| PROJECTS |
Situated in the heart of the central business district (CBD), High St in Hermanus has been upgraded from a traditional asphalt, kerb and pavement through-road, where the car was king, to a shared street with an integrated living space for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles. Kerbing has made way for open stormwater channels which, in conjunction with the new road and pedestrian layouts, have been paved with concrete block paving (CBP) supplied by CMA member CEL Paving Products. High St’s upgrade forms part of an overall framework plan commissioned by the Overstrand Municipality in 2016. Developed by Gapp A rch itects, t he framework focuses on revamping the CBD, the treatment of public spaces and traffic flows. As one of several development opportunities, the framework identified High St as an important historic route and, as such, recommended transforming it from a traditional shop-and-go precinct into a recreational space. Hedwig Crooijmans-Lemmer from Gapp Architects and Urban Designers says the Overstrand Municipality has taken the framework plan on board. “The municipality’s actively promoting the Hermanus CBD and it recognises the important role the quality of the public space plays in promoting tourism and stimulating the CBD’s economy,” she says. “Business and restaurant owners have suffered from the introduction of shopping malls on the outskirts of the town. Given that High St and the CBD have a lot to of fer, we believed that, packaged differently, the area had great potential to pull back the shoppers and tourists. We reasoned that encouraging them to linger and sample High St’s unique mix of shops, boutiques, restaurants and coffee shops, at their leisure, was the best means of achieving this goal. “Before drawing up our High St plan, we developed a public space manual based on the principles outlined in the overall framework. The manual speaks directly to international best-practice standards in outdoor urban environments and covers aspects such as colour, materials, the principles of greening and the creation of better pedestrian locations. “By providing more leisure space, we wanted to encourage shops and restaurants
34
PRECAST | ISSUE TWO | 2021
Concrete block paving
REJUVENATES HERMANUS CBD
