Several state-owned offices and staff accommodation are in the process of being transformed into social housing developments.
The properties concerned include an apartment once used as staff accommodation for the SABC and a once-pristine monument to South Africa’s energy supplier.
Some have been in the pipeline for years, with other completion dates still several years in the future.
Officials from the Housing Development Agency (HDA) were before the portfolio committee on human settlements on Wednesday to provide an update on the projects.
One property was acquired from a private owner, while four were purchased from state-owned entities after being abandoned.
The properties are spread across Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern and Western Cape.
“The focus here is specifically just on the buildings, with regards to our engagements and conversations with state owned enterprises,” said HDA head of land Lucien Rakgoale.
Eskom Centre and Sea Point villas
Rocklands Villas is located in Sea Point near the corner of Rocklands and Stone road, roughly 100 metres from Beach Road.
Once complete it will feature 200 social housing units including 10 three bedroom units, 50 two bedroom units and 220 one bedroom and bachelor units.
HDA said the project status sits at the “project packaging stages which includes housing demand market study for the area”.
Rakgoale clarified that the existing structure is not fit for purpose and discussions on ongoing with the municipality on how best to develop the property.
“We will not be able to utilise the existing buildings as they are in a state of disrepair. What we are getting there is basically just the land,” he said.
The 17 story, 62 metre Eskom Centre in Wolmarans Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, will be transformed into 422 units of affordable housing for students, young professionals, single parents and small families.
Completed in 1958, Eskom Centre served as the utility’s head office after a move from the now-demolished Eskom House – a larger grand art deco structure dating back to the 1930s.
On the current status, HDA said a service provider had been appointed for the concept design and detailed planning.
Rakgoale told the committee that the Carlton Hotel in the city centre was also offered to the HDA, but the purchase price was too high.
The Eskom Centre in 1958. Picture: Eskom
Montclair, Kimberley and Bloemfontein
In the south of Durban, a former Transnet lodge is nearing its expected June completion date after undergoing refurbishments to meet safety standards.
The Montclair property will house roughly 200 families now staying at two transitional emergency housing sites in the city.
One of the tallest buildings in Kimberley is set to become student accommodation, housing at least 300.
Located at the corner of George Street and Phakamile Mabija Road, Kimberley, another of Eskom’s offices is set for transformation once a dispute between the HDA and the provincial government is resolved.
“From our assessment of the university enrolment and the proximity to the university, we are of the view that the property is in fact ideally located for student accommodation,” Rakgoale said.
The NBS Building in Bloemfontein was the last property on the HDA list, a site procured from a private owner on behalf of the provincial government.
The project is still at a packaging phase and the number of social housing units predicted has not yet been confirmed.
More budget needed
Department of public enterprise provisions give the HDA the first right of refusal on state-owned properties that are to be sold.
Minister of Human Settlements Thembi Simelane said the objective of the HDA was to create precincts in well-situated areas that were previously inaccessible for the poor or excluded.
She admitted that the agency would have made greater progress if it had been allocated more funding.
“I do believe their pace would have been much faster in relation to what they have presented today if we had been able as a department to assist,” said the minster.
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