Intaprop / August 2022 / Enterprise Africa

INTAPROP

Andre Gouws - Managing Director

INTAPROP

Oxford Parks Perfectly Located

to Connect Rosebank and Illovo PRODUCTION: Eleanor Sarbutt-King

A leading property developer and investment business, Intaprop is transforming and modernising Rosebank, north of Johannesburg as it drives their Oxford Parks development. According to Managing Director, Andre Gouws, it is the vision of the Intaprop team, combined with persistency and industry knowledge, that allows this forward-thinking company to thrive.

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Holistic property development is so much more than constructing a building, cutting a ribbon, and moving on to the next project. A mix of skills and expertise is required, and the physical construction is just one ingredient in a larger and much more complex recipe. To create something truly special, lasting, and sustainable, real industry knowledge is essential – there are no shortcuts.

At Intaprop, Managing Director, Andre Gouws and his team knows this only too well. Joining the company in 2003, coming from an accountancy background, he was quickly immersed in the industry and began a learning journey which continues to this day.

When one of the original founders exited the business in 2008, Gouws was promoted and took the reins at the top of this development and investment

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business. Set on filling the big shoes that had been left behind, he knew he would have to surround himself with levels of expertise across different disciplines to compete in an industry with many veteran players. Quickly, he built a team made up of financial, legal, and town planning proficiency, and solidified partnerships with longstanding professional consultants, financiers, real estate and construction firms. The result was an acceleration for this 32-year-old business, taking a strong position in the market, but most importantly delivering value for clients through intense focus on integrity and professionalism.

Today, Intaprop remains privately owned, and continues to focus on precinct development. The company boasts an impressive track record including Oxford Parks, Meadowview Business Estate, Sloane Precinct in

Johannesburg, Riverside in Nelspruit, and various developments for blue chip clients including the likes of Anglo American BP, Life Healthcare, Zurich Insurance, Boston Consulting Group, Sony, Arup, DSV, Premier Foods, Triton Express, Microsoft, Tiger Brands, Standard Bank, and many more.

OFFERING A LIFESTYLE What sets Intaprop apart is its universal approach to projects. Every aspect of a development is carefully considered and designed during planning stages to ensure longevity. “To compete in this market, we have to give clients a reason to choose us. There are other developers and bigger, listed property funds that are much more powerful, with lots of capital. We don’t have that; we only work with our own money and whatever we can borrow,” says Gouws.

“We’ve always believed that we

INTAPROP

have to offer our tenants a lifestyle and not only a space. The lettable space is their premises, but they have to step out of that premises to go home – what does that feel like? What does it look like? That has always been our philosophy – you have to create the precinct and it has to be well-located.”

More than just buildings, Intaprop creates public spaces, roads, pathways, natural spheres, connecting premises and people. The creation of connections and the complete project concept leads to what most can only hope for: environments in which South Africans can truly live, work, and play.

But that vision has shifted in the past two years, with work and play altogether different post-Covid.

Accommodating this new environment while continuing to deliver its signature precinct style, Intaprop – ever the innovator – continues to rethink ideas

and come up with solutions thanks to its deep industry knowhow.

“Public transport comes into the equation, safety and security comes into the equation. Amenities that you offer in the precinct comes into the equation.

Proximity to schools and bigger retail become important. Before we start a land assembly, we look at those things and try to understand why this will be a successful node,” explains Gouws.

Currently demonstrated at the company’s remarkable project in Johannesburg – Oxford Parks – located on Oxford Road between Rosebank and Sandton, Intaprop is focussed on developing an allinclusive system with emphasis on green-star building standards.

OXFORD PARKS The site will eventually connect Rosebank with Illovo and will be

home to 300,000m2 of space – 100,000m2 residential and 200,000m2 commercial including office space, restaurants, retail, cafes, and the amazing new Radisson RED Hotel.

Importantly, Intaprop is developing novel concepts around walking, cycling, greening, and removing the bunker feeling often present in SA, where employees can leave the office and walk onto the street instead of crossing a boom gate.

Currently, Johannesburg is home to more than five million cars, many of which emit noxious gasses into the air. By investing in walkability, Intaprop is displaying its long-term sustainability focus. The company has also been steadfast in its desire to keep as many of the areas trees as possible, and replanting where possible.

“Some of our core skills are around town planning and financial modelling

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: PROPERTY

// THROUGH THE LIFECYCLE OF A PROPERTY, WE HANDLE EVERYTHING FROM IDENTIFYING THE LAND TO REZONING TO DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT // which is what is required to undertake long-term land assemblies,” says Gouws.

“Through the lifecycle of a property, we handle everything from identifying the land to rezoning to development and management of the properties after completion. You must also have a good understanding of the vision of the city and make sure your vision aligns with their macro vision. Therefore, it is very important to us to have a good relationship with council to understand their mindset and policy around what they want to achieve in the city. All that homework has to be done before you embarking on a precinct development.

You must understand your terrain – is there capacity in the electrical grid, is there capacity in the sewer system,

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what roads will we have to build. Years ago, those things were handled by the local authorities but typically that is being done by private developers now. You have to factor all of these things into your studies to understand whether your idea is feasible.”

In 2021, Johannesburg’s Mayor committed to its Climate Action Plan (CAP) with various targets set for 2025, 2030, 2040, and 2050, as well as reaffirming commitments to the Paris Climate Agreements set out in 2015. Again, this supports Intaprop’s strategy of holistic development, and encourages collaboration.

“We like to do precinct developments that allow us to manage the public space between buildings,

rather than developing buildings in isolation,” reiterates Gouws. “In South Africa, our local authorities are under pressure and do not perform as well as they should. Therefore, as private developers, you need to create the correct structures such as City Improvement Districts that enable the private sector to manage the public space, whether it’s streetlights, curbs or walkways. Typically, we are talking about cleaning, greening and securing but ultimately it is a lot more than that.”

Right now at Oxford Parks, Intaprop is busy but there remains much scope for the future.

“The last project that we completed in February was an office development for Anglo American.

We have started with another 7,500m2 office development in May, which will be anchored by Boston Consulting Group. Notwithstanding the tough office development Continues on page 8

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Building long-term partnerships for sustainable business growth.

As part of our commitment to fund sustainable and market-leading property developments, Nedbank CIB is proud to have funded the Oxford Parks precinct development from land at inception, to a landmark with innovative green-rated buildings. Through our long-term partnerships, we continue to support transformational green development projects and in turn, sustainable business growth in the property sector.

CIB@nedbank.co.za

Nedbank Ltd Reg No 1951/000009/06. Licensed financial services and registered credit provider (NCRCP16).

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: PROPERTY

// AT THE TIME, THAT PUT US UNDER A LOT OF PRESSURE. THERE WAS A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY AND WE WERE FACED WITH SUNKEN COSTS AND RUNNING COSTS DESPITE NO WORK ON SITE // Continued from page 6 market, letting has gone well with only 2,500m2 remaining available.

“We are also planning a medical facility which will hopefully start early next year. It is not a hospital, but it is a sub-acute facility and care centre with all the expected amenities. We have not taken this to the market yet, but we expect healthy interest which will allow

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a total development of approximately 10-15,000m2 which will be phased over two or three stages,” Gouws relays.

Property at Oxford Parks will remain under ownership of Intaprop for the time being. To date, only the Radisson RED hotel development has been sold.

“The reason for selling the hotel is that a hotel is a specialised business and we looked for an investor before we started the development. We recognised the indirect benefits that a hotel would bring to the precinct, but it was not something that we were prepared to own. We finalised agreements prior to constructing the hotel and transferred on completion to a hotel investor. If you include the hotel development and developable land, the Oxford Parks investment to date is in excess of R2 billion. So far, we have developed approximately a third of the land under our control,” details Gouws.

FAMILY FEEL As a privately-owned business with limited access to capital markets,

Intaprop is a developer that sells assets from time to time to continue funding future growth. Over the last 30 years, the company has developed approximately R15 billion of property. It sold its industrial and logistics portfolio to a JSE listed property fund in 2015 for R2.3 billion.

“We did well from that transaction which allowed us to recapitalise our business and start the Oxford Parks precinct development,” says Gouws.

Even the Covid-19 pandemic could not halt progress for Intaprop. The company observed all government guidelines and managed to keep progress moving on site without major hiccup.

“It started off very scary,” admits Gouws. “Construction was completely shut down for two months. You need time to close down, and then to reopen, so that lost us weeks before and after the shutdown.

Unfortunately, we had four buildings under construction – three office buildings and the hotel,” he adds.

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“At the time, that put us under a lot of pressure. There was a lot of uncertainty and we were faced with sunken costs and running costs despite no work on site. It had a huge financial impact on our business but luckily, it wasn’t significant enough for us to lose any tenants or significant time. On some of our projects we were able to make up lost time and still completed the projects on time. All of the completed buildings in Oxford Parks are fully let and it has taken only one year after coming back to our office to achieve these results. In a very uncertain market with record low investor confidence, we have done well to get new tenants into new office space when the perception was that everyone will be working from home indefinitely.”

To ensure a robust future plan, Intaprop continues to invest in relationships that have stood the test of time. At Oxford Parks, and across the company’s other major developments, a strong team of professional consultants and a highly motivated contractor have been appointed – often highly familiar

with each other to ensure speedy turnaround. This was proven recently at the development of the Anglo American building which was completed in record time to meet the client’s program.

“Because of the track record we have with our partners, we were able to commit to doing the Anglo development in less than 12 months, including their entire internal fit-out” smiles Gouws. “We are often asked how we got it right and the simple reason is that the team appointed to deliver the project knew each other very well and trusted each other. And, we had to interrogate every program item and challenge it with new ideas and methodologies to save time where possible.”

Asked how Intaprop chooses its partners, Gouws is clear that its is less about cost and more about quality and delivery. Precinct development is not a single skill, and different inputs are critical.

“Track record is important,” he says. “We have great relationships with professional consultants and

these go back more than 30 years. It is important for us to ensure that our relationships work for both parties, we don’t want to squeeze contractors for every last penny. Longevity is important to us as we will need strong contractors in the future. We like to think that the consultants we employ are an extension of our office. We like to get consultants working with each other – it’s a learning curve. The more you do the same thing with the same people, the easier it becomes.”

It is this teamwork, and the deep knowledge within Intaprop that helps the company to push boundaries and achieve industry-leading status. As Oxford Parks progresses, and assets begin to mature, the investment that has flooded into this modernisation in Rosebank will position Intaprop very strongly for the future.

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