 . By the second quarter of this year, SAPOA figures revealed that the vacant space in B-grade property had dropped to 47 375 m 2 available, while C-grade had dropped to 29 758 m 2 available. According to Rob Kane, Chairperson of the CCID: “These represent drops in our vacancy rate from 10,4% to 9,1% (for B-grade) and from 21.8% to 20.5% (for C-grade) respectively. We believe the rise in co-working spaces in the CBD has impacted in some way on these vacancy rates, and also reflects the growing desire by people attracted to this type of working environment to be part of the Cape Town Central City’s growing live/ work/play environment.”

or environment anywhere except in Europe or South America. So we decided to take a risk and dive in head first.” Agreeing with Steve Harris on the need for collaboration above and beyond the working space, Heller advises: “Co-working is about the community and the relationships and interactions between everyone in the space. So it's less about managing the physical space, and more about building the community. That's more of an art and requires more energy.”

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD OCTOBER 2015