Among the exciting developments that Atterbury has undertaken in the Western Cape is the brand-new vehicle showroom for WeBuyCars, which kicked off recently in the northern suburbs. Atterbury’s development manager, Arno du Plessis, shares the background.

This is not the first car dealership that Atterbury has undertaken, but what were the particular challenges on this project?
This is a fast-track project that has to go from concept to occupation in 10 months – a very tight turnaround time indeed. So we had to get our contractor, Stabilid Cape, on board earlier than usual, to become part of the project team, even before we went onto the site. The reason for this is that we had to have all the design elements sorted upfront to prevent those from slowing down the process in any way as we head towards completion and delivery date.

What is the timeline for the development?
We started on site on 2 May, and the showroom is scheduled to open on 1 December, so the planning is tight and development by Stabilid Cape will progress swiftly.

Where is the development situated and how is it being positioned to best target the client’s particular target market?
The dealership is on the corner of the R300 and Bottelary Road in the northern suburb of Brackenfell. It is extremely well located in the fast-growing northern suburbs, and also advantageous since it gives fast access to the R300 that links with both the N1 and the N2.

What was previously on the land being used for the development?
It was an undeveloped erf in a proclaimed township, so there was nothing on there.

Can you share some details of the scale of the project?
The building will be 14 500 sqm, with showroom space for 640 vehicles. It will also include 830 sqm of office space.

What was the client brief at the starting point of the project?
WeBuyCars wanted to create a showroom that could accommodate at least 600 cars at a time. The design focused around creating a superior customer experience. To achieve this the project architect, Rohan Nothnagel from Boogertman + Partners, designed a facility that allows vast amounts of light to enter the building to showcase the cars to maximum effect. We are confident that the end result will be everything the client wished for.