South Africa is set to commence construction of
soon to be the tallest skyscraper in Cape Town once it receives approval from
the Reserve Bank.
The building dubbed Zero-2-One Tower has been in
the spotlight since 2016 when the plans for the skyscraper were first unveiled
by developers FWJK. The
Tower initially faced delays in approvals which included stipulations that new
developments include ‘affordable housing’ – an incredibly difficult task in a
city with some of the highest house and apartment prices in the country and
funding hurdles.
FWJK CEO, David Williams-Jones has however
announced that the development has secured funding through a foreign direct
investment and therefore construction is set to commence in the next few
months.
“The procurement of project funding has faced
challenges and has had to be secured through foreign direct investment. Raising
the funds from the local South African convention banks proved impossible
because of the current state of the economy and cautious bank appetite at the
present time to lend on projects of this scale,” said David Williams-Jones.
“Once the South African Reserve Bank approves the
foreign funding, we are going to start construction in about three to four
months which will create 3,000 onsite and offsite jobs for the locals,” he
added.
Zero 2 One Tower, at 44 storeys, will comprise 570 apartments and 7,000 m2 of retail shops on ground level and station concourse level built on the corners of Adderley and Strand street in Cape Town CBD. The project is estimated to cost US $67m.https://constructionreviewonline.com/2019/06/construction-of-tallest-building-in-cape-town-south-africa-to-commence/
