Making inclusive housing a reality

South Africa faces a housing crisis, with demand for affordable and low-income housing far outstripping supply. As one of the country’s major metros, Cape Town is no exception. To address this pressing issue, the City has devised a number of plans to provide affordable housing in its IDP 2022-2027.

The provision of accommodation at scale is a key lever in militating against the dearth of affordable housing within Cape Town’s urban and peri-urban areas. Fortunately, microdevelopers already deliver affordable housing across formal neighbourhoods in Cape Town and are best positioned to deliver affordable rental accommodation at scale. The City is committed to supporting these developers and property owners to build safer and better-quality homes, recognising their valuable contribution to a more compact, densified Cape Town and a more inclusive housing market.

Housing construction is a labourintensive economic activity offering significant potential for growth in response to the high housing demand. Support for microdevelopers and the establishment of additional dwellings will result in skills development, job creation and greater property wealth for lower-income families.

Regulatory reform initiative To be relevant to informal areas, current regulations, processes, ways of work and levels of service need to be adapted to take account of the realities of informal urban growth.

In this regard, the City will develop standards and best practice guidelines specific to building development in less formal contexts to support the current trend of micro-development so that these units can be developed in a safe and sustainable way.

Local planning support initiative The City is committed to growing its capability to advise microdevelopers on building practices so as to improve and ensure occupants’ health and safety, and to provide development application support.

To this end, a local planning support function is to be piloted. In addition, the City intends to partner with organisations that support the functioning of the secondary property market, such as NGOs dedicated to unlocking finance or assisting with tenure issues for microdevelopers. Moreover, the City will focus on regularising property boundaries in response to microdeveloper and backyard building activity so that these developments can be recognised as property assets and be bought and sold in the formal property market.

Upgrading informal settlements The City is committed to improving informal settlements rapidly and at scale. The aim is for some level of improvement to occur in all recognised informal settlements in the next five years, giving priority to basic services provision and functional tenure as a first line of response.

Informal settlements are not formally planned and the materials used in building homes mean that many informal settlement residents live in unhealthy living environments with limited access to water, sanitation and waste disposal services, and are at risk of fires, flooding, and the impacts of extreme weather and climate change.

The City will drive an evolving programme to upgrade informal settlements, working with and not against informality. Upgrading will focus on creating safer public spaces, access for emergency vehicles, safe and convenient walkways, as well as open space for essential community facilities where possible. This initiative will be supported by a programme of land release where on-site redevelopment is not possible.

The City has good data to inform planning and customer service in formal areas. Yet data to inform the provision of basic services and security of tenure in informal areas is relatively limited. The City is committed to developing robust data systems for informal settlements, recognising that this is crucial for responding to service delivery disruptions and adapting services to changes in population density and the physical characteristics of the area.

Your Contractor of Choice!

From humble beginnings in 2005, Atuba Construction has grown to become a leading contractor across the Western Cape.

Started by owner Jacques du Toit in January 2005, Atuba Construction is very proud of the growth it has experienced and the range of projects it has undertaken since inception. Its exceptional track record has allowed the business to firmly entrench itself as a serious contributor to the building contracting and property development industry.

Since 2019, Atuba has taken on a new structure and has also created a separate Atuba Civils Company as well as JCJ Plumbing. Both these companies are able to work successfully with the building entity and offer professional civil and plumbing services to augment the offering Atuba already has in the marketplace.

This newly structured business, managed by Naas Zaayman, in his capacity as MD, is focused on growing the organisation organically and strategically to be better positioned for future market opportunities and to spread its wings further while still retaining the Western Cape as its primary area of focus.

Through its close association with practising consulting engineers, architects and quantity surveyors, as well as its established knowledge base and experience in the construction and development industry, Atuba is able to offer clients an expert turnkey design and build option, where it delivers the requirements as set out and agreed upon between the stakeholders in a more costeffective and efficient manner.

Values As a CIDB GB8 company, Atuba Construction has the resources and expertise to successfully take on a wide range of projects, whether small, medium or large, up to a value of R200 million. In every instance – and irrespective of the value of the project at hand – the company undertakes to deliver a positive outcome with a superior standard of quality that has become synonymous with its way of doing business and the overall commitment and drive of its staff, who are able to deliver with professional astuteness.

Mission Atuba Construction sees itself as a family that is committed to becoming your contractor of choice! The constant pursuit of excellence in everything the company does is underpinned by the dedication, experience and discipline of its staff, who have an ongoing passion to deliver quality, timely and profitable projects.

As part of providing this excellence, there is a deep commitment to health and safety, as well as promoting environmental and social awareness while ensuring that Atuba does everything practicable to minimise and prevent accidents or any incidents that do not support this focus. Projects While the company has successfully delivered projects throughout the Western Cape covering numerous construction sectors, it is currently engaged in various multimillion rand projects, three of which we wish to single out hereunder: Concordia Primary School, Knysna (R84 million): Not far from the last remaining free-roaming African bush elephant, a new school is rising out of the ground. When done, it will serve the area of Concordia and be the place where some of the leaders of tomorrow will spend their formative years. Middlepos Primary School, Saldanha (R81 million): The largest school commissioned by the Western Cape Education Department has already reached roof height and is quickly moving into the final throes of construction. A much-needed addition to this west coast area is proudly being built by Atuba Construction. Horizon CYCC, Eersterivier (R100 million): Major changes and additions to this child youth care centre are taking place while the centre remains occupied by its residents. Work is progressing positively and is scheduled to be completed in the new year.

Atuba’s forward-going focus is to drive more business in these areas and to continue to meet the company’s stated objective of being Your Contractor of Choice!

Navarre Student Residence at the Wellington Campus is one of many projects Atuba Construction has delivered in the Western Cape