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DEVELOPERS who favour the southern suburbs of Cape Town for decentralised office projects are now finding that land is very difficult to come by in these areas, says Bill Rawson, Chairman of Rawson Properties, a group which has both commercial and residential development arms.
"For obvious reasons," he said, "there has in the southern suburbs of the Cape Peninsula long been a marked resistance to the idea of demolishing homes and consolidating sites to create new offices or retail compexes.
However, the stage has, I believe, been reached where this option will have to be considered in certain areas."
The traditional process of applying for a rezoning or a subdivision and building on the land in the subdivided section does not, says Rawson, offer sufficient economies of scale for major developers.
"We are going to have to see more plot consolidation allowed and more granting of approvals for two or three-storey decentralised office blocks or residential flats in former residential areas," he said.
Further decentralisation of office or residential accommodation, he added, is very definitely necessary to avoid parking and traffic congestion in the retail and commercial precincts of the southern suburbs.
"There is a growing demand these days for offices to be out of the city and secure, with ample parking and easily accessed from the main residential areas.
There is also demand for security residential complexes in the same areas. More consolidation and rezoning must be permitted - albeit only in selected areas and always with the environment carefully protected."