Jika Properties and Umuzi Photo Club sponsored the refurbishment of Barnato School Hall in Hillbrow. On the 23rd of March the opening of the Hall was attended by students and parents. Jika is proud to be part of the upliftment of the community in which it owns properties.
CMS sponsored the internet cafe’ at the NAMA Indaba on the 5th and 6th of May held at Ekudeni lodge.
CitiqPrepaid in conjunction with Jika Properties launched CitiqVend on the 28th of July 2011. The event was held at the Womens Gaol at Constitution Hill. CitiqVend is our brand new prepaid electricity vending system developed in-house by CitiqPrepaid. At CitiqPrepaid we are confident that CitiqVend can provide the best prepaid token vending platform currently available in the market.
Paul Lapham, CEO of Citiq Group, addressing the guests.
Vanessa van Vliet, Head of CitiqPrepaid, giving a brief overview of the benefits of CitiqVend.
The host on the day Marc Lottering kept the guests in stitches.
After the speeches it was time for guests to mingle and have fun.
written by Nadine
Repurposing shipping containers into everything from pop-up bars and open-air malls to boutique hotels, office blocks and data centres is a trend that has swept across the world over the past few years. Now it comes to Johannesburg in the form of an affordable housing development by Jika Properties, with consultation from Citiq Property Development, in the emerging suburb of Windsor.
The design is the result of an architectural competition for a safe, affordable and aesthetically pleasing building primarily constructed from containers, and that would stand out as part of Jika Properties’s endeavours to uplift the Windsor area. Seven architects took part and Michael Hart Architects won the competition in 2010 with the city council approving the development in 2011.
Terming the end-result “container housing” is perhaps misleading as Hart’s winning architectural solution only uses the containers to provide the structure and some of the walling. The final apartments are conventional two- and three-bedroom apartments ranging in size from 48 to 70 square meters. Wide living spaces span two containers to create rooms of 4.8 meters in width. The container doors were permanently opened and adapted to form balconies and the extensive use of steel gantries contribute to an edgy urban look.
Now nearing completion, the development speaks of how, in a time of rapid global urbanisation, conscientious forward-looking property developers such as Citiq and Jika are prioritising long-term spatial and environmental concerns through urban densification and rejuvenation strategies, as well as alternative building methods and materials.
“The high density potential of container apartments makes them ideally suited to providing accommodation within city limits, enabling people to live within easy proximity to their places of work,” explains managing director of Citiq Property Development, Arthur Blake.
The idea to use shipping containers came from Citiq being approached by Paul Lapham, CEO of Jika Properties, to investigate building a conventional building in an unconventional method. The brief was for a convenient, compact, affordable and rentable housing solution. Initial cost estimates however indicated that conventional building methods would not achieve decent investment returns if rent were to be affordable.
Based on their research, Citiq found that upcycling (finding a second use for) steel shipping containers was a solution already used across the world especially in China, Europe and America. With cost-effective proven technology, the containers can effectively be converted for temporary or permanent accommodation and other uses.
Besides the green credentials of finding an alternative purpose for these otherwise landfill-destined containers, the benefit of not having to re-plunder the Earth’s valuable primary resources is unquantifiable. Not to mention how energy consuming brick-and-mortar construction methods are, nor the carbon footprint of concrete!
Moreover, originally made to withstand the harsh conditions of travelling the oceans and rough handling in ports and transit, shipping containers are extremely strong and durable. Made from Cor-ten steel, a group of alloys developed to eliminate the need for painting, the containers take on a rust-like appearance if exposed to the weather for many years. The containers used for construction are still seaworthy and thus, while in the form of a protected building, are sure to last for many generations.
“We are excited to be part of the team that introduces this innovative and revolutionary building method to South Africa and hope it will provide a better life to all our tenants. Using existing shipping containers as a low cost building method and energy consumption building module to create more affordable and efficient building makes sense and should be used more regularly in South Africa.”, Lapham said.
Blake also added: “With this new development we hope to lead the way in showing that alternative methods of construction can be successfully implemented to construct houses and other buildings that can supplement conventional brick and mortar construction methods to speed up the delivery of affordable housing. These units are ideally suited to providing housing to the gap market, for people earning between R5 000 and R15 000 per month.”
With this pioneering construction method now a reality in South Africa thanks to the efforts of Citiq and Jika, the entire industry and urban landscape stands to benefit.
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| For the APAP Open School in South Korea they slice and dice 8 40′ shipping containers into an exhibition space, meeting rooms and studios. | |
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| This beautiful sunset observatory made from recycled shipping containers was recently constructed in the harbor of Songdo New City in Incheon, South Korea. Designed and built by AnL Studio, “OceanScope” is a composed of five recycled containers, each one angled at a different height to provide 3 distinct views of the harbor.
Click: here to read more |
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| Offering fantastic views of the Thames for an affordable price, The Riverside Building hosts 22 offices in a modular design. Erected near Container City, the structure took a mere eight days (and 73 containers!).
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| An exterior look at the innovative and welcoming Site-Specific design.
Click here to read more |
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| Move over mobile homes, container living is here to stay. Once confined to scrap metal yards or landfills shipping containers are quickly becoming the darlings of the modern architectural world. Easily transportable, widely available and practically indestructible, these metal boxes just may be an answer to. Click here to read more |
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| A two-story coffee shop is part of the rebuilt City Mall in Christchurch in which most of the 27 shops are built from cargo shipping containers. Cashel Street had been the site of the former pedestrian City Mall, but all the businesses had to be demolished after the Feb. 22, 2011, earthquake. Photo: Spud Hilton / The Chronicle | |
CITIQ CITY INDEX SHOWS GROWTH IN THE INNER CITY
Contact: Lesley-Ann van Niftrik, Image Communications, Cell: 083 378 2902,
On behalf of: Paul Lapham, CEO , Citiq. Office: 0860 109-237.
Mobile 083 289 9302
Razia Cleland, senior analyst Citiq. Mobile 071 481 3937
Braamfontein, 25 April, 2013
According to the latest Johannesburg City Index conducted by Citiq, affordable apartments in both the inner city and outlying townhouse areas have delivered solid investment performance over the past 12 years. An inner city apartment purchased in 2000 would have delivered capital appreciation of 11.5% per annum over the past 12 years. Over the same period, a similar townhouse would have generated capital returns of 10.5% per annum.
“This reinforces our view that property, particularly at the entry level where first time home owners are operating, remains a great longer term investment. It also gives buyers the opportunity to grow capital and wealth over time, as well as providing them with a place to stay,” says Paul Lapham, CEO of Citiq, a Johannesburg investment and property management company which owns and manages in excess of 4,000 apartments spread across the city.
Historically, there has been limited information available to assist the average home buyer in determining the real value of a residential apartment and the appropriate market price. The Johannesburg City Index tracks apartment prices on the basis of rand per square meter, based on actual transactions through the Deeds Office. This gives a benchmark to determine value, and one that can be applied across different suburbs and apartment types.
The City Index focuses on Johannesburg, and looks at both the inner city apartment market as well as a representative selection of suburbs, where townhouses have been built and occupied during the period studied. The analysis goes back to 2000, which deals with the recovery after the 1999 slump in house prices, as well as the subsequent boom leading up to 2008, and the more recent performance of the housing market up until the end of 2012.
Since 2008, both the inner city and townhouse market have shown definite signs of slowing down, both in terms of price growth and the number of units sold.
Razia Cleland, Citiq’s senior analyst says: “Banks pulling back on lending after 2008 are partly to blame, with the number of townhouse purchasers using bank finance dropping from 90% in 2007 to just over 70% in 2012. Over the same period the number of inner city buyers registering a bond dropped from 70% in 2007 to just over 40%. For first time home owners, access to bank finance is critical to enable them to acquire apartments, and this trend is similarly reflected in the large drop in the number of units changing hands, with both townhouse and inner city sales volumes at less than 30% of the level reached in 2007.”
Cleland is confident that there are still opportunities in the inner city market. “Notwithstanding the great price growth we have seen in the inner city – inner city apartments continue to be relatively cheaper than a similar sized townhouse, with inner city property trading at an average of R3 986 per square meter as compared to townhouses at R6 879 per square meter, or a discount of 42%. We foresee the inner city doing well in terms of capital appreciation, due in part to the relatively cheaper prices of accommodation as well as lower costs of transport for people working in the city. Johannesburg city centre is also undergoing a rejuvenation phase, as seen in areas such as Braamfontein, the Maboneng precinct and even the Johannesburg city centre itself.
Apartments and townhouses provide an ideal sample to use as the basis for compiling the Citiq City Index. Land itself typically makes up a relatively small part of the final sales price, making it possible to identify trends in the market prices of improvements to the stand, as opposed to increases in the land value itself.
“Townhouses and apartments are also usually built in sectional title schemes where information on the size of the apartment is available in the Deeds Office, enabling the calculation of prices per square meter. Although there are some differences between the freehold and sectional title market, we believe that the general trends are likely to be very similar,” he says.
As far as forecasting the future of the property market is concerned, Lapham is upbeat about Johannesburg’s prospects for apartment price growth. All property markets go through cycles. The last six years have seen pedestrian, and in some cases even negative price growth nationally. When the property cycle does turn, he sees Johannesburg as an attractive place to own a home. ”Even during the recent slump apartments in Johannesburg have remained a solid investment choice, supported by Johannesburg’s status as the economic hub of South Africa and the continued urbanisation of the country”, says Lapham.
The Citiq City Index joins a number of other indexes that show both national and regional price performance of the housing market. “Our specific focus on the apartment and townhouse market in Johannesburg make these the most relevant for first time home owners in Johannesburg who are considering buying either an apartment or townhouse,” he says.
The iconic grain silos in Newtown are set to be transformed into trendy student apartments.
Property development group Citiq have purchased the silos which have graced the Johannesburg skyline to the west of the M1 highways for years, for Premier Milling.
This follows Citiq’s identification of the student market as a strategic growth area. ‘ The demand for quality student accommodation is enormous’, said Paul Lapham, CEO of Citiq. ‘ We plan to become a meaningful provider of student accommodation.
This project has helped to redefine South Africa’s perceptions of affordable accommodation and the use of alternative building techniques.
The silos enable this while catering for the demand that exist for student accommodation around the University of Johannesburg and the Wits campuses. The circular shapes of the grain silos enable us to create an appealing environment that is very different to the dormitory style accommodation available at most residences, ‘ he said.
Construction on the first of the two silos started at the beginning of 2013 with the project scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
Citiq’s development division director Arthur Blake said, ‘ These ten large concrete six-metre diameter pipes go up ten floors, and will be converted into trendy circular apartments. The walls are already there, and all that is required are the floors and ceilings and obviously spaces cut for doors and windows’.
The silos were built in the 1960′s and were intended to store 35m of grain in each pipe.
‘ The structure is extremely sound, with 18cm think walls, making them more than adequate to bear the weight of the units. One of the pipes will be used as staircase with a lift shaft and a fire escape. Another will be used to create ten floors for study areas, libraries, lounges, computer rooms and other recreational facilities. Two more silos will house the bathrooms and kitchens for each floor’.
He said on each floor there would be 12 apartments with a mix of single bed and double sharing bedrooms, communal kitchens and bathrooms. In total 320 students would be housed.
An extra two storeys made from shipping containers, will be added to the top of the building with single bedrooms and recreational areas.
Construction on the second set of silos is to start in 2014 and should be completed within 12 months.
Student accommodation in Gauteng has been given a boost by developer Jika Properties and funder Futuregrowth Asset Management.
Ekhaya Junction and the Newtown Silos are two developments positioned to take advantage of an expanding market niche: study-friendly, off-campus accommodation that is well maintained, affordable and close to educational institutions.
 Ekhaya Junction |
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Research into student needs indicate there is a student housing crisis in Johannesburg with more than 60 000 students in need of housing and study amenities. Traditional on-campus residences are proving inadequate given the increasing number of students relocating from rural areas into the cities. This often leads to exploitation of students by unscrupulous landlords who charge excessive rates for “slum-like” accommodation.
Jika Properties, a property investment and development company that buys and refurbishes or develops properties that achieve value-for-money accommodation for tenants, is behind the eco-friendly Ekhaya Junction at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and the Newton Silos.
Ekhaya Junction student village currently accommodates 870 students and will add an additional 900 beds by the end of the year. The R300 million development is 300 metres from Tshwane University of Technology and eventually will house 2 300 students when completed in December 2014.
The cleverly converted Newtown Silos was once used to store grain but has been dormant since the 1980s. It will house 320 students in accommodation that is secure, functional, well maintained and conveniently situated close to campus and amenities. This development also contributes to the regeneration of the Newtown precinct in downtown Johannesburg, with several other major developments taking place in the area.
There are a further two student residences in the Jika portfolio with more than 250 beds, including the former YWCA building in downtown Johannesburg. It has been refurbished by Jika and is occupied by students.
Jika plans to provide 3 500 students beds by the end of 2014, and Futuregrowth has invested a total of R1.2 billion of clients’ funds in Jika and its management company Citiq, which is responsible for the day-to-day rental management and maintenance of the buildings.
Fund manager and credit analyst Paul Semple says that Futuregrowth’s funding partnership with Jika has been instrumental in establishing the business over the last five years. In addition to the 3 500 student beds provided by Jika, the business has also led to the creation of more than 2 700 low-income and affordable housing rental units in Jika’s portfolio.
“Through investment in Jika Properties, Futuregrowth’s clients are contributing towards sustainable urban renewal, affordable housing and student accommodation and making a positive impact on the environment,” says Semple.
PRECIOUS TERRITORY
A SOLO EXHIBITION BY ANDREW SPRAWSON
OPENING: THURS // 15.08 // 6PM – 9PM
ADDRESS: 100 JUTA STREET // BRAAMFONTEIN // CNR BICCARD
DATES: 15.08 – 14.09
TIMES: WED – SAT 10 AM – 4 PM (OR BY APPOINTMENT)
“Precious territory” is a reference to childhood, the importance of play in a child’s development, and a loss of innocence. It is largely inspired by Sprawson’s experiences of fatherhood.
Small objects are afforded monumental importance in the series of works, they take on a sculptural quality and bear testament to particular times and states of development. The series speaks of contrasting value systems: that which is insignificant to an adult can be the subject of immense focus and pleasure for a child.
Andrew Sprawson, a 2012 Ithuba Arts Fund supported artist, was born and raised in Johannesburg. Predominantly self-trained, Sprawson’s work draws on nostalgia as a means of connecting with the viewer. Producing broadly accessible works, which positively affect the audience, is paramount to his artistic practice.
Andrew Sprawson
The iconic grain silos in Newtown are set to be transformed into trendy student apartments.
Property development group Citiq have purchased the silos which have graced the Johannesburg skyline to the west of the M1 highways for years, for Premier Milling.
This follows Citiq’s identification of the student market as a strategic growth area. ‘ The demand for quality student accommodation is enormous’, said Paul Lapham, CEO of Citiq. ‘ We plan to become a meaningful provider of student accommodation.
This project has helped to redefine South Africa’s perceptions of affordable accommodation and the use of alternative building techniques.
The silos enable this while catering for the demand that exist for student accommodation around the University of Johannesburg and the Wits campuses. The circular shapes of the grain silos enable us to create an appealing environment that is very different to the dormitory style accommodation available at most residences, ‘ he said.
Construction on the first of the two silos started at the beginning of 2013 with the project scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
Citiq’s development division director Arthur Blake said,
The silos were built in the 1960′s and were intended to store 35m of grain in each pipe. The structure is extremely sound, with 18cm think walls, making them more than adequate to bear the weight of the units. One of the pipes will be used as staircase with a lift shaft and a fire escape. Another will be used to create ten floors for study areas, libraries, lounges, computer rooms and other recreational facilities. Two more silos will house the bathrooms and kitchens for each floor
He said on each floor there would be 12 apartments with a mix of single bed and double sharing bedrooms, communal kitchens and bathrooms. In total 320 students would be housed.
An extra two storeys made from shipping containers, will be added to the top of the building with single bedrooms and recreational areas.
Construction on the second set of silos is to start in 2014 and should be completed within 12 months.
The post New look for Newtown Silos appeared first on Citiq Property Services.
CITIQ CITY INDEX SHOWS GROWTH IN THE INNER CITY
Contact: Lesley-Ann van Niftrik, Image Communications, Cell: 083 378 2902,
On behalf of: Paul Lapham, CEO , Citiq. Office: 0860 109-237.
Mobile 083 289 9302
Razia Cleland, senior analyst Citiq. Mobile 071 481 3937
Braamfontein, 25 April, 2013
According to the latest Johannesburg City Index conducted by Citiq, affordable apartments in both the inner city and outlying townhouse areas have delivered solid investment performance over the past 12 years. An inner city apartment purchased in 2000 would have delivered capital appreciation of 11.5% per annum over the past 12 years. Over the same period, a similar townhouse would have generated capital returns of 10.5% per annum.
“This reinforces our view that property, particularly at the entry level where first time home owners are operating, remains a great longer term investment. It also gives buyers the opportunity to grow capital and wealth over time, as well as providing them with a place to stay,” says Paul Lapham, CEO of Citiq, a Johannesburg investment and property management company which owns and manages in excess of 4,000 apartments spread across the city.
Historically, there has been limited information available to assist the average home buyer in determining the real value of a residential apartment and the appropriate market price. The Johannesburg City Index tracks apartment prices on the basis of rand per square meter, based on actual transactions through the Deeds Office. This gives a benchmark to determine value, and one that can be applied across different suburbs and apartment types.
The City Index focuses on Johannesburg, and looks at both the inner city apartment market as well as a representative selection of suburbs, where townhouses have been built and occupied during the period studied. The analysis goes back to 2000, which deals with the recovery after the 1999 slump in house prices, as well as the subsequent boom leading up to 2008, and the more recent performance of the housing market up until the end of 2012.
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