INTAPROP: Oxford Parks Perfectly Located to Connect Rosebank and Illovo

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 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.

Andre Gouws, Managing Director at Intaprop 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 Intaprop’s founders exited the business in 2008, Gouws was promoted and took the reins at the top of this development and investment 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, architectural, and town planning proficiency, and solidified partnerships with longstanding contractors, quantity surveyors, 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 portfolio including Atlantic Park in Cape Town, Sloane Precinct in Johannesburg, Riverside in Nelspruit, and various developments for blue chip clients including Premier Foods, Triton Express, Microsoft, Tiger Brands, Standard Bank, and 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 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 Rosebank – Oxford Parks – located by the M9 between Jo’burg and Sandton, Intaprop is focussed on developing an all-inclusive 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, replanting a small number that must be moved.

“Our core skills are around town planning and financial,” says Gouws. “Through the lifecycle of a property, we handle everything from identifying the land to rezoning to development and management. To get that right, you must understand the legal environment that you are operating in. In South Africa, we have a deeds office and you can establish ownership. That is very important to us, and we have to have a relationship with officials in the council to understand their mindset and policy around what they want to achieve in the city. All of that homework has to be done before you can even think about a development. You must understand your terrain – is there capacity in the electrical grid, is there capacity in the sewer system, 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 project management and development, and encourages the focus on collaboration.

“We wouldn’t buy a piece of land, develop a property and just move away,” reiterates Gouws. “We like to influence the public space and that is an artform as you have to influence policy. In South Africa, our local authorities do not perform as well as they do elsewhere. The private sector has to step in and maintain public infrastructure which is not easy to do. You have to influence policy up front before you even start a development so that you enable yourself and other developers who might work in the precinct to be able to manage the public space. Whether it’s streetlights, curbs, 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 was an office development for Anglo American in February and we have just started with another building in May. This is a 7500m² building for Boston Consulting Group which we are very happy to get underway. 60% of that building will remain available and we will take it to the market for other tenants.

“The other thing we are planning is a medical facility which will start early next year. It is not a hospital, but it is a sub-acute facility and care centre with all the expected amenities. While an agreement has not yet been concluded, we expect it to be 10-15,000m²,” Gouws relays.

Property at Oxford Parks will remain under ownership for the time being. To date, only a pre-planned sale has been completed with Intaprop offloading the hotel.

“The reason for that is a hotel is not so much a property but a 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 sold on completion to a hotel investor. If you include the hotel development, we are close to R2 billion developed so far, and we have developed around a third of the land under our control,” details Gouws.

FAMILY FEEL

As a privately-owned business, run with a family feel, Intaprop is a developer that sells to continue funding future growth. Over the last 30 years, the company has developed R10-12 billion of property, selling its last big portfolio in 2015 when an industrial and logistics package was offloaded in a successful transaction. “We did well from that and our timing was excellent,” 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 four buildings under construction – three office buildings and the hotel,” he adds.

“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. Through that period, we lost a lot of money but luckily, it wasn’t significant enough for us to lose any tenants or significant time. The contracts were effectively in force majeure and we received an extension to deliver those products. Other than that, we did exceptionally well. All of the buildings are fully let and it has taken one year after coming back to office to achieve these results. We think we have done well to get new tenants into new space when the perception was that everyone is working from home and no one was leaving the house.”

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 contractors has been appointed – often highly familiar with each other to ensure speedy turnaround. This was proven recently at the development of the Anglo American building.

“Because of the track record we have with our partners, we were able to do the Anglo development in less than 12 months,” smiles Gouws. “Many people cannot build a single house in 12 months. We are often asked how we got it right and the professional team is the reason. It would not be possible working with a new team that doesn’t know each other.”

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.