Rosslyn Hub

R O S S LY N H U B

ROSSLYN HUB

Rosslyn Hub Project

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The development of Gauteng’s Rosslyn Hub project is first step in the growth of the 50-year Tshwane Automotive City. Starting with a residential area, the project will grow to encompass an entire city, dedicated to automotive manufacturing.

Director, Brendan Falkson talks to Enterprise Africa about progress on site.

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It’s pedal to the metal for Rosslyn Hub, the first stage in the development of South Africa’s Tshwane Automotive City. After five years of planning, this mega project is now moving into the fast lane and is placing the country’s automotive sector in pole position for international investment.

Imagine, Rosslyn Gauteng becoming one of the world’s preeminent auto manufacturing destinations alongside the likes of Toyota City in Japan and

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VW’s Wolfsburg Autostadt in Germany.

The R4.5 billion project to build the first node in the wider Tshwane Auto City development is being started by government, the automotive industry and Big Cedar Property Development.

It is expected to create thousands of jobs over the next 10 years. As the Automotive City is developed over the next 50 years, the economic benefits are set to be enormous.

Upon completion, Rosslyn Hub will be a mixed-use development

consisting of a logistics park and vehicle distribution centre which will have easy access to a new Transnet Rail Hub, fantastic road access, houses, schools and parks, hotels, shopping centres, student accommodation, warehousing any many more facilities for the region’s Automotive OEMs. The whole area will be connected by pedestrian-friendly walkways and cycle paths.

Brendan Falkson, Director of Big Cedar Property Development, tells

INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE

Enterprise Africa that work is underway and, so far, going off without hitch.

“There are 800 of 1000 occupied houses and the balance is due to be completed in the next 12 months. The school construction has just started and that will be open in January 2019. It is a Spark School, which is grade R to grade seven primary school, with a strong focus on maths & science with a smart IT driven environment.

“We are busy with detailed design and planning and we are hoping to start on the access road in January – that’s the new important link road known as the K217 which we will be building on behalf of the authorities. The first phase of that is a three-kilometre section of road with a bridge of the PRASA railway line. That first phase must be complete

by November next year because that is when the convenience shopping centre will open. Construction of that shopping centre is due to start in February 2019.

“On site right now is the construction of houses and the school, and behind the scenes we busy with plans for the shopping centre, getting lease agreements signed, and finalising plans with the local authority. Our engineers are also busy getting plans approved for the road.”

// BECAUSE ROSSLYN HUB IS SO CENTRAL TO THE AUTOMOTIVE CITY AND IS BASICALLY THE CATALYTIC DEVELOPMENT FOR THE WHOLE AREA, WE HAVE BEEN WORKING VERY CLOSELY WITH THE CITY OF TSHWANE, THE PROVINCE AND THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY TO GET US TO WHERE WE ARE NOW // CONGESTED SCHEDULE Work on the first of three phases at the 100-hectare Rosslyn Hub site started in May and since then progress has been non-stop.

“There is a hell of a lot happening,” admits Falkson. “Behind the scenes, we are busy with retail, logistics and industrial. The phase 1 residential development is almost complete, thanks to Cosmopolitan Housing, with Phase 2, including the school, shopping centre and student housing having just started. Then Phase 3, which is exciting from an automotive perspective, is the logistics hub, logistics buildings and vehicle distribution centre, is due to start later next year. We are in detailed discussions with the automotive industry and that is being facilitated by

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the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC). The six main Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) involved are BMW, Nissan, UD Trucks, Iveco, Tata and Ford.”

Current planning activities are centred around the student accommodation for the site which will be built in two phases and allocated to students from MEDUNSA and the Tshwane University of Technology as well as leaners associated with automotive OEMs. The first phase of the student accommodation build will begin in February and when complete, in January 2020, will be available to 1000 students. The second phase will house a further 1500.

“We are waiting to get the drawings approved so we can start construction,” says Falkson. “The second phase will be for students in Rosslyn who are motor industryrelated students. Nissan and BMW need to accommodate around 1500 students each year. They are people who are undertaking apprenticeships, vocational training, after sales service training and a whole range of training.

Sometimes they are short courses but sometimes they can last a full year.”

TSHWANE AUTO CITY South Africa must bring scale to its auto manufacture if it is to compete in global markets. Currently, more than half a million vehicles are produced each year in the country, but this figure is split between many producers of many different types of model.

The big producers must meet certain thresholds to unlock cost efficiencies

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE

and while BMW and Nissan are already there, an automotive hub would allow major savings for the entire value chain and other players would able to gain economies of scale.

“The good thing about the project is that there is a big vision and the vision is based on other automotive cities that have been built around the world,” says Falkson. “The fact that Rosslyn has such a huge amount of OEMs, the highest concentration of OEMs in Africa, means that the whole industry is realising an automotive city in Tshwane makes sense. It helps each role player create critical mass in terms of their supplier base and logistics.

New shared facilities like the logistics hub we are building will help everyone make their pricing more efficient. With everyone closer together, companies can source products locally and reduce dependency on imports, and the majority of parts used in auto manufacture are imported. It’s all to do with scale. The vision of the auto city will help bring scale and will mean manufacturers can make more cars.”

But could the development of an automotive super region in Gauteng take business and expertise away from companies located in other part of the country - regions with existing automotive centres? Not according

to Falkson who believes that Rosslyn Hub and Tshwane Automotive City will complement the country’s existing network.

“Gauteng has the highest concentration of suppliers to the auto industry and most of the manufacturers operate on a JIT system so we are starting to see the three main auto regions in the country (Rosslyn, Durban and Port Elizabeth) work more closely together,” he says.

“The main focus of the Tshwane Auto City is to get the rail link completely efficient between Durban and Rosslyn as the first link. That means suppliers in Durban can create a much closer link

A VISION FOR AN INTEGRATED SMART CITY DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE TO LIVE, WORK AND PLAY. Boogertman + Partners have designed the masterplan for the Rosslyn City Hub based on the successful examples of leading motor cities like Toyota City in Japan and VWs Wolfsburg Autostadt in Germany. The design of the Rosslyn Hub masterplan provides ease of commuting between work and home along with ease of access to retail outlets, entertainment and lifestyle facilities. To this end a park forms the pedestrian heart of the Rosslyn Hub precinct, connecting all the users and providing solace from the busy industrial and commercial hub. Pedestrian and cycle friendly paths and bridges allow easy alternate ways of moving around the area and bring in green pathways throughout the precinct.

Further emphasis on lifestyle and access are provided by an events centre located within the green space where gatherings and team building events could take place. A vehicle distribution area for this events centre with approximately 4500 parking bays will be located to the north of the park. All the bays will be covered with photo-voltaic panels, generating essential solar energy for lighting in the precinct.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE

Rosslyn Hub directors, Brendan Falkson, Perfect Mbitshana and Doug Reed are joined by the Mayor of Tshwane, Mr. Solly Msimanga and officials from Nissan SA and the City of Tshwane for the official on site launch

to customers in Rosslyn and vice versa.

If that works, a second link could be put in place between P.E. and Rosslyn.

It’s critical for the whole industry to get logistics right from an efficiency and price point of view.”

The rail link, which has been given the OK by Transnet, would see around 400-500 vehicles transported to Durban’s port for export initially, with that figure expected to grow quickly and sustainably as Rosslyn Hub and Tshwane Auto City progresses.

GLOBALLY CONNECTED ROSSLYN Free movement of products - whether its parts to and from the ports or complete vehicles for export - is essential for the growth of South Africa’s automotive sector. Rosslyn’s road and rail connections combined with the potential of an inland port

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arrangement will undoubtedly create a positive situation for the country’s international OEMs. “The inland port aspect is still being negotiated and it will be the first in South Africa so there is a lot of legislation details that need to be resolved and this means high-level discussions are ongoing. The physical infrastructure is all agreed and we are down to the legal framework around how an inland port would work with in the Transnet model,” explains Falkson.

He is keen to point out that Rosslyn Hub, and Tshwane Auto City, will be developed as smart cities.

Officially defined as ‘an urban area that uses different types of electronic data collection sensors to supply information which is used to manage assets and resources efficiently’, Rosslyn will join the likes of Waterfall

City, Modderfontein New City, Konza Technology City in Kenya and Eko Atlantic in Nigeria as some of the continent’s most ambitious projects.

“We have just returned from the Smart Cities convention in Cape Town and we will soon attend another one in Sandton. There will be many types of smart technology in Rosslyn. The biggest focus for the integrated city is to make sure people live close to work.

Currently, there are long commutes

// IT’S NOW AT ITS MOST EXCITING STAGE AS, AFTER FIVE YEARS OF PAPERWORK AND MEETINGS, THERE IS ACTIVITY ON SITE //

ROSSLYN HUB

// IN AFRICA, INDIVIDUAL CAR OWNERSHIP IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE MORE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD AND SOUTH AFRICA IS PERFECTLY LOCATED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT // from the townships where the majority of the work force lives to Rosslyn – it can be two or three hours a day. We are creating an integrated city where people can work and live and shop within walking distance,” says Falkson.

The base of the entire city’s smart system will be a modern fibre system, currently being installed.

“We have a very advanced fibre network that is being put down by the biggest fibre operator in the country and the intention is to start rolling out fibre in all types of different format.

There will be very advanced fibre and IoT for the industrial players for things like security, license plate verification, biometrics, and even vehicle tracking.

With this sort of network we could track a vehicle from the time it leaves the BMW plant through to the Durban port and potentially all the way to its final destination.”

But it’s not only smart tech for the benefit the OEMs. Green technology will also be installed to ensure the region becomes as sustainable as possible, and to make the area as ‘liveable’ as possible.

“We are using smart green technology such as solar power and water conservation measures,” details Falkson. “All the roofs are north facing and all have solar panels on, many car ports are solar equipped and that enables us to make use of a lot of solar energy. We also have a lot of pedestrian and cycle friendly routes that make up our combined productive-living city. Because we have an industrial operation of vehicles being made and transported, we also have people having to move around the area on foot or cycle and that is why we have designed extensive

pedestrianised pathways and bridges to create more of an integrated city.”

After meeting with central and regional governments, along with a host of representatives for the automotive industry and the OEMs over the past five years, Falkson is excited about the future of the project.

He calls Africa “the last untapped automotive market in the world” and says that all the big names are now looking at the market on the continent and how they can tap into the growing consumer base.

“There is a big push to start manufacturing vehicles for Africa,” says the Director. “There is a lot of talk about shared rides, electric vehicles and changing vehicle ownership structures, but in Africa, individual car ownership is expected to increase more than anywhere else in the world and South Africa is perfectly located to take advantage of that. The competitive advantage that South Africa has is that it already has a 60-year-old, established automotive industry with a supplier base. That is very difficult to replicate in other African countries. Already, Ford and Nissan are assembling knock down kits for Nigeria and Kenya which don’t attract the tariffs of a full car and that is a model that can be used to significantly grow ownership in north and east Africa. In southern Africa

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE

there is an opportunity for Rosslyn to make cars for the entire region. This is a major opportunity for South Africa to drive the automotive industry in Africa over the next 20 or 30 years.”

However, creating the beating heart of an entire industry, which is responsible for around 7.5% of a country’s GDP, is no easy feat.

“It’s stressful,” admits Falkson, “but that’s just the nature of development.

We have been busy with this project for five years – it’s not like it has just come up overnight. We have actually owned the land for a lot longer but in the last five years, we’ve been involved with the AIDC discussing plans for the master plan of Tshwane Automotive City which is a much bigger project than Rosslyn Hub. But because Rosslyn Hub is so central to the automotive city and is basically the catalytic

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development for the whole area, we have been working very closely with the city of Tshwane, the province and the automotive industry to get us to where we are now.”

ECONOMIC BRAKES? Even South Africa’s recent dip into technical recession has not slowed the pace of the Rosslyn Hub project.

Thanks to efficient management and

ROSSLYN HUB

a thoroughly-planned strategy, the project remains on course to meet all deadlines and continues to attract international interest.

“The AIDC are in discussions with a number of foreign companies who are looking to move into South Africa and who see the auto city as a perfect home,” says Falkson.

“The project is big enough to skip over micro economic issues. It generates foreign revenue and all of the export contracts are Dollar or Euro based and the weaker the Rand gets, the more competitive our exports become. We haven’t been directly affected by swings in the Rand or political dealings.

“International companies are looking at the country but not looking to supply the country. South Africa is a relatively mature market that is not expected to grow in a big way. The big opportunity is to supply the emerging African market so the economy of the country is not really the concern; it’s the global economy that we are looking at, specifically the African economy.”

On site at Rosslyn, progress is speedy and, importantly, the big automotive OEMs are starting to see a material impact on the ground.

According to Falkson, this is very helpful.

“It’s now at its most exciting stage as, after five years of paperwork and meetings, there is activity on site. It is very rewarding to see something that you’ve worked on for so long come to fruition,” he says. “What is also happening is that the industry is starting to believe in it more. At the

// THIS IS A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY FOR SOUTH AFRICA TO DRIVE THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY IN AFRICA OVER THE NEXT 20 OR 30 YEARS //

beginning, when you have a master plan, people switch off. We recently had a presentation with Nissan; we were expecting sit in a board room with four or five people but we ended up presenting to 80 of their senior managers at their quarterly management meeting. They came to us and asked for us to get all of the role players in Rosslyn into a board room so that we can explain exactly how emanant this is. Usually, with these major companies, it takes a long time to get through to the CEO but they are now approaching us and asking exciting questions.”

At a community launch event for Rosslyn Hub back in May, more than 800 young people queued to register their names for employment and skills development programmes.

Tshwane Mayor, Solly Msimanga proudly welcomed the launch of the Rosslyn Hub, saying of the project: “We are proud to become the local government administration where this, Africa’s first auto city, is situated.”

Phase 2 of the Rosslyn Hub project is expected to begin in 2020. This is a project that no one can ignore and a project that will, eventually, put Gauteng in the driving seat of the global automotive manufacturing industry.

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