Low Cost Housing for Sandton

a huge chunk of prime sandton real estate is to be developed as a new, high density mixed use residential suburb to ease pressure on jam-packed alexandra.

the 287 70ha property consists of 18 mega-erven sandwiched between the suburbs of kelvin in the south west and buccleuch in the north and bordered by the n3 in the east and marlboro gardens and marlboro drive in the south.



an application on behalf of wits university to establish a new township - buccleuch extension 2 - on a portion of land known as frankenwald estate was recently approved by the johannesburg city council.

the main purpose of the new township is to provide space for the expansion of alexandra in line with the alexandra renewal project's policy of de-densifying the overcrowded township.

to this end, the regional spatial development framework (rsdf) for the alexandra and frankenwald area has been amended to allow for maximum densities of 160 units a hectare.

strategically located on major freeways and linking up with gautrain's marlboro station, the development of buccleuch extension 2 is also expected to promote economic development along the n3 to the woodmead interchange.

plans include a new regional shopping mall on the scale of the fourways mall on the other side of the m1 to the woodmead value mart as well as a neighbourhood convenience centre on marlboro drive.

the 18 superblocks of land are to be developed as a "basket of rights" with a business node in the northern section, and office development providing a buffer for the residential component which will form the bulk of the township.

the affordable housing component of the new suburb will consist of about 3 000 high density units for beneficiaries of gauteng department of housing subsidies, as well as about 2 000 higher cost units to be developed by iprop, the developing agent for wits. these developments will be similar to the carr gardens development in newtown.

the jukskei river, which runs through the area and has a one in 50 year floodline, will be protected by declaring up to 32m on either side of it public open space. there are also graves on the land which will be protected.

under pressure from illegal invasion, the development of this large, unused piece of land has been largely welcomed by interested parties, including the triangle communities association representing residents, ratepayers and businesses of kelvin, buccleuch and eastgate extension 5.

da councillor judith briggs, who sat on the executive tribunal for town planning, said the new township was a "good solution".

"frankenwald has been earmarked for development for a long time and negotiations with affected communities started years ago. this is the way to get things done. in the end, a good compromise was reached with a good mixture of land uses," she said.

the frankenwald estate was donated by the family of alfred beit to the transvaal province in 1905 which in turn donated it to wits university in 1921.