Work on the R1.7-billion Baywest Mall in Port Elizabeth is back on track following the strike action which brought the South African construction industry to a standstill.
Murray Roberts, who took to the site in Port Elizabeth’s western suburbs this May, resumed work last week after a brief hiatus during the strike negotiations.
Alex Boyazoglu, managing director of Murray Roberts Buildings, said this week that the project was getting back on course and that the mall was still set to open its doors in early 2015.
“With regards to the strike activities over the past few weeks, we are in the process of assessing its impact and ensuring the measures are in place to get the works back on schedule,” said Boyazoglu.
The 87,500m² super-regional mall, which is the first phase of a larger Baywest City precinct being developed by Abacus Asset Management and Billion group, will see intensive construction operations over the next 18 months, which will include, among others:
- 7.5 million bricks
- 35km of electrical cabling
- 60,000m³ of concrete
- 4km of shop fronts
- 110,000m² of ceiling
- 65,000m² of roof sheeting
- 5,000 tons of reinforcing steel and 1,000 tons of structural steel
The project will create with about 10,000 jobs during the construction phase – 3,000 through direct employment and more than 7,000 indirect and induced jobs. A peak of 5,000 workers will be busy on site at the same time towards mid-2014, according to Baywest Mall project managers.
A further 1,500 permanent jobs will be created to staff 260 retail outlets in the mall once it opens. Plans are also in the advanced stages for a 2,500m² ice rink in the mall’s entertainment node, while a plush Champagne bar will grace the first floor.
Baywest City MD Gavin Blows said the mall would boast 260 tenants, “of which 85% are major national retailers”. Most of the mall’s tenants for its retail outlets already secured, including Game, Ster Kinekor, Truworths, Edcon Group, Woolworths, Pick n Pay and Checkers.
Blows said the mall was set to change the face of retail in the region.
“With construction back on track, we are confident that when the mall opens in early 2015 shoppers will want to come from all over the region for the ‘Baywest experience’. It’s going to be something totally unique and engaging,” he said.
An aerial view of what the what the Baywest Mall will look like shows the R250-million road network which is to be developed around the “super regional mall”, which is on track to open in early 2015.
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