dhk Architects, a leading multidisciplinary architectural studio, has successfully completed the implementation of its designs for the redevelopment of Longkloof Precinct in Gardens, Cape Town, for Growthpoint Properties. The 15-year long project comprises the restoration, refurbishment and additions to five historic buildings, and the construction of a new hotel for a leading global hotel operator, along with the creation of a new publicly accessible urban square.
Client brief and vision
Growthpoint Properties envisioned Longkloof Precinct as one of the most important creative hubs within the city; an attractive address for innovative businesses within a vibrant mixed-use precinct. The site comprises six separate erven, acquired by Growthpoint, with an accumulated site area of 16,500m2. The overarching vision was to create an interconnected landscaped public realm managed by a single owner, with new street frontage and a new secured yet publicly accessible external space at the heart of the precinct.
dhk responded with an adaptive reuse design to revitalise the existing heritage buildings with restorations, refurbishments and contemporary additions and add new-build components to fully activate the site, within a redesigned public realm.
Context and heritage considerations
The Longkloof Precinct is located at the south-western fringe of the Cape Town CBD, bounded by Kloof Street to the east, Park Street to the south and New Church Street to the west. Jameson Street extends through the precinct. The site’s development has a rich layered history dating back to 1755 when the original land was granted to Dutch settlers Johan and Hermanus Dempers, forming Nooitgedacht Gardens. In the mid-1800s, the land was sub-divided and Victorian garden villas were constructed. In the 1900s, the United Tobacco Company (UTC) began to buy and consolidate large portions of the land, transforming the lower Kloof Street area into a thriving light industrial and commercial node.
The five original historic buildings of various scales are all subject to heritage protections:
- Two original UTC Factory Buildings (1904-1907): now known as Threshers and Darters, these have an industrial character and feature distinctive red and white brick façades
- West Cliff School (1914): designed by Sir Herbert Baker's studio, the building features arches cut into robust sandstone walls at the ground floor, plastered walls above and a cloistered courtyard
- MLT House (1918): this was a former school administration building facing Jamieson Lane and Park Street
- 32 on Kloof (1919-1921): an administrative block built to support the tobacco factory, facing Kloof Street
The precinct falls within the Upper Table Valley Urban Conservation Area, highlighting the importance of preserving the historic fabric. The surrounding heritage overlay zone context includes medium- to low-rise retail units and restaurants along Kloof Street and Park Road, alongside commercial, hospitality and educational uses. Smaller-scale historically significant Victorian buildings surround the precinct on Park Road and cottages along New Church Street, occupied by small businesses and residential properties, offering a contrasting, finer grain.
Site challenges
The multi-erven site lacked spatial cohesion, integration and connectivity to the surrounding area. As Kloof Street grew in popularity, the area became more constrained due to insufficient parking. The precinct was landlocked with minimal frontages onto the street, and public access to commercial buildings was controlled and restricted, compounding the disconnection from the immediate context. Previously, the largest erf on the precinct was used for surface car parking.
With several significant precinct heritage indicators in place, new development on site required Heritage Western Cape approval and compliance with regulations relating to land use management systems, building plans and heritage protection overlay zoning. New buildings needed to respect and not detract from the historic structures. Height restrictions were informed by the roof heights of the adjacent Darters and Threshers Building. View corridors into the site had to be maintained and façade articulation and materiality also needed to reference the site’s industrial character.
Urban design and the public square
dhk’s involvement in the precinct was incremental, starting in 2009 with an initial briefing for the design of an office proposal on the larger Park Street site at MLT House with surface parking behind. The brief later expanded to integrate the other buildings in the precinct: the Spar and Kloof annex building with parking was incorporated in 2011; 32 on Kloof in 2013; Darter and Threshers (known as Longkloof Studios) in 2014; The Refinery (the former West Cliff school) in 2017 and finally No.2 Park Street (formerly Rick’s Americain Café) in 2024.
During this process, it became apparent that there was a need, and an opportunity, to fully integrate all the erven into one precinct. This would strengthen their connection to the surrounding context, improving the design, commercial viability and market appeal. dhk developed an urban precinct plan and associated vision document to create, activate and enhance public spaces around the existing buildings and improve precinct access.
Refurbishment of the existing buildings
The historical buildings were refurbished and upgraded to meet contemporary uses, including co-working and office spaces.
- 32 on Kloof: Design commenced in 2013 to significantly alter and add to the first building, known as 32 on Kloof. A contemporary two-storey orthogonal glazed form was added above the existing double-storey structure. Internal walls were demolished to provide premium open-plan office layouts. The more recently added annex building in the courtyard was demolished to improve light to the building on both sides.
- Darters and Threshers buildings: In the early 1990s, Darters and Threshers buildings were refurbished and renamed Longkloof Studios, hosting media production and design studios. These interventions were minimal with no attention to the public realm or connectivity extending into the site. In dhk’s scheme, these were altered and refurbished to improve the quality of internal offices and lobby spaces, circulation legibility and compliance between the three buildings.
- The Refinery (former West Cliff School): In this building, internal dividing walls between former classrooms were demolished to maximise interior spaces for an open-plan office and retail spaces, and the roof and services were refurbished. New steel-framed glazed doors were installed into the external arched window openings on the ground floor, creating greater visibility of the new public square. Significant hard and soft landscaping was introduced on all sides of the building to better ingrate into the precinct. Heritage restrictions required a 15m-20m development exclusion zone to preserve the character of this building.
- MLT House: Due to limited heritage importance, only the eastern façade of this building, facing Jamieson Lane, was retained. The rest of the building was demolished to accommodate a new hotel on the adjacent surface parking. The façade was integrated into the new hotel building.
- 2 Park Street: Previously the popular Rick's Americain Café, this Victorian heritage building was sensitively refurbished and incorporated into the precinct, creating a new frontage onto the new Summit Lane retail alley. The more recent unsightly back extension was partially demolished and a sunken courtyard created adjacent to the retail alley, which creates a transition between floor levels.
Construction of the new buildings
Heritage assessments at MLT House considered that it had only marginal architectural importance. The eastern wall lane, entrance foyer and staircase facing Jamieson Street were retained and incorporated into a new building. After a long statutory approvals process, the design was approved for two standalone office buildings above a single parking basement. Growthpoint later amended the brief to repurpose the scheme to incorporate a hotel. The previously approved design principles needed to be adhered to.
The new hotel sits alongside the historical buildings on a site characterised by extremely irregular, complex geometry unusual for a hotel. The design was developed with extensive consultation with the heritage authorities at both City of Cape Town and Western Cape Government, drawing on the design indicators provided during the heritage impact consultations. Principally, building heights were restricted to be no higher than the roof of the existing heritage buildings, and below the permitted zoning height restrictions, allowing a building height of ground plus four storeys above.
The new buildings introduce contemporary design elements that reference the adjacent historical structures and to avoid mimicking them as a pastiche. Robust detailing to the steelwork and the roof references the industrial nature of the existing former tobacco factory buildings on site. At ground level, the hotel building hosts restaurants and retail units, activating the ground-floor plane and inviting day-night activity into the new public space. The footprints of the new hotel and retail buildings were carefully positioned to create a vastly improved relationship between the public streetscape along Park and New Church Street and the internal publicly accessible public square.
Materials and sustainability
Materials include textures that complement the landmark red brick and white plaster of existing buildings. The landscape is characterised with grey paving from reclaimed granite cobbles, weathered steel elements and rows of deciduous trees. The square features indigenous planting and integrated wooden seating with generous stairways addressing level changes.
The development prioritises sustainability through the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, preserving embodied energy. High-performance glazing reduces solar gain while energy-saving lighting and high-efficiency systems in the refurbished buildings enhance performance. Water conservation is achieved through indigenous landscaping and efficient fixtures. The urban design significantly adds to and enhances the public realm and reduces vehicle impact. The hotel site investment catalyses social and economic returns for the area, supporting social and economic sustainability.