Joburg plans to refurbish Metro Centre to tune of R800m, says mayor

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27-03-2025
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News 24
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• The City of Johannesburg has announced plans to renovate its Metro Centre building, which has been closed since September 2023 for safety reasons.
• The project will cost more than R800 million just to make the Metro Centre habitable.
• The City is working with National Treasury whose Government Technical Advisory Centre will assist with procurement processes.

Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero's wish for his office to be housed in a refurbished Usindiso building - the former shelter where a fire claimed the lives of 76 residents in 2023 - may no longer come to pass.

This because the City is now prioritising repairs to the Metro Centre in Braamfontein, the building that used to be home to the mayoral office, which will be refurbished at a cost of R800 million. 

This was raised at a council meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss key service delivery issues in the city.

During a media briefing, Morero said the City was working with National Treasury to refurbish the Metro Centre building which was closed in September 2023 after it was declared too dangerous to occupy.

Last year, News24 exposed the state of the building after a site inspection.

READ | Usindiso fire: Man appears in High Court after confessing to arson which left 76 dead, 12 injured

The building had caught fire twice, it was leaking, walls were caving in, and the electrical wiring alone was enough to condemn the building.

But it was the state of the surrounding structures which showed how bad things were. One administrative building was being used by the homeless who ripped up the wooden floorboards to make fires to keep themselves warm. The building itself had also been broken into numerous times. 

In December, Morero told reporters he was eyeing the Usindiso building as a new office after the Daily Maverick reported the Sappi Building in Braamfontein, the privately owned building to which his office had moved, had its water and electricity cut for nonpayment.

At the time, he said the City was looking to cut costs by housing its 4 500 employees evacuated from the 16-storey Metro Centre in buildings it owned while it was rebuilt - including the Usindiso building. 

Many employees are scattered across the city in rented office accommodation.

On Wednesday, Morero said the City was working with National Treasury to renovate the Metro Centre building.

"This major project … will bring the building back to its former glory and provide a modern, compliant office space for the City's departments."

He added the decision was part of the Office Space Optimisation Programme, aided by the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) which will assist with procurement processes.

"As part of the partnership, GTAC will be conducting a feasibility study that will look at various refurbishment and redevelopment options, considering [public-private partnership] models or alternative financing mechanisms."

Morero told News24, the move to Usindiso was a wish that would still need to be okayed by City officials before it could be finalised.

"The importance of moving there was to ensure that this executive can be at the centre of the city, and if [need be] will be able to [attend to incidents in the city quicker]."

He said the matter was still on the table, adding: "I made a pronouncement which was a wish."

Meanwhile, Musa Makhunga, the acting CEO of the Johannesburg Property Company, speaking about the City's operational issues, said it would refurbish the original Metro Centre building instead of tearing it down for replacement.

He added the cost of refurbishing the building - but leaving it looking the same - would be R800 million.

"[This will] put the Metro Centre in a state of function without adding [any extras]. But we also propose and hope we can redevelop the precinct to optimise the existing refurbished structure."

Makhunga said the building was more than 50 years old and had a "brutal look".

The Metro Centre is an example of Brutalist architecture which is characterised by grey concrete, stark shapes and a lack of embellishment.

"We are looking to explore [how] PPPs [public-private partnerships], Treasury and GTAC can add new cladding to the building," he said.

With the Metro Centre being the head office, the City is looking to use one of its own properties in each of the seven regions as a space easily accessed by the public to resolve issues in the metro.