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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
OCTOBER
2015
PROPERTY
The building itself is a transforma-
tion of genius that was designed
as a thesis project for a Masters in
Sustainable Design by one of Cape
Town’s acclaimed architects, Philip Briel.
Intended to provide a space where people
come to work to find inspiration, the clever
integration of the debris from the demolished
factory into the walls of the new building
offers a tangible example of the idea that new
and lovely things can be created in broken
and abandoned places.
A brief history
This all started in the early 2000s when The
Business Place Philippi became the owner of
the old cement factory premises.
The Sustainability Institute at the Univer-
sity of Stellenbosch raised funding to partner
The Business Place Philippi in conceptualising
the project, which is intended to become a
mixed-use development with light industry,
housing, food gardens and even a hospital.
The residential section and the gardens are
planned down the line, but The Business
Place Philippi has been operating since 2005
in a renovated smaller building on site where
business support services could begin. This
has seen significant uptake, and more than
4 000 people have been through its doors, all
receiving business development services of
one sort or another.
The renewal
The renewal of the much bigger factory
precinct as a business office space required
development funding of a completely
different order. An R80-million cash injection
has come in the form of a joint investment
from the Bertha Foundation, based at UCT’s
Graduate School of Business, and the Jobs
Fund. This enabled the construction of the
new Business Hub and set the ball rolling
for the remainder of the project. Already
the ground floor has been fully let. Half of
the offices on the first floor, which has been
configured to offer much smaller premises,
have been taken up. And the top floor has
been designed to accommodate large compa-
nies such as call centres.
A pre-primary school has opened its
doors, a Leap Maths and Science Academy
has begun operating and the Department of
Coffees is about to start trading on the mezza-
nine concourse. A City Library will welcome
readers soon in one of the bigger spaces on
the ground floor.
Alongside these are a number of entities
which have a similar vision: to make a
difference to the lives of people in the area.
Abalimi Bezikhaya, which provides support to
urban micro-farmers is there; so is the AfriCan
Café which provides bakery and coffee shop
skills training in remodelled containers which
it runs as fully functioning coffee shops.
Simphiwe Shoes is a small business startup.
One of the founder members of The Busi-
ness Place Philippi, Alan Fleming, designed
a container-based fish farm, of which two
prototypes operate on the property, growing
twp tons of tilapia per year. Conceptualised
to bring commercial aquaculture into a poor
urban environment, ‘The Fish Farm’ has
captured several innovation awards already.
The next phase at Philippi Village will see
the launch of a Container Walk, situated on
the property, which will be integrated into the
Village. In this phase, which has been planned
as the pilot for a bigger Container Walk, 24
remodelled shipping containers will be
available to small businesses in a dedicated
precinct. The design for these containers was
put out to tender and the winning design,
which was required to give business owners
flexibility in how they configure their premises
individually, is presently in production.
The first 24 containers will all be occupied
when they arrive on site – they are already
fully subscribed and more are in the pipeline.
Amor Strauss, the general manager of
Philippi Village, said that without advertising,
within a five-day period, 250 people applied
for occupancy of the 24 containers. She and
her team decided to weed out those who were
taking a chance from those who were serious
about starting businesses and they called for
deposits. Within a week from that decision,
they had collected R60 000 in deposits.
The Container Walk will open when
Philippi Village is officially launched in
September. The plan for the Village to be a
creative space where people gather for more
than just doing business will ultimately see
the creation of a residential component,
a light industrial zone and an area that will be
called the Village Square housing food outlets
and providing green spaces for socialising
and relaxing.
The design will see the transformation of
further dilapidated structures on the property
to become a user-friendly space for the
people of Philippi.
For Thomas Swana, CEO of the Philippi
Economic Development Initiative (Pedi), the
project is a no-brainer. It is set in the heart
of an area that is poised for greater develop-
ment, with a raft of infrastructure catalysts
either in planning or about to begin, that will
change the way the suburb functions.
Streets are to be upgraded, the MyCiTi
bus system will be expanded into the area,
and the two train stations that serve Philippi
are to be modernised.
PHILIPPI VILLAGE
– a catalyst for growth
Philippi Village has ambitions to change the way local business
in the area is conducted, offering the kind of A-grade office
environment you might expect in the buzz of Cape Town’s
trendier urban spaces.
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LEFT:
Philippi Village – the old cement factory site.
RIGHT:
An architect’s impression of the developed site.