Cullinan Jewel Shopping centre revamp. Completed July 2018. Lots of challenges, a small budget, but very happy with the final results.

The Cullinan Jewel shopping centre forms the retail hub in the small diamond mining town of Cullinan. Years of illegal changes and updates and general neglect the centre was not compliant with the town planning scheme, local bylaws and building regulations. In summary, the parking requirements were non-compliant, covered walkway roofs extended over the site boundary and no delivery yard existed for the anchor tenant. The centre also changed from a closed mall to an open mall at some stage during its life, resulting in awkward ramps, stairs and general obstructions for the end users. The anchor tenant was also in need of a serious revamp.

The project brief was divided into two parts. The first objective was to get the centre to comply with the local bylaws, town planning scheme & national building regulations. The second objective was to renovate the centre in order to enhance the aesthetics and usability of the centre as a whole.
In order to achieve the first objective 25% of the centre had to be demolished to make way for the new parking area, walkway columns had to be demolished to remove all building work that falls outside the erf boundary and a 10m section from the existing anchor tenant store to make way for the new yard for the anchor tenant. In order to make up for the lost GLA new line shops were added to form a link between existing anchor box and the Cullinan Diamond Hotel.

The second objective was achieved by extensive work to the exterior & the anchor tenants interior. New pavers on walkways were installed, all external facades repainted, the level of the main walkway was dropped and leveled in order to give access to the anchor shop without any ramps and stairs, new entrance towers and corner towers.
The concept of the renovation was to bring back the industrial shed architectural language due to the centre being close to the Cullinan diamond mine. The use of industrial materials like sheet metal and steel beams helped to enhance the industrial shed feel.

Client:
SA Corporate Real Estate

Team:
Flaneur Architects
JN Consulting quantity surveyors
VSI Consulting engineers
EXL Properties – Project manager
CPP Marepo Fire
Du Toit Contractors