Gerrit van den Berg
How do you feel about opening the Cape Town office?
I’m very excited about the challenge. Quite a lot is happening in the Western Cape and we’re privileged to already have a number of projects in place before we’ve even opened the office. The type of projects that are already in place are all exciting too. After 10 years I’ll definitely miss the Pretoria office with all the people and the unbelievable atmosphere; but I’m looking forward to a new challenge and a new season.
How do you feel about moving to the Mother City?
The physical move of my family to Cape Town is really just so that we can see each other more regularly. The past 13 consecutive weeks I’ve been travelling to Cape Town weekly and it would have become even more frequent. That’s why we decided to rather have the whole family down there too, and I’ll just fly up to Pretoria as needed for certain meetings.
What are your biggest projects?
Richmond Park is by far the biggest and also most complex. Then there’s the Citadel building in Claremont, the BAT head office in the V&A Waterfront and the existing MediClinic office in Stellenbosch and another shopping centre and hospital that we can’t name yet.
Is anyone else from the team moving down with you?
At the moment it is just me, with my family. Wouter de Vos of the Atterbury Property Fund will share my office. He plans to spend a day or two every week there. There are quite a few Atterbury people who do travel down to Cape Town regularly to help with Richmond Park in particular. Solet Viviers and Morne Whitehead spend at least a couple of days here every fortnight or so.
Why is Richmond Park so exciting?
The positive story of Richmond Park is what makes this such a exciting project. The idea that we can make a difference in the lives of those 401 families who were forcibly removed back then, is a huge drive. And of course the sheer scale of the project isn’t something you get every day…
Challenges at Richmond Park?
The planning and approvals take a huge amount of time. There are also many role players in this development who all have to give input, so it’s a challenge to channel everyone’s needs and ideas into a specific direction.