Construction and property

The north coast continues to attract high prices.

Credit: Collins Residential

The Dolphin Coast continues to attract high-end investors. Seaton, The Bay, in Sheffield Beach Estate, north of Ballito and Simbithi Eco-Estate, distinguishes itself from its neighbours by offering direct access to the beach.

Collins Residential reported R179-million in sales in two months in late 2020, for the first two parts of the development. Owners are expected to take up residence early in 2022. Further south, Zimbali is another estate holding its own in terms of value, as the Sunday Times reported in September 2020. Seeff Zimbali sold two properties for a combined R44.5-million and Pam Golding Properties were selling plots at Signature Sibaya for prices ranging from R5-million to R12-million.

A programme that aims to make Durban’s inner city “Africa’s leading, most vibrant, liveable, walkable City Centre” could provide some impetus to the construction sector.

The Inner City Local Area Plan (LAP) for Durban has been developed for the Strategic Planning unit of the eThekwini Municipality by a joint venture called IPPU.

A major milestone was reached in November 2019 when the beachfront promenade extension reached the harbour. This means that residents anywhere in the city can now step onto the promenade, from the harbour in the south to Blue Lagoon in the north. The project began in early 2018 and cost R400-million.

According to the organisers of the 2019 KZN Construction Expo, infrastructure will attract more than R200-billion in investment over seven years and R35-billion will be spent over 15 years at the Port Waterfront development.

The King Shaka International Airport and Dube TradePort are also attracting property investments. Two new industrial parks are being developed: Cornubia is part of a larger project near Umhlanga and Clairwood in Durban South will offer more than 300 000m² of A-grade industrial space.

Tongaat Hulett Developments (THD) has for some years been rolling out a series of developments on land it owns north of Durban and it has launched the nTshongweni Urban Development on either side of the busy N3 highway west of the city.

KwaZulu-Natal has a number of brick companies and four cement factories. Three of these are run by NPC at Simuma, Durban and Newcastle, and the company has a further six sites for concrete and two for aggregate. NPC is part of the Intercement group. Lafarge has several aggregate quarries and eight Readymix plants around the province. The company’s grinding operation in Richards Bay closed in 2017. ■

ONLINE RESOURCES

Construction Industry Development Board: www.cidb.org.za Master Builders Association KwaZulu-Natal: www.mba-kzn.co.za SA Estate Agency Affairs Board: www.eaab.org.za SA Institute of Valuers: www.saiv.org.za SECTOR INSIGHT Durban has an inner-city revival plan.