It’s almost here… just four months to go until the mammoth Mall of Africa opens its automatic doors to a very excited Gauteng public. We spoke to Atterbury’s Johann Fourie and Evert Kleynhans about the final countdown.

This must be a social media record: the mall isn’t even open yet and it has almost 43 000 likes on Facebook already! When is the marketing campaign kicking off? And how big are you going to go?
The marketing campaign will kick off very soon. We can guarantee that it is going to be something special and not to be missed.

Is everything on track for the last push?
Yes, we are on track to open 28 April 2016. We have plenty of challenges with many more to come, but we have a fantastic professional team, which helps a lot. The stress levels however remain high…

Are there still open shops or has everything been leased?
There are about 10 shops to go, so we’re 98,4% let. We’re currently busy with the final paperwork and negotiations for those last shops.

It’s been labelled a “superregional” mall – what does that mean exactly?
Shopping centres in excess of 100 000m² are classified as “super regional”, This has to do with its size, the number of national tenants and the fact that most of these national tenants have full catalogue or flagship stores here. The Mall of Africa has been meticulously planned in terms of tenant mix to ensure the best local and international stores for a unique shopping experience. There are many other exciting aspects, from the exceptionally wide malls with very high shop fronts and an abundance of natural light, to the fact that various parts of the mall open up to the exterior of the building. The North Piazza, for example, ties in the commercial zone of the Waterfall CBD and the southern “Town Square” is a restaurant node with magnificent views out to a large park along the southern side of the mall. This will provide flow to an open-air space for activities, shows, and simply for families to relax in.

The mall has a grey-water system to supply water for the bathrooms – very forward-thinking considering the drought. How does this system work in such a big mall?
The design of the centre involved the implementation of “green principles” and many calculations with regard to the intended water usage for potable water and rain-water harvesting for the mall. This resulted in the inclusion of water-treatment tanks and substantial water-storage tanks situated in the parkade basements with a capacity of 540 000m³. This feeds all of the public bathroom facilities in the mall with water for the flushing of toilets and for the irrigation of the landscaping surrounding the entire site. The mall also has day tank facilities that provide domestic water backup for a period of more than three days. And yes, it was quite forward-thinking considering this was designed four years ago and that we are now facing water shortages.

What happens in these last few months on such a massive project?
An intense amount of management from the professional team and Atterbury involving the final leasing, procurement, installation and quality control takes place. There is pressure in the last few months to manage the main contractor’s work in addition to hundreds of tenants and their sub-contractors all trying to complete their installations over a restricted duration of around three months.

What is your biggest concern for this last push?
After four years of eating and sleeping Mall of Africa it all comes together on Thursday 28 April 2016 – truly a special day for Atterbury and the shareholders. To orchestrate store designs, finishes, the building and managing process towards the day of the grand opening is a massive task, and one is always worried about missing something in the process.

And what are you most excited about for the opening?
We can’t wait to show the country what a world-class shopping centre we’ve been creating. Various retailers currently trading within South Africa have upped their game and are building flagship stores with new creative designs and finishes. It’ll definitely add to the experience!