property*
Buying flutter where the birds
SING
FOR PROPERTY BUYERS LOOKING FOR A GREEN OFFERING DESIGNED AROUND A WETLANDS ECOSYSTEM, COTSWOLD FENNS TICKS ALL THE BOXES, WRITES GREG ARDÉ
A
ll property developers like to crow about their offering, but Jacques van Rooyen’s chirp is arresting. The man sparkles when he talks about the birds, all 520 species of them that call Cotswold Fenns home. Van Rooyen is the son of residential property developer Nico van Rooyen and the son-in-law of industrial property developer Gavin Strydom – partners in Fenns, a 72-hectare project in a valley in Hillcrest, below the landmark Cotswold Downs Estate. At Cotswold Fenns, extraordinary emphasis has been placed on the green offering. According to Van Rooyen – the sales manager at Cotswold Fenns – they started with the wetlands and designed everything around that, bumping it up from the legally mandated three hectares that had to be preserved to 17 hectares. It is a place of tranquillity where bullfrogs croak and birds twitter from the branches of indigenous trees that seem to stalk lazily around dams, streams, beds of reeds and dirt roads. “This place,” Van Rooyen gestures with a sweep of the hand, “is unique. We are creating a truly nature-inspired lifestyle around a thriving wetland ecosystem. The Nkutu River runs through the estate, which has been built with
24
sustainability and conservation as its pillars.” Van Rooyen says the designers went for big green spaces, creating 12km of walking and biking trails around the wetlands, which has a bird hide as its centrepiece. Beyond the preservation of green areas, Van Rooyen says there is a strong emphasis on energy conservation. It is no good waxing lyrical about a wetlands if it is surrounded by energy guzzlers.
We are creating a truly natureinspired lifestyle around a thriving wetland ecosystem” “We have to protect this. We have to have a long-term vision when it comes to how we live.” Each unit in Fenns has a heat pump, a water and cost saver, working in tandem with the geyser to ensure wastage in piping water from the geyser to the tap. It promises a 40% saving on water bills. The developers have also extended their water saving to the wider estate, innovating around the sewage system and grey water. “We can recycle 100% of the estate’s sewage water and grey water (from sinks
w w w . t h e c r e s t o n l i n e . c o . z a
