The Pivot
The construction of the highly anticipated hotel and office development in Fourways was recently completed this June. Developed in partnership between Abland, Tsogo Sun and ABSA, The Pivot aims to be a successful fusion between a hotel development and office development in a pleasant environment with varied amenities at its doorstep.
Steve Howell, General Manager of Montecasino, states that “over the past eight years Montecasino has grown to become one of Gauteng’s most visited and prestigious venues. We are very excited about the latest addition to our multifaceted lifestyle destination called—The Pivot, which says it all: a central point around which everything happens. This is certainly true of the Montecasino Precinct.”
Montecasino’s new mixed-use development furthers the daytime usage to the popular after-hours precinct by providing additional accommodation, entertainment options and commercial space to the expansive hotel and entertainment complex.
Multifaceted Uses Adds to Precinct’s Allure
The precinct has a plethora of activities, services and venues attracting patrons from all over the country and overseas. The Pivot will directly benefit from these amenities while contributing to the precinct’s overall versatility.
Kevin Page, Director for the Tsogo Sun Group explains: “There was a requirement on Montecasino for three things: increasing onsite parking; creating another hotel to pass the 600-plus mark and to finding the correct way to maximise the use of this pocket of land.”
The new four-star Southern Sun hotel adds about 200 rooms to the Montecasino complex, alongside two existing hotels, bringing the total overnight capacity to over 600. The remaining three buildings, linked in the H-shaped design, provides 16000m2 of office space. Each office block has dedicated core area including elevators, stairs and toilet facilities and rentable spaces (varying between 50 to 13000m2).
“In collaboration with Abland, we felt that offices would complement the daytime usage of Montecasino, as until now, we’ve been predominately an off-peak destination. This is an exciting business opportunity as we’ve found that offices and hotels work well together,” adds Page. Office tenants will benefit with their proximity to theatres, restaurants, bird gardens and select service retail at Montecasino, as well as the centre’s heightened security, power capacity and telecommunications infrastructure. The Pivot’s 1200m2 conference centre and 806 additional parking bays further adds to the varied to be associated with the precinct.
The hotel restaurant / bar and public areas open out onto timber decks, water features and pools, which overlook a permanent attenuation dam that nurtures water plants and birdlife.
Design
Falling in line with the existing precinct’s design, the Pivot adds a contemporary flare to the overall Montecasino Hilltown concept. Inspired and exuding Tuscan influences—the development takes the form of a series of linked buildings around a landscaped green piazza.
Nsika Architecture and Design decided early on to add several modern interventions to ‘update’ the themed Tuscan design. These interventions manifested in the form of extensive use of glass and steel—most visible on frameless glazing, glass roofs, glass observation lifts and stainless steel spider clips. Though ‘modernised’ through these applications, the buildings plaster and painted surfaces are also painted with a special technique creating the desire ‘aged’ effect in line with the precinct’s underlying theme.
In executing the precinct’s theme internally, the architects commissioned several artists to create original artwork and crafts to be placed throughout the development.
Some of these pieces include a 18m high contemporary stainless steel sculpture in the Piazza; four 4.8m high sculpted Goddesses flanking the Pivot’s entrances; handmade mosaic artwork at the hotel water features and pool area; stained glass windows in the hotel restaurant; and commissioned hand-carved furniture, sculptures and drawings.
Overcoming the Construction Snags
Being confined by space and time were already obstacles the consultant team had to overcome. These were further aggravated with geotechnical site issues. Significant groundwater combined with a high influx of stormwater, proved daunting for the contractors, WBHO. This hampered production of all earthworks and foundation activities, necessitating a dewatering specialist to assist with creating and maintaining reduced levels of groundwater to allow normalcy to set back in.
“We also had to maintain and increase the stormwater attenuation dam and green belt on site. This was successfully achieved by redesigning the stormwater attenuation to become a permanent dam onto which the hotel’s eastern facade and public areas face,” says Bryan Charters of Nsika>Architecture & Design.
Implementing Green Solutions
From the onset of the Pivot’s design and planning, the client tasked the entire consultant team to ensure energy-efficiency on this project. Even the main contractor was advised, on an ongoing basis, by an environmental consultant for all site and construction issues relating to the environment. The Pivot’s design and orientation exudes both direct and indirect energy efficient solutions.
The building’s design is in line with ‘passive’ principles, relating specifically to the orientation and shading of the facades, as well as roof overhangs and overall thermal insulation. Natural lighting and adequate ventilation have also been carefully considered and placed throughout the development.
“We want to reduce the cooling and heating demand on the building and this is achieved by increasing the thermal properties of roof spaces, flat slabs, ceilings tiles and cavity walls. We carefully investigated the glazing specs relative to the orientation of the facades and are currently looking at ‘building sealing’ in order to reduce air infiltration and leakage,” adds Charters. Other energy and cost-savings installations include: Heat recovery from the chillers to heat water; dual-flush cisterns; variable-speed pumps; and efficient air conditioning systems for public areas.
PROJECT TEAM
Development & Project Manager: Abland
Project Architect: Nsika
Civil Engineer: PDC
Landscape Architect: Landmark Studio’s
Electrical Engineer: RWP / CKR
Quantity Surveyors: Quanticost Quanco
Wet Services Engineer
Plumbing Services: Consultant SJ Franklin
Fire Consultant: TWCE
Mechanical Consultant: DHP
Structural Engineers: WSP
Interior Designers: Black-Smith
Main Contractor: WBHO
