AMDEC

Source: Construction Digital

Date :03/07/2008 16:23:55

Arch of triumph

Written by Rebecca Waters and Produced by Nicholas Davies

With over two decades of experience, AMDEC has grown from being a luxury housing developer in the southern suburbs of Cape Town to a national developer focusing on commercial, retail, industrial and residential developments. Today, the company – started by father and son team John Wilson and James Wilson - is one of South Africa’s largest developers.

One of the biggest and arguably the most finest developments is Melrose Arch, a 315,000m2 multi-use retail, commercial and residential precinct in Johannesburg.

Melrose Arch

“The whole emphasis is urban living,” explains Nick Stopforth, Project Director Gauteng. “It is bringing people back on to the streets, it is pedestrian-friendly, it’s urbanising, taking cars off the street; it’s a green development.” It is also user-friendly with everything one might need within walking distance, from ample underground parking, banking facilities and foreign exchange, to an art gallery, medical centre, pharmacy, gym, deli, florist, optometrist, hairstylist, dry cleaner’s and postal service.

Stopforth, who has a degree in building science, has spent the most part of his career in property development and manages the Melrose Arch scheme. He says that his experience on fairly large scale projects in Dubai - “getting some world experience” - has helped him in his current role, in particular with the management of professionals and contractors.

Melrose Arch was first launched in February 2002, however AMDEC acquired the property in 2005 in a joint venture with Cape-based Property Partners. AMDEC has been appointed development manager for the roll-out of the undeveloped bulk of Melrose Arch (about 240,000m2) that the company is in the process of developing, or will be developing, over the next couple of years.

At present there are approximately 4,000 people living and working in the precinct. By 2010, when all phases of the precinct are scheduled for completion, it is estimated that this will increase to more than 22,000. However as Stopforth explains, Melrose Arch will keep AMDEC busy until at least 2012, 2013.

Under construction at the moment, AMDEC is busy developing a “high street urban retail experience” for the precinct, an open high street shopping mall, which will be ready for delivery in April 2009. Going forward, further development of hotels, some more commercial and more retail, is expected: “We have a high emphasis in commercial office space; we have limited residential and limited retail, which are the existing portions,” explains Stopforth.

“We are also investigating and putting into planning a further residential scheme of about 140 units and beyond that, further hotels, some more retail and then substantial emphasis on commercial development,” he says. “We don’t want to be entirely commercial or entirely residential.”

Social responsibility

“AMDEC try and focus on good quality developments which are sustainable over a long period of time,” says Stopforth.

“Our products range from Melrose Arch, which is at the top-end of the South Africa scale both in residential property sales and commercial rentals, and at the bottom end of that scale we have an affordable property development in downtown Johannesburg CBD, where our emphasis is on affordable rental stock for the majority of the South African population,” he explains.

AMDEC is a national developer and while the company is increasingly active in Johannesburg, AMDEC has investments in the KwaZulu-Nnatal midlands (KZN) - substantially residential schemes - and a fairly substantial property development in Port Elizabeth, which is mixed use with some industrials and residential. There are also plans to concentrate on some retirement developments in the city.

“It’s a national business in all sense of the world and we are busy rolling out that footprint on a national basis,” says Stopforth.

Today, AMDEC deals with the full spectrum of construction from residential property, affordable, medium and top-end housing, to commercial property, retail property and industrial development. “We have a social responsibility, we realise we can’t operate in one sector of the market, we have to contribute to the balance and therefore we are actively engaged in affordable housing,” Stopforth explains.

Design concept

AMDEC forms strategic bonds with certain professionals and likes to retain those strategic bonds. For example, the company has three architects on board in Melrose Arch: Osmond Lang Architects, DHK Architects and Boogertman & Partners Architects, and they rotate the jobs between them.

“We tend to rotate between them, purposefully to get a mix of influence,” explains Stopforth. “Melrose Arch is a big precinct and we want different influences so we don’t have repeat design concepts.”

The result is modern urbanism. The developers remain true to the African contemporary theme of the first phase of the 11-part development, with colourful mosaics inspired by an African landscape designed around an Italian-style piazza. As Sarah Mann wrote in The Weekender, “these buildings talk to their environment and are a reflection of it”.

Even though AMDEC is a national developer, the company always seeks to work with local companies.

“Mainly we use local suppliers because they are the guys on the ground and they have the critical mass to deliver,” he says. “We place a fairly significant demand on our professionals, and it is fairly difficult for a start up company to hit the ground running on a job the size of Melrose Arch and the demand that we place on the development.

“Having said that, if someone came to us with a great concept we would always listen to any good ideas, and if we thought it would assist us then we would certainly engage them and look at ways of doing business together.”

With the 11-part Melrose Arch project looking to keep AMDEC busy until at least 2012, the company’s main focus moving forward will be the delivery of the retail phase, retail aspect and further ahead, additional residential space.

It will be exciting to see how Melrose Arch evolves; one thing we can be sure of is that it will be built upon the AMDEC philosophy, offering unparalleled expertise and quality.