17
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
MARCH
2014
The opening of the new Namibian
business sees the company extending
its reach beyond the borders of South
Africa to tap into new growth markets.
Having acquired a successful rental
financing business, Corporate Equipment
Rentals (CER), developed over the last eight
years by Albert Pretorius and Andre de Klerk,
the new trading entity RentWorks Namibia
will be able to offer customers a complete
range of asset rental financing solutions,
including (for the first time) residual value
financing options, as well as value-added
services not featured previously in the
Namibian financing space.
The RentWorks Namibia office will be
based in Windhoek and will service all major
areas within the country. The company will
continue to service existing CER clients, as
well as targeting new customers, by lever-
aging the credibility of the RentWorks brand
and value proposition, as well as its alliances.
“Namibia is a natural expansion location
for us in terms of our supplier alliances and
the market dynamics, especially in mining,
construction and ICT,” explains RentWorks
director, Jacques de Klerk. “It presents an
exciting growth opportunity, and we are
thrilled to be taking the RentWorks brand into
new territories. Pretorius and De Klerk have
an excellent understanding of the Namibian
market and have developed strong relation-
This comes as city suburbs become
increasingly saturatedwith shopping
centres, while demand for the same
centres in townships is increasing,
according to developers.
According to Jordan Mann, director
of national development group Nu-Hold,
which owns Krisp Properties and Nu-Way
Housing, township shopping centre
development was yielding positive results
for the group.
Krisp and its sister company Nu-Way is
set to break ground on 5 000 m² shopping
centre in Cape Town’s Langa township later
this year, alongside the revamped Langa
train station. The group has also received
the go-ahead from Johannesburg munic-
ipal authorities for the residential and retail
development on 12 hectares of land along
the R55, in Olievenhoutbos.
The residential component of Olieven-
houtbos, built by Nu-Way, would consist of
114 stands of about 200 m² each, as well
as space for an institutional stand which
could comprise of a church or community
centre, said Mann. Krisp Properties would
be responsible for the development of a
9 000 m² neighbourhood shopping centre
called Olive Wood.
The group was among the first private
developers in the country to invest in
convenient township shopping centred
when it broke ground in Johannesburg’s
Ebony Park in the early 1990s on affordable
and low-cost housing.
“When we did that, we put aside
space for the retail development to create
employment when the residential stands
were completed,” says Mann.
When Krisp Properties broke ground
on Ebony Park Shopping Centre after
completing the residential development,
work began on a 2 500 m² Super Spar.
The centre, through demand from the
community, has since been expanded
by Krisp into a 4 600 m² development
comprising of a food anchor, clinic, phar-
macy, banks and ATMs, a hardware store, a
community IT training centre, a post office
and various other line shops, says Mann.
“The demand for such developments in
the township continues to grow. Residents
want the same convenient shopping that is
available in the suburbs,” Mann says.
Mike Ioannou, managing director of
principal contactor on Ebony Park, Aura
Developers Consortium, says before the
project broke ground “there were very
few shops and they were very expensive
for the community”. Residents had to
travel long distances to do their shopping,
Ioannou says.
“After the completion of the first phase
of Spar, it became obvious that the project
was successful not only for the developers,
but also for the tenants.
“Most important for the community was
that they could not only do their shopping
conveniently, but jobs were created.
“There is definitely a great demand for
township shopping centres which in turn
add value to the community,” says Ioannou.
Mann says he was hoping to break
ground on the Langa Shopping Centre by
mid-year. “We are addressing a major need
for retail in the area. Retailers have been
clamouring for us to get this centre up and
running,” says Mann.
>
PROPERTY
DEVELOPERS TARGET
TOWNSHIPS
South Africa’s townships are increasingly being preferred
over upper income suburbs for the development of
convenience shopping centres.
Ebony Park Shopping Centre.
>
NOW IN
NAMIBIA
RentWorks Africa, South Africa's
largest independent asset rental
company, launched in Namibia
on 3 January 2014 . RentWorks,
owned by FirstRand Group, was
established in 1998 and was the
first company to offer genuine
residual-based rental solutions.
>
RentWorks director, Jacques de Klerk.
Continued on page 18
