Developments News Magazine

Shopping centres hold a special place in festive holiday routines worldwide, from sunny South Africa to snowy Poland. “No matter what you may think (or not think) about shopping malls, they are simply an unbeatable place to be this time of year,” says Hadley Dean, CEO of EPP, Poland’s largest owner of shopping centres, which is listed on the stock exchanges in Johannesburg (JSE) and Luxembourg (Euro MTF). Hadley puts this down to the experience and delight that only shopping centres can offer. The sights: malls do decorations in a spectacular manner. Management spends a great deal of time and effort creating a festive environment crafted to put you in a good mood, and it works. Even better is that, like snowflakes, no two centres are decorated exactly the same. The sounds: head to your local shopping centre where you are guaranteed they will be playing holiday tunes; there may even be live performances. The taste: Food and beverage have become a critical point in modern shopping ...

People do business with people they know, like and trust. Building relationships, however, takes time and effort. Even so, relationships are fundamental to growing small businesses, and entrepreneurs should never lose sight of that. At small business accelerator Property Point, a Growthpoint initiative, relationships are considered to be so fundamental for building sustainable small companies that they are one of its three pillars: Risk, Reputation and Relationships. “The obvious relationships that a small business wants to nurture are those with clients, funders, suppliers or mentors. While less apparent, when you are building a business from the ground up, the power of peer networking is invaluable,” says Desigan Chetty, Head of Operations at Property Point. “Entrepreneurship can be an isolating journey, but you don’t have to go it alone. Having a strong peer network can help you as a business owner, and support you with referrals, advice or even just an empathetic friend to mee...

Maluti Crescent Shopping Centre, formerly Setsing Crescent in Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State, has unveiled the first part of its major redevelopment and expansion undertaken by JSE-listed retail REIT Vukile Property Fund. It is well on track for its official launch on 21 March 2019. Developed and leased by Flanagan & Gerard Property Development & Investment and designed by MDS Architecture for Vukile, the redevelopment will become the largest shopping centre in town. Construction work, started by main contractor Concor Buildings in January 2018, will be completed in time for the launch of the new Maluti Crescent in March 2019. It includes the significant extension of the existing mall, which will add 12,357sqm of gross lettable area and boost its size over 34,000sqm, as well as undercover parking and a taxi rank. It will fundamentally change the shopping experience for shoppers in its area. This redevelopment is transforming Maluti Crescent from a strip mall to a stat...

The improper disposal of waste is one of the fastest growing risks to our planet and way of life. Rotting food leads to increases in methane gasses as the food decomposes in landfills. To address this, the City of Cape Town plans to start banning wet waste from its landfills from 2022. The Waste Transformers from the Netherlands and South Africa’s own JSE-listed international property company Growthpoint Properties have united to help take on this challenge. They are leveraging end-of-pipeline food waste from shopping malls and adopting a de-centralised approach to organic waste. An on-site, anaerobic digester has been installed at Growthpoint’s N1 City Mall in Cape Town, which is processing the waste from the mall to generate clean methane. This methane is consumed by an internal combustion engine to produce green electricity and hot water for the shopping centre. A fertiliser is also created, which will be used for the mall’s gardens. It is an on-site, smart, green, transporta...

Brokk, the world’s leading manufacturer of remote-controlled demolition machines, hires Ted Graser as its southeast regional sales manager. Graser manages sales for both Brokk robotic demolition machines and the company’s Aquajet Systems AB hydrodemolition robots. He provides support to customers throughout Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and the Carolinas. “Ted’s sales and equipment experience are a valuable asset to our team,” said Peter Bigwood, Brokk vice president of sales and marketing. “His knowledge of the southeast region and drive to help service customers gives him valuable insight when it comes to building and maintaining relationships.” Graser joins Brokk with 25 years of construction and industrial equipment sales experience, including managing international territories for Link-Belt Excavators, a U.S.-based heavy construction equipment manufacturer; Time Manufacturing Company, a Texas-based manufacturer of aerial lifts; and Sennebogen, a German material handlin...

World Bank president Dr Jim Yong Kim, currently on an official visit to South Africa, was hosted yesterday afternoon by the Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Compensation Commissioner Dr Barry Kistnasamy, the Minerals Council South Africa, and the Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) Working Group and its six member mining companies: African Rainbow Minerals; AngloGold Ashanti; Anglo American SA; Gold Fields; Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater. The purpose of the event was to demonstrate to Dr Kim the outreach work being carried out collaboratively by these organisations in mining regions and labour-sending areas around the southern African sub-continent. The World Bank was instrumental in providing initial investments and analytical work which assisted in towards a more comprehensive and fully integrated occupational health services for ex-mineworkers in southern Africa. The purpose of the work is to track and trace former mineworkers, test them for any occupational lung diseases they ma...

Talbert Manufacturing, a North American leader in specialized heavy-haul solutions, offers the 60CC/55SA-LD trailer for optimum versatility. The trailer pairs with Talbert’s optional East Coast-style E2Nitro™ spreader, allowing for 60-ton capacity with a close-coupled configuration or a 55-ton hauling capacity with a spread axle configuration. This innovative Talbert design gives customers flexibility to switch between configurations to meet differing hauling regulations. While maintaining a 60-ton rating at half the deck length, the 60CC/55SA-LD offers a 6-inch ground clearance with an 18-inch loaded deck height — two inches lower than competitive models. “We’re the only manufacturer offering a trailer in this hauling class with an 18-inch loaded deck height,” said Troy Geisler, Talbert vice president of sales and marketing. “Those two inches make a huge difference in today’s hauling world.” The Talbert 60CC/55SA-LD is a hydraulic detachable gooseneck trailer featuring a non-ground...