With the completion and handover of Amdec House on the December 2006 at Steenberg Office Park, Amdec Property Development is sending a signal to the property fraternity that, although it is now a major force in Gauteng with seven Melrose Arch joint venture developments and seven other projects underway, it maintains a strong Cape presence with headquarters in Tokai.
"Right now," says CEO James Wilson, "we have just over R4 billion's worth of developments on the go, of which 61 % are still Cape based. I believe Amdec will always have a strong Cape focus."
The new double storey 2 400m2 Amdec House has been designed by James Green of the architectural firm, Moren Williams Lotter Forsythe. He has opted for a Cape Vernacular style in which a glazed double volume central atrium is flanked by classically proportioned windows framed in white plaster mouldings which, in turn, stand out against a light stone coloured façade.
The completion of this office complex brings the total of Amdec developments in the Steenberg Office Park to 16 buildings making up approximately 15 000m2 of office space. The total value of Amdec's developments in the Park is estimated at R210 million.
Amdec has moved from their previous building in the Steenberg Office Park, Steenberg House to take over the entire first floor. The interiors of Amdec House feature large cool white porcelain floor tiles complimented by charcoal carpeting. Full centralised air-conditioning and ADSL Internet connectivity is standard on both floors and the building offers a basement parking ratio of 5 bays per 100m2 of office space.
The panoramic views from Amdec House take in the Silvermine and Kirstenbosch mountains as well as False Bay – all the way to Cape Hangklip.
Annwyn Ravera, Marketing Associate of the Amdec group, says that a strong feature of the new building is its interlinked boardroom, meeting rooms and entertainment area separated by fold-away glass partitioning. This allows for large spaces to be opened up creating a venue ideal for the project launches, promotions and other functions essential to the company.
Amdec have had little difficulty in finding tenants for their first floor. To date 90 % of this space is taken.
"No one," said Magnus McDowall, Cape Development Director for Amdec, "could have predicted just how successful the office and industrial parks of Westlake would become. Once development was underway Amdec positioned itself strategically to develop office and retail buildings in an area destined to become a prime business location."
Professionals on the project (apart from the architects already mentioned) have been De Leeuw, Cape Town – quantity surveyors, Sutherland & Associates – structural and civil engineers, and Clinkscales Maughan Brown – mechanical and electrical engineers. The contractors were Bruce Dundas.
