Construction and property

Infrastructure and multi-use developments are forging ahead.

Job losses and business rescues were recurring themes in the South African construction sector in 2017 and 2018. The announcement in late 2018 that work on the R4.3-billion Oceans Umhlanga project had been halted confirmed that KwaZuluNatal was not immune to these trends, but indications were that work on the residential, hotel and retail mall development will resume in 2019.

A number of other large projects in the province are bucking the national trend. According to the organisers of the KZN Construction Expo, which was held in February 2019, infrastructure will attract more than R200-billion over seven years and R35-billion will be spent over 15 years at the Port Waterfront development.

The King Shaka International Airport and associated 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 has for several years been rolling out a series of developments on land it owns north of Durban, but in 2018 it launched the nTshongweni Urban Development on either side of the busy N3 highway west of the city. Land use will be housing, light industry and logistics with a private developer, Fundamentum Asset Management, committed to building a shopping mall in the central business district.

The website of Tongaat Hulett Developments (THD) lists 16 completed projects, including La Lucia Ridge and the Zimbali Coastal

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

Development on the N3 is underway.

Resort. Some current projects are massive in scale. Cornubia covers 1 300 hectares about 7km from the airport and encompasses industrial, commercial, residential sections.

The Sibaya Casino and Entertainment World is located within the Sibaya Coastal Precinct which THD is building as seven distinct nodes along 1 000 hectares of coast. Bridge City (pictured) is one of the most ambitious projects: a joint venture between the eThekwini Municipality and Tongaat Hulett, it is a presidential project that combines industrial, commercial, retail and residential opportunities located between Pinetown and Umhlanga Ridge.

KwaZulu-Natal has a number of brick companies and four cement factories. Three of these are run by NPC-Cimpor (at Simuma, Durban and Newcastle), and the company has a further six sites for concrete and two for aggregate. Lafarge has a large depot and cement clinkergrinding operation in Richards Bay, six aggregate quarries and eight Readymix plants around the province.

The Supreme Award for Excellence in Construction (Master Builders KwaZulu-Natal) was awarded in 2018 to WBHO Construction for the Absa Regional Office KwaZulu-Natal.