With origins dating back to 1929, South African architects and planners Osmond Lange combines maturity of reputation with 21st century style and a striking understanding of contemporary needs and aspirations. “We are still a very unequal society, so it’s incumbent on us as architects to try and contribute to the public good,” says Group Managing Director, Jonathan Manning.
If the falling randis a key issue for leading South African architects and planners Osmond Lange, the order book of the Johannesburg-headquartered group is delivering a notable buoyancy. “We arevery busy – yet to see much of impact of the much talked about economic doom and gloom supposedly gripping South Africa,” says Group Managing Director Jonathan Manning.
87 years and several titles in the making, Osmond Lange has grown an impressive portfolio ranging from airports and stadiums to residential; education and healthcare to industrial. “With just about any building type that has been built we have a history and a strong track record.”
Melrose Arch – voted ‘The place to see and be seen’ for eight consecutive years by Leisure Options Readers Choice – is one high profile Osmond Lange project.And in the same city, Johannesburg’s Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) is another.
“Among the larger practices I would say we are fairly unique in that we have close to a 50-50 split between private and state sector work,” says Manning.
NEEDS AND ASPIRATIONS
It’s a mix that not only provides a compensatory balance in a time of economic uncertainty, but also a synthesis of inter-sectoral needs and aspirations.
“It gives us an understanding of the dynamics of each, a product that is marketable and fits the client’s financial parameters, and blending it with a strong sense of social responsibility.
“And this is particularly important in the social and political context of this country and continent. We are still a very unequal society, so it’s incumbent on us as architects to try and contribute – even when working for a private client worried about the bottom line – to the public good, creating public spaces in South African cities and towns that ordinary people can use; spaces that are more open and more appealing and integrated than they were in the past.”
Jonathan Manning took over as Group Managing Director in March 2013 with three strategies in place; transforming the team profile to one better fitting the country’s demographic profile and an increasingly diverse client base, and secondly to upskill and upgrade Osmond Lange’s technological capabilities.
The third was broadening the Group’s geographic footprint. This year it opened a Cape Town office (besides the Johannesburg head office, there others in Durban and East London) and associations have been established with synergy-compliant practices in seven African countries; Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania,Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mauritius.
“Kenya and Ghana in particular are yielding a lot of leads for us at the moment, with some very large potential projects we are actively pursuing. I think this is the future,” explains Manning.
“And it’s not necessarily about copying and pasting what we have done in South Africa. You have an increasingly intelligent and informed market across sub-Saharan Africa with high expectations around quality. It’s also about local knowledge, which is why we have opted to build relationships with local practices that can spot opportunities and bring them to us.”
Some of the mega projects around the continent, says Manning, “can be smoke and mirrors; a master plan launch and a website and colourful brochures before there is a business model.
“This is often where we’ve come in and try to inject a degree of sanity, and say ‘let’s run a cost and financial model on this and identify which are your low-hanging fruits we can push early to get critical mass and momentum’.”
Among its biggest private sector clients, Osmond Lange has noticed a more tentative approach. “We do a lot of work for Mercedes Benz in the Eastern Cape for example, and there we have suddenly seen a lot of projects being put on hold, further rounds of investment are being delayed but – interestingly – not often cancelled.
“So a lot of the bigger multi-nationals are playing a game of Wait and See. They are also looking to see if the rating agencies are going to downgrade South Africa to junk status, which may affect how the big international funds use South Africa’s investment destination, and ultimately affect how easy it is for some of the big companies to source debt.”
But on the state sector side, the Group is experiencing what Manning describes as “a real push.” Examples include two major hospitals in Johannesburg – a city with which it has a long-standing relationship including the BRT project – while a sister company, Ikemeleng Architects, is currently undertaking a R1.1 billion mixed use development in Rustenburg in the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality, North West Province.“So there’s quite a lot of exciting stuff happening in the State sector.”
Airports are another dynamic niche, with Osmond Lange the architects for Durban’s greenfield King Shaka International, and in the last round of major upgrades for Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International new central terminal. The group has also been shortlisted with Kenyan partners, Waweru and Associates, for a bid for an airport city development at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. “This would be a very interesting project to be involved in,” says Manning.
STYLE WITH RESPONSIBILITY
Combining modernism and green design innovation, Melrose Arch, thestylish urban precinct in Johannesburg’s northern suburb,is the Group’s flagship project, typifying the blending of architectural approach with social responsibility.
“It’s been a bit of a game changer in South Africa over the last 20 years, more aligned to the kind of project you can see in Europe where there’s far more of a drive to integrate retail, office and residential in a single or holistic environment.
“The typical typology here in South Africa is to have a retail mall on one site and a fenced-off office park next to it with a further fenced-off residential development down the road, compelling you to drive out through a security gate to get to each component.”
With smaller versions now across the country now, integrated mixed-in developments with live-work-play environments, Manning describes Melrose Arch as “semi-unique.
“I think we’ve got the most expensive square metre residential property prices in the country, maybe number two to the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town but certainly in Johannesburg – and that’s on the back of being a very desirable place to live, with all the amenities.
“Likewise with the offices; I think for a long time they were getting the best rental rates per square metre in Johannesburg. And it gets us a lot of business. People are walking in the door saying they love Melrose and want something like it in their project.”
As a result Osmond Lange is now talking to two project developers, one in Cape Town and another in Ghana, where the promoter enthused “I love this; I want you to come and build a Melrose Arch in Ghana.”
But with the economy stuttering says Manning, it’s “quite difficult to punt mega projects. It’s all about patience because the demand will pick up eventually.
ENEMY NUMBER ONE
“Often it’s the very common Afro-pessimism that’s our biggest enemy. And it’s especially a problem here in South Africa where we have an incredible capacity to talk ourselves down and force ourselves into panic, even though the fundamentals remain sound. In Asian countries I visit, the glass is always half full; here it’s half empty.
“If we project a pessimistic and disbelieving outlook to those outside the country we can’t blame them for not wanting to put money here.
“The political situation will sort itself out. After the ANC Electoral Conference next year, we will know where we stand, and I think the market will adjust to that.”