IMESA 2012 – Multidisciplinary Excellence

CSM Consulting Services conducted all the professional services needed for this project.

CSM Consulting Services was commissioned to provide professional services for the design, facilitation and management of the implementation of the programme.

CSM CONSULTING SERVICES conducted all the professional services needed for this project. The Masimong 4 Community Residential Units (CRU) project in Matjhabeng is a public-private partnership (PPP) development, where the Free State provincial government, through the Department of Human Settlements, formed a partnership with Matjhabeng Local Municipality and Harmony Gold Mining Company to develop affordable rental housing for low income groups.

The Department of Human Settlements is providing financing as well as the regulatory and management framework, while Harmony Gold Mining Company has donated land and buildings, and also provided bridging finance to the project. The rental housing units developed are government-owned through Matjhabeng Local Municipality and will not at any stage be transferred to individual occupants.

CSM Consulting Services was commissioned to provide professional services for the design, facilitation and management of the implementation of the programme. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on behalf of the Free State Department of Human Settlements with Matjhabeng Municipality and Harmony Gold Mining Company was concluded in 2010. The MOU was geared towards the formation of a partnership between the Free State provincial department, Matjhabeng Municipality and Harmony Gold Mining Company to focus on converting single quarter mining hostels into rental family units. The overall objective of the partnership was to upgrade existing units into sustainable and acceptable tenancy, thereby providing high-quality living environments to qualifying beneficiaries in the Welkom area.

A project steering committee, which includes the Free State province, National Department of Human Settlements, CSM Consulting Services, Harmony Gold Mining Company as well as the Matjhabeng Local Municipality was set up and has been running since the inception of the project. Masimong 4 was identified by the steering committee as the first phase of the MOU.

CSM services include:
• application for approval of the project
• feasibility study for the project
• architecture
• civil engineering
• electrical engineering
• electronic engineering
• project management
• property management: design of plan and systems and ongoing involvement acting as director on Amohela Property Management
• quantity surveying
• structural engineering.

Harmony Gold Mining company provided the following:
• bridging finance
• donation of land
• commercial and social amenities
• social development framework
• property management: acting as the director on Amohela Property Management

Duplication of development
Prefeasibility studies and engineering services scoping studies have already been completed for other similar developments identified in the MOU. CSM is of the professional opinion that this development is not only replicable, but can be implemented more cost-effectively, depending on specific development objectives, locality and size.
The minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, officially opened the Masimong 4 estate on 20 June 2012 and stated that based on the quality of development that he has viewed during his visit, the next phase of the development is approved.

Target market
The target market for the development is for tenants with an income of less than R3 500 per month. A small number of units have been made available to Harmony Gold Mining employees earning above R3 500, but this is in line with the CRU policy that makes provision for accommodating existing tenants in a CRU development regardless of their income.

Apartments are rented at the following monthly rates:
• bachelors unit – R500
• one-bedroom unit – R700
• two-bedroom unit – R1 000
• three-bedroom unit – R1 200

Specific care in the design of the estate was to reach the objective where CSM could, with confidence, state that sufficient effort was put in to ensure a cost-effective, low maintenance, well-run development, which will host satisfied tenants willing to continuously pay their rental in time every month. This is proven by a consistent 0% rental default.

Innovative engineering
Consideration into ongoing maintenance of the estate after construction was a key aspect of the design. It was a condition of the design brief that maintenance will not be performed by the local authority, but by the appointed property manager. The property manager’s agent therefore took part in all design decisions ensuring that easy maintenance formed part of the team’s design decisions.

Successes reached in terms of planning and designs consist of:
• Stormwater originally drained to the centre of the clusters, from where it connected to an elaborate open deep V channel and underground system. Stormwater control was changed to a predominantly overland system that is not only easier to maintain, but also assisted in providing a safer environment.
• Safety of tenure was achieved by the utilisation of biometric access control.
• Roads and parking were constructed with paving rather than bitumen topped surface, ensuring easier maintenance.
• Prepaid water meters (hot and cold) were installed, again ensuring less cost in monthly meter reading and debtor control.
• Boreholes and storing of water for irrigation was introduced to lessen the cost to the tenant.
• TV antennas were installed as part of the project to lessen the effect on the aesthetics of the building, should tenants start installing their own antennas at a later stage.
• Solar geysers and energy efficient lighting were installed to reduce electricity cost.
• The layout of the development ensured easy service delivery in terms of emergency and other services like refuse control.

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