PROPOSED REDEVELOPMENT OF ERF 144698 and 8210

Figure 1: The new building is to be on the block bounded by Buitengracht, Longmarket, Shortmarket and Rose Streets

HERITAGE STATEMENT Prepared for Buitengracht Properties (Pty) Ltd

AIKMAN ASSOCIATES: HERITAGE MANAGEMENT April 2016 PO Box 140 Tulbagh 6820 Ph 023 230 147 083 306 67 68 [email protected]

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...... 2 1. BACKGROUND ...... 3 2. METHODOLOGY ...... 4 3. STATEMENT OF INDEPENDENCE...... 4 4. LOCALITY ...... 4 5. CONTEXT ...... 5 5.1 Historical Development ...... 6 5.2 Statutory and policy framework...... 9 5.3 Heritage status ...... 11 5.4 Townscape and streetscape context ...... 11 6. MAPPING ...... 23 6.1 The Bokaap...... 23 6.2 Riebeeck Square ...... 24 6.3 Heritage Square...... 24 7. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ...... 24 7.1 The site and buildings: ...... 24 7.2 The setting ...... 24 8. HERITAGE RELATED DESIGN INDICATORS...... 25 9. THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT...... 26 9.1 Development constraints...... 26 9.2 The development proposals...... 26 10. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS...... 29 11. IMPACTS...... 29 11.1 Archaeological and historical impact...... 29 11.2 Impacts on Townscape and Streetscape...... 29 12. SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITS...... 32 13. CONCLUSION ...... 32 14. RECOMMENDATIONS...... 32

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The proposed consolidation of Erf 144698 and Erf 8210 and redevelopment of the property as a mixed use complex reaching a height of 60m is supported from a heritage perspective. The design has responded positively to urban design and heritage related design indicators and the mitigation measures such as the stepping back of the upper levels mitigates potential negative impacts on the townscape and streetscape setting related to Riebeeck Square and the Bokaap. Moreover this new development will increase the residential population of the city and make a major contribution to the local economy. It will significantly increase rates revenue and act as a catalyst for urban renewal.

2 1. BACKGROUND The property development company; Buitengracht Properties (Pty) Ltd intends erecting a new building on Erf 144698 and 8210. These two erven make up almost the entire block bounded by Buitengracht, Longmarket, Shortmaket and Rose Streets in the Cape Town CBD. Two small erven, Erf 1299 and 1300 with frontage to Shortmarket Street are in separate ownership and will not form part of the redevelopment of the block. The new building will have basement parking, will accommodate ground floor retail areas on all the street frontages and residential apartments in a 60m high building.

As the development involves no listed activities in terms of Section 38(1) of the National Heritage Resources Act (No 25 of 1999) {NHR Act} there was no legal requirement that a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) should be undertaken. An urban design report was however commissioned and was prepared by BlueGreen planning and design. Its purpose was to describe the urban design, landscape, heritage, access and other “indicators” for the site in order to give guidance to the professional team and architects to inform the building’s massing, use and design.

A report in support of the application for the redevelopment was submitted by Tommy Brummer Town Planners in terms of the ’s (CoCT) Municipal Planning By-Law (MPBL). Initially a number of departures were sought but plans have been amended and now no departures are required. The application before the CoCT is for: • Consolidation of the two erven into one in terms of the CoCT’s Development Management Scheme (DMS); • Council’s consent to build in the Central City Heritage Protection Overlay Zone (HPOZ). This followed a public participation process.

On 9 March 2016 the Planning and Building Development Management Branch of the CoCT referred a memorandum received from the CoCT’s Environmental Resource Management Branch to the development team requesting comment. The thrust of the memorandum was that all of the heritage resources identified in the fairly detailed memorandum will be impacted on in a negative manner by the proposed development because of the design’s bulk and height. The memorandum called for a Heritage Statement to be prepared and the comment of Heritage Western Cape to be sought.

It was then decided that an independent heritage practitioner be appointed to prepare a Heritage Statement to assess the impacts of the proposed development on heritage resources.

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2. METHODOLOGY The programme has involved site inspections and an analysis of historical maps, aerial photographs, plans and documentation provided by the project team. Readily available published and unpublished material was used.

Henry Aikman who undertook this study is an architect and founder member of the Association of Professional Heritage Practitioners. He has prepared more than 200 Heritage Statements and over 50 Heritage Impact Assessments over the last 15 years. Three of the latter were related to the development of buildings of 60m in height; The Pepper Club on Loop Street, The Pulse on the block bounded by Bree, Dorp, Loop and Leeuwen Streets and the Cliffe Dekker headquarters building on Bree and Prestwich Streets.

The development team is made up of Tommy Brummer Town Planners, BlueGreen planning + design and Fabian Architects.

3. STATEMENT OF INDEPENDENCE The author of this report has no financial interest in the proposed development or any other projects being undertaken by the developers. 4. LOCALITY The property is on the periphery of the CBD of Cape Town. The precinct where the site is located is characterised by light industrial, office, commercial and some residential uses.

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Figure 2: The site is on the northwestern edge of Buitengracht Street adjacent to Riebeeck Square

Figure 3: The property is northwest of Riebeeck Square sited within the band of commercial properties lying between Rose and Buitengracht Streets 5. CONTEXT The historical development and the statutory aspects of the area are set out below:

5 5.1 Historical Development The original grid of Cape Town laid out in the 17th Century gradually expanded to the northwest until in 1772 a canal was dug defining the town’s northwestern boundary. Originally referred to as Nieuwe Gracht by 1790 it was referred to as Buiten Gracht. 1 The other parallel streets higher up the slopes like Rose and Chiappini Street only made their appearance early in the 19th Century when Schotscheskloof was developed to accommodate the town’s artisans and tradesmen in terraced houses many of which have survived.

Figure 4: Extract from Snow Survey c1862 showing the block then made up mostly of small erven with larger dwellings facing Buitengracht The block bounded by Buitengracht, Longmarket, Shortmarket and Rose Streets originally accommodated residential buildings and some businesses but by the early 20th Century commercial activity came to dominate the block. Concrete frame construction techniques permitted taller structures to be built and replace older fabric. No 100 Buitengracht Street built in 1927 and the adjacent structure built in 1936 is typical of this period.2 A small warehouse was built on Erf 1300 in 1935 for retailers Cleghorn & Harris. Monotype House now occupied by Carol Boyes was built in 1968. These were primarily motor trade workshops and warehouses. Only one of the 19th

1 PICARD, H. 1968. Gentleman’s Walk. C. Struik. Cape Town. Pg 123. 2 The two structures were linked about 10 years ago, were heavily remodelled about 10 years ago and are occupied by Cape City Volkswagen.

6 Century buildings, 79 Shortmarket Street has survived but has been extensively altered and accommodates business use.3

By the end of the first half of the 20th Century the CoCT realised that some form of development control was needed. The planners of the day envisaged the development of a modern American style city of the 1930s. The Town Planning Scheme, which was eventually adopted in 1941 sought to control land-use and the form of development by zoning throughout the municipal area. The General Business Zone applied to the CBD and it dictated the form of future development. New buildings would have a maximum height for eaves or parapet on all boundaries being 37m on streets wider than 18.5m and a sliding scale of reduced heights to a height of 25m on streets 12.5m wide. The height of buildings could be increased above these street boundary heights by setting back at a rate of 1m horizontally for every 2m in height to a maximum permitted height of 60m. Although few took up their full development rights because of the economic decline of the CBD, these rigidly applied regulations dictated the form of new buildings over the next 50 years. Despite a number of revisions to the Town Planning Scheme (renamed the Zoning Scheme in 1990) and the Municipal Planning By-Law in 2014 these controls still dictate the form of CBD buildings in the 21st Century. Developers are understandably anxious to avoid applying for departures from these Regulations as this causes delays and increases costs.

By the 1950s the CBD was in serious economic decline with the rapid development of sub-regional centres in the northern and southern suburbs and the shift of city development towards the Foreshore. To arrest the decline the City Council eventually in the 1980s embarked on urban renewal schemes, principally pedestrianisation and urban conservation. The Strand Concourse was built and St Georges Street was incrementally converted into a pedestrian mall from 1986.

Developers responded to the new initiative and major projects were undertaken. The NBS development, "The Waldorf” (1988) was typical. It combined the retention of important small buildings on Green Market Square with the development of a large parking garage, a shopping arcade and office spaces. Shell House was converted into a hotel with an outdoor restaurant terrace and old office buildings were remodelled. A lack of parking though continued to affect the inner city and during the 1990's office vacancies increased. This was aggravated by the development of suburban office parks

3 LOUW T, RENNIE J, GODDARD G. (1983). The Buildings of Cape Town: Phase Two 1983. Cape Provincial Institute of Architects, Cape Town. The catalogue states that this building was indicated in the Snow survey c 1862.

7 and new sub-centres like the V&A Waterfront and Tyger Valley, which drew investment away from the CBD.

Despite enormous growth in the tourism economy, by 2000 entire office buildings were standing empty and most had low occupancy levels. The once prestigious Old Mutual Building on Darling Street was one of these, mothballed and awaiting possible demolition

Crime and anti-social behaviour on the streets appeared to be out of control. In response the City Improvement District (CID) By-law was introduced and property owners and the CoCT created the . They were tasked with managing the inner city. Video camera surveillance systems had an immediate impact on crime. The Partnership's control of inner city parking led to the freeing up of hundreds of parking bays. In addition they embarked on an ambitious marketing plan to bring new investment into the CBD. This was to come in the form of huge investments in residential development. The CoCT had consistently campaigned from the 1970's to bring residential life back into the inner city with projects like the Cape Sun Hotel. These efforts were largely unsuccessful probably because of the perception that the inner city was inherently dangerous. Another failure was Senator Park (1974) a multi-storey, sectional title block of flats built on . It was aimed at young professionals but it soon became a centre for inner city crime and it had a negative impact on surrounding properties.

The conversion of office and industrial space for residential use started on the fringes of the inner city on a small scale towards the end of the 1990s with a few so called "loft apartment" projects styled on New York principles. The Studios on the adjacent block to the subject property is a typical example. These offered secure parking and stylish living aimed at young professionals in the upper income group. During 2003 dramatic changes began in the inner city. Louis Karol Architects then developed an innovative scheme to save the mothballed Old Mutual Building converting the entire building into luxury apartments with parking in the nearby Adderley complex. Other schemes followed and there are now over 50 residential projects completed or at various stages of completion in the CBD itself or on its periphery. A key factor in all of them is secure undercover parking. The significant reduction of street crime and anti-social behaviour brought about by CID security and surveillance has also had a positive impact. The city is still however regarded as dangerous after normal business hours by law enforcement agencies. The CID and others have argued that once the residential population reaches a critical mass street crime will disappear altogether. At this early stage in the transformation, the full effects of the investment in the city are beginning to be felt. It will be interesting to see how the new residential community adapts

8 to a form of life relatively unknown in but found in many other cities throughout the world.

The area where the proposed new complex is to be built is within the band of properties lying between Buitengracht and Rose Streets. It also experienced the economic decline and many of the buildings were poorly maintained with economically marginal tenants. They were neglected and valuable old fabric has been lost.

5.2 Statutory and policy framework The two erven are 3150m² in extent and are zoned Mixed Use MU3 in terms of the Municipal Planning By-law. The permissible coverage for all buildings in MU3 is 100%.

Figure 5: Zoning map The front portion of the property facing Buitengracht Street falls within the Heritage Protection Overlay Zone.

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Figure 6: A portion of Erf 144698 falls within the Central City HPOZ as shown below. Consequently, an application to allow development in the HPOZ is required The Urban Design Report and the Tommy Brummer Planning Motivation Report provide a detailed background to the applicable policies related to the property. These are summarised below:

The Cape Town Spatial Development Framework or SDF indicates the area where the property is located for “Urban Development”. The term “Urban Development” is partially defined in the SDF as; “Buildings and infrastructure with a residential purpose as well as offices, shops, community facilities and other associated buildings, infrastructure and public open space necessary to provide for proper functioning of urban areas and amenity and recreation”.

The Central City Sub-district Area defines specific land use policies for area where the property is situated;  Allow increased residential densities along existing and proposed public transport routes to support the viability of the routes;  Facilitate the intensification of Buitengracht as a development route and resolve the de-proclamation of the road widening scheme;  Encourage intensification of land uses aligned with current and proposed public transport services;  Encourage active uses along important pedestrian linkages like Longmarket Street, St Georges Mall and Waterkant Street (Fanwalk);  Intensify urban development around public open spaces to activate the spaces and  Encourage mixed use (with residential component) overlooking public spaces and pedestrian routes to facilitate passive surveillance.

10 In terms of the definition contained in the Tall Building Policy of 2013, a tall building is defined as one that exhibits an element of tallness, in relation to its context, or in relation to its proportions, or in relation to building technology. The policy is specifically intended to cover buildings that require height related departures.

5.3 Heritage status Although much altered the structures on Erf 144698 are more than 60 years old and are therefore protected in terms of Section 34 of the NHR Act. They have never been identified as being conservation worthy and are unlisted in the CoCT’s most recent survey. Should the redevelopment go ahead application for a demolition permit would be made.

5.4 Townscape and streetscape context The concept of townscape addresses the visual coherence and organisation of the collage of buildings, streets and spaces that make up the urban environment.4 Streetscape has been defined as “the visual elements of the street, including the road, adjoining buildings, street furniture , trees and open spaces etc. that combine to form the street’s character”.5

Figure 5: Downtown Athens Georgia USA: Source: Charter of the New Urbanism, McGraw- Hill 1999 Several indicators of good performance are demonstrated in the photograph above including:

4 FLEMMING, R: Townscape Institute website. 5 Source: Wikipedia

11  Street level activities and pedestrian related street frontages on key pedestrian routes;  Generous allowance for pedestrian activities; street accommodates pedestrians and vehicles with separation between these achieved with judicious use of planting and screening;  Provision of pedestrian comfort with shelter and shade provided by trees, canopies and umbrellas, and places to relax and eat outdoors in public;  Buildings responding well to context, and forming a continuous street frontage;  Well-proportioned and human-scale related individual buildings within an overall theme;  Preservation of traditional street frontages and respect for local architectural traditions;  Well-defined and uncluttered public spaces incorporating appropriate signage, street furniture, lighting, paving and tree planting;  Good maintenance of the public realm—no litter, discreet sign posting, no graffiti or broken paving etc.  Opportunities for the natural surveillance of public places.

The analysis below has been carried out at the scale of the City, the Precinct and the Block and Street:

City Scale: The West City The band of properties from Wale Street to Somerset Road lying between Buitengracht and Rose Streets can be termed the “Frame” where from the early 20th Century residential property was replaced with car sales and services, parking, wholesale services and light manufacturing.6 The 1951 Foreshore Plan with Buitengracht Street a key element in the plan’s ring road network reinforced the role that this band of properties has played in the functioning of the city. It is characterized by:

 Substantial early modernist and post -World War 2 era development, including re-developed city blocks containing mostly utilitarian and architecturally undistinguished buildings;  More recently, modern residential and office insertions into the grid such as the Hilton Hotel (formerly The Cape Coral) and the remodelled The Studios;  A number of currently vacant sites used for parking but with potential for redevelopment.

6 Core frame model

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Figure 7: The property lies in the “Frame” zone of the city Precinct Scale: Central Buitengracht Street Precinct Buitengracht Street can be divided into three distinct precincts: the Upper Buitengracht Street Precinct (Buitensingel to Wale) where the distinctive stone retaining wall defines its western edge, the Lower Buitengracht Street Precinct (Strand to Somerset Road) where the western side is characterized by large undeveloped sites and commercial blocks and the Central Buitengracht Street Precinct (Wale to ) with Riebeeck Square as its main feature extending over three city blocks.

The site falls into the Central Buitengracht Street Precinct. It is crossed by several routes at regular intervals, running east-west, and which form part of the city’s street grid pattern. Buitengracht Street is very wide in the Central Precinct able to accommodate a one-way couplet and a double row of mature trees and a central parking zone. To a large extent the street marks a transition point in the city, almost a barrier in itself.

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Figure 8: The Central Buitengracht Street Precinct In recent years the pattern of development in Cape Town has been the consolidation of sites within the city blocks to form larger development parcels, giving rise to a new development paradigm of one or a few large buildings on a solitary block (as opposed to the older pattern of many small buildings making up the block). This new development format, as exemplified in Cape Town’s foreshore area with its monolithic and tall buildings, has already extended into the Lower Buitengracht Precinct.

Commensurate with the new development format are competing requirements at the street level building interface for vehicular access points, loading bays, service and fire escape routes, and parking garages. These all contribute to the demise of active street edges. Continuity is an important condition for the sustainability of active street edges; the interruption of continuity with dead street-level frontage has a knock-on “blighting” effect further down the line. The streetscape of the Central City is therefore extremely sensitive to inappropriate development at the street-level building interface and every effort should be made with new development to reverse this trend.

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Figure 9: Buitengracht Street carries high volumes of traffic

Figure 10: The road reserve is wide enough to accommodate kerbside parking, two lanes in each section of the one-way couplet and a central parking area The precinct is characterized by a mix of buildings styles and periods, mainly modern and low-end commercial activity. Much of it appears to be anticipating re-development; there are numerous empty sites, and a strong sense of it being an area of transition.

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Figure 11: There are a number of vacant sites in the precinct many of which are owned by the CoCT having been expropriated for the proposed elevated freeway The key element in the precinct is Riebeeck Square extending across three city blocks from Church Street to Shortmarket Street and bordered by Buitengracht, Church, Bree and Shortmarket Streets. Picard states…Riebeeck Square does not invite a leisurely stroll or a poetic thought. It never did. Everyone using it, did and still does so for purely practical reasons, and all seem to be in a hurry. It was and still is Cape Town’s utility square-formerly of outspanning farmers, nowdays of outspanning motorists.7 Picard wrote this almost 50 years ago and there is no doubt that the quality of this space has deteriorated. The only positive change that has occurred is the development of Heritage Square with its restaurants and clubs that are open in the evenings.

It came into being in 1724 informally as Boeren Plijn as the town expanded and was formally registered as such by the Council of Policy in 1772. Then in 1808 the British authorities re-named it as Hottentots Square. Picard notes that it was re-named Riebeeck Square at some point after 1854 as the map of that year still shows it named as Hottentots Square.8 The square was declared as a National Monument in 1961 and is now a PHS. There are 234 parking spaces and the square is frequently used for film shoots.

St Stephen’s Dutch Reformed Church on the Bree Street edge of the square was built as the town’s first theatre, the Play House in 1800 being converted into a church in 1839. The building was declared as a National Monument in 1965

7 Ibid, PICARD pg. 63 8 Ibid, PICARD pg. 64

16 and is now a PHS. There is a large electricity sub-station also on the Bree Street edge of the square and a quaint Arts & Crafts style public lavatory block erected in the 1930s at the northwest corner of the square shaded by huge blue gums. There are a number of other gums dotted about the square in an arbitrary fashion and a row of them along the Church Street edge. Some areas of the square are still surfaced with 19th Century sandstone cobbles. Most of it however is surfaced with tarmac.

Figure 12: View towards Lions Head across the square The Buitengracht Street edge of the square opens up directly onto the wide street with all that separates if from the traffic being a low galvanised pipe rail and parallel parking. The mature Java figs and London planes growing in the central parking area soften the harshness of this major vehicular route.

Figure 13: Heritage Square faces the square on its Shortmarket Street edge The Shortmarket Street edge of the square in flanked by two-story buildings that are part of the Heritage Square complex that have been reconstructed to

17 reflect their historic origins. The buildings accommodate retail and restaurant uses. The street is an important east west pedestrian route.

Church Street flanks the southeast edge of the square. It is a one-way street with some parallel parking bays and has some retail and restaurant activity at the Bree Street end. Again the row of mature blue gums softens the otherwise harsh vehicular environment. Church Street despite the traffic congestion is an important pedestrian route.

Bree Street as the name suggest is wide. It too operates as a one-way couplet with parallel parking and parking on the northwest side of its central median island. It is dominated by the building erected in the 1970s, now the Netcare Christian Barnard Memorial Hospital formerly the CoCT’s City Engineer’s Department headquarters City Park.

Figure 14: The Netcare Hospital with St Stephen’s Church in the foreground

Block and Street Scale The site of the proposed development is bounded by Buitengracht, Longmarket, Shortmaket and Rose Streets.

Buitengracht Street: Buitengracht Street functions as the city’s major north-south couplet carrying large volumes of traffic between Boulevard and . Because of the nature of the land use with workshops, warehouses and showrooms there is limited pedestrian activity. There are almost no canopies provided by buildings on the street edge for pedestrian comfort.

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Figure 15: Note the lack of colonnades or canopies and unfriendly edge conditions The general streetscape is somewhat humdrum; there are few noteworthy buildings or features, and a dearth of active street edges.

Figure 16: Two garage buildings erected in 1927 and 1935 have been remodelled and integrated into a single structure that extends across the Buitengracht Street frontage from Longmarket to Shortmarket Street It should be noted that the generous width of Buitengracht Street and the entire width of the square itself (110m) visually accommodates the introduction of taller buildings into the streetscape.

Longmarket Street: Longmarket Street is a very narrow street with a single narrow sidewalk. It functions as a one-way vehicular service route to access parking garages in adjoining buildings. Pedestrian activity is restricted by its narrowness.

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Figure 17: The section of the street above Rose Street is still flanked by residential properties

Figure 18: Up until commercial construction took place early in the 20th Century this section of Longmarket Street was identical in character to that of the upper sections shown in Figure 17 Rose Street: This street divides the residential quarter of the Bokaap from the commercial band lying to the southeast bordered by Buitengracht Street. It is fairly wide and acts as an important local distributor servicing the commercial properties flanking it on its southeast side and the side streets. It carries large volumes of traffic between Strand and Wale Streets. Unlike earlier commercial development (the building on the corner of Shortmarket Street shown in Figure 19), recent new development has been sensitive to this interface in terms of scale and massing and as shown below in terms of colour.

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Figure 19: Views along Rose Street Shortmarket Street: This street despite its narrowness and traffic congested nature is an important pedestrian link running across the entire CBD. The section related to the subject property is characterized by entrances to garages and parking. As can be seen in Figure 20 below there is no sidewalk for most of its length on its southern side.

Figure 20: View down Shortmarket Street. The building on the right was erected in 1968

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Figure 21: The only survivor of the block’s 19th Century residential past on Erf 1299

Figure 22: This building on Erf 1300 was erected in 1935

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Figure 23: View up Shortmarket Street 6. MAPPING Although as was stated in Section 1 of this report no HIA was required it was nevertheless thought prudent to draft this report on the basis of an HIA. Therefore in terms of Section 38(3) (a) of the NHR Act the identification and the heritage resources on and around the site have been mapped to enable significance to be determined.

The entire block contains no significant fabric other than the two structures on Erf 1299 and 1300. In The Buildings of Cape Town: Volume 2, the buildings at No 77 and 79 Shortmarket Street were not regarded as being of any aesthetic or historical significance and are listed only in Category 8; buildings or sites of over 100 years old that should form the subject of an archaeological or architectural study.9 The CoCT has currently graded the buildings as “Potential Grade 3”. They are however not part of the proposed redevelopment of the block and will have to be sensitively handled in design and construction terms.

6.1 The Bokaap The area is a PHS and is currently being investigated as a potential HPOZ. Clearly this historic and largely intact early 19th Century residential part of the city is of great heritage significance. The South African Heritage Agency has

9 Ibid The Buildings of Cape Town: Phase Two 1983. pg. 596

23 resolved that it should be assigned Grade I significance but have yet to take the formal steps of proclamation.

The proposed redevelopment will therefore have to be sensitive to this significance being sited on its border.

6.2 Riebeeck Square The square is a PHS, part of the Cape Town City Centre HPOZ and one of the city’s oldest public places. Development related to it must therefore be sensitive to its heritage significance being sited on its border.

6.3 Heritage Square All the structures forming part of this complex are graded 3A and it forms part of the Cape Town City Centre HPOZ. This complex is sited obliquely opposite the property but has no direct relationship to it as the buildings address Riebeeck Square, a lower portion of Buitengracht Street, Hout Street and Bree Street.

7. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The central objective any Heritage Statement or HIA is to set out a statement of significance regarding the archaeological and historical significance of the site and its buildings and of its townscape setting.

7.1 The site and buildings: The site was undeveloped until a process of subdivision and development commenced from the early 19th Century onwards. Eventually there were about 20 separate erven. In the 20th Century a process of consolidation occurred and earlier buildings were demolished. Only a single 19th Century structure survives and is not part of the development. The site is in itself of little heritage resource-related significance. It is unlikely that undisturbed archaeology survives below the current floor level of the site.

7.2 The setting The townscape character has been set out in Section 5.3 above. The property is part of the band of commercial properties lying between Buitengracht and Rose Street. This band is experiencing growth and given the many vacant properties in the band it can be anticipated that in the near future further development will take place.

The property occupies one of the two blocks facing Riebeeck Square and in recognition of this the front portion of Erf 144698 is included in the Cape Town City Centre HPOZ.

24 The northwest side of the property fronts onto Rose Street with its historic 19th Century buildings which have been recognised as being of heritage significance by both SAHRA and the CoCT. The area is currently under consideration as a HPOZ.

8. HERITAGE RELATED DESIGN INDICATORS Arising out of this analysis undertaken relating to the setting of the site; its townscape and streetscape context, the following heritage related design indicators were developed. These add depth and flesh to the indicators established in the BlueGreen Urban Design Report:

 Provide for an active street edge wherever possible by having retail and shop fronts on street level. Canopies should be provided;  The proposed building should be articulated to reflect historical subdivision pat terns and heights;  Entrances and the corner to be articulated;  Facades to be carefully designed to ensure pleasing proportions, solid to void relationships, vertical alignments, actual and virtual structure and sense and level of detail. ‘Traditional’ vertical proportions to be preferred as opposed to modernist horizontal proportions;  Services on roof to be concealed. Building profile and silhouette to be softened by lightweight sunscreens and or pergolas;  Investigations to be made into the incorporations of street landscaping as part of the design;  Colour and tone to be neutral to minimise impact;  Design to be restrained. Design a background building. Appropriate level of detail and trim to fit in with the surrounding streets;  Promote mix of uses and allow for flexibility and change;  Existing orthogonal geometries to be maintained for form of building and components;  Check for shadows cast by new building;  Building must respond to climate – wind, rain, sun. This must be evident on all facades;  Building to be legible as regards uses, entrances.

In Section 4 of the Urban Design Report prepared by BlueGreen planning + design in 2015; Urban Design Indicators, it was put forward that the relevant planning policy frameworks, development rights, the Tall Buildings Policy, Urban Design Guidelines, and contextual and site assessment undertaken formed the basis for a set of urban design indicators. These to a large extent overlap with the heritage related design indicators set out above but were more detailed, illustrated and should be read together with the heritage related design indicators. These were:

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 Ensure a “good building” that enhances the unique sense of space and the quality of the urban environment of this location;  Respond to horizontal datum lines and contextual clues;  Appropriate envelope, suitable height, form and massing, and response to edges;  Activate and enliven the ground floor edges, provide landscape setbacks, and sheltered pedestrian colonnades;  Employ high design quality and creative use of materials, achieve sustainability and a ‘green building’;  Opportunities for ‘external interventions’ (partnership opportunities).

9. THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT The redevelopment will involve the consolidation of Erf 8210 and 144698, the demolition of the buildings on the property and the erection of an 18 story building with underground parking, retail and commercial uses on the ground floor and lower levels with residential apartments above. Fabian Architects have prepared design drawings and photomontages of the proposed complex, which have been assessed in this study. They have also set out their design philosophy.

9.1 Development constraints No departures are sought and the proposed development is well within the permissible “bulk” provisions. The DMS allows for a 30% increase in floor area if 30% of the building remains for residential use. The floor factors of the site allows for 23 479 m² of floor space to be constructed and the residential incentive allows for an additional 7044 m². At a proposed floor space of 27 000m² only half of the residential incentive is used.

9.2 The development proposals The detailed aspects of the design are set out below:

 Due to the slope of the site, the building has been designed in two sections. This has allowed for a vertical division to be implemented almost mid-block between Buitengracht and Rose Street.  The building has been set back from the Rose Street boundary to respect the single residential character of the abutting Bokaap, reducing the available bulk;  329 parking bays will be provided in three basement levels, stepping up to Rose Street;  Three levels of retail and commercial activities will be located above the parking and

26  A total of 249 apartments are proposed; a mix of 3, 2, 1 bedroom units as well a bachelor apartments ranging in size from 37 m² to 172 m².

The photomontages below were prepared by Fabian Architects.

Figure 24: View from

Figure 25: Looking northwest along Rose Street

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Figure 26: Looking southeast up Rose Street

Figure 27: View from Riebeeck Square

Figure 28: View southeast up Rose Street

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Figure 29: The corner of Longmarket Street showing three levels of retail and commercial use

10. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS There has been an extensive public participation process.

11. IMPACTS The impacts on the historical, architectural, and aesthetic significance of the area are also considered. The issues of precedent, the statutory requirements and mitigating measures are also discussed below:

11.1 Archaeological and historical impact This is a robust part of the city developed from the mid 19th Century onwards. It is unlikely that archaeological material still exists given the level of remodeling of the Cape City Volkswagen complex and the relatively recent construction of the Carol Boyes Building where undoubtedly extensive foundation work must have been carried out.

11.2 Impacts on Townscape and Streetscape As a result of discussions with officials of the CoCT and in response to the Urban Design Report, the architects have endeavoured to reduce impacts that the building may have on townscape and streetscape character, and in terms of the broader objective of being sensitive to constraints of being located within the Central City HPOZ.

The site forms part of the City’s grid pattern and this condition is reinforced by its “built to line” quality on the street edge with the façade broken up into smaller vertical components reflecting the historical pattern of smaller subdivisions within the block system.

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Figure 30: Bird’s eye view looking southeast along Buitengracht Street Figure 30 above illustrates the following design principles adopted to reduce impacts on townscape and streetscape:  The ‘stepped massing’ to reach the allowable 60 m height limit away from the Buitengracht Street edge, as well as significantly lower massing on the Rose Street edge;  The horizontal and vertical articulation and datum lines have been incorporated as recommended in the Urban Design Report and  The proposed height ‘counter-balancing’ the mass of the ‘City-Park’ building diagonally across Riebeeck Square.

Figure 31: Bird’s eye view from the Bokaap Figure 31 illustrates the following design principles adopted to reduce impacts on townscape and streetscape:

 The new building steps from Rose Street towards the Buitengracht Street south edge as recommended in the Urban Design Report and  Basement parking is proposed and therefore there is to be no negative impact on facades.

Streetscape: Area of transition The Central Buitengracht Street Precinct is an area subject to transition brought about by market and other forces and is also border-line in terms of it

30 contributing significantly to an urban conservation area. Quality mixed use development in this somewhat rundown part of the city should contribute to urban renewal.

Streetscape: Active street edges The proposed building has created active street edges through the introduction of retail areas on all street edges.

Streetscape: Canopies Pedestrian comfort is enhanced though the introduction of canopies sheltering the sidewalks. The canopies, as horizontal elements on the façade, also contribute to the breaking up of the building mass.

Streetscape: Articulation of corners The layout at the street level corners is such that it provides for activities to spill out onto the sidewalk protected by the canopy.

Streetscape: Visual transparency at street level; legibility “Dead” spaces like vehicular access points have been reduced to a minimum with glazed shop fronts creating a visual connection between the street and interior of the building.

Streetscape: Architectural character; form, scale, massing and height The overall architectural form represents a departure from any sense of “monumentality” through its relationship to existing datum lines established in the Urban Design Report. The building therefore does not strive to be a landmark as such. This attitude helps to integrate the development into the evolving city grid as more of a “background” building; a welcome approach.

The scale of the building is reduced by the stepping as shown in Figures 30 and 31 above.

Streetscape: Skyline and silhouette The building height is comparative to that that of the existing Christian Barnard Memorial Hospital Building on Riebeeck Square and the impression of height is reduced by stepping the upper level floors. This gives these levels the appearance of being recessionary; or part of a more distant element in the urban landscape, outside the HPOZ. It reduces apparent height and creates a series of silhouettes, generating shade and contrast, and at different times of the day. These mitigatory aspects all combine to add visual interest to the city’s townscape and to enhance its diverse character.

Streetscape: Architectural finishes to the facade

31 Finer grain treatment of the façades with vertical and horizontal architectural elements, adds detail and visual interest to the building, and reduces any impacts of large areas of glass or walling.

12. SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITS Section 38(3)(d) of the NHR Act refers to the impact of development on heritage resources relative to the sustainable social and economic benefit to be derived from the development.

This part of the city is going through a transitional stage but it is still to some extent characterised by urban decay, vagrancy and crime, particularly in the side streets, lanes and peripheral streets.

The introduction of new retail/restaurants in area that are currently dead will contribute to the economic health of the area in general. The substantial increase of residential accommodation may put pressure on the CoCT to upgrade Riebeeck Square which has been neglected.

The complex when completed will involve capital expenditure of close to R1- billion. The total rates revenues for the first year would be approximately R9 100 000 which, would be in addition to bulk infrastructure contributions paid by the developer to the City of approximately R2 000 000.10

13. CONCLUSION The proposed redevelopment of this complex is supported from a heritage perspective as the impacts of the scheme on the townscape and streetscape setting is positive.

14. RECOMMENDATIONS It is therefore, recommended that the proposed consolidation and redevelopment of Erf 144698 and 8210 be supported.

10 De Leeuw Group Quantity Surveyors

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