The highly anticipated Port Shepstone Mall will open its doors to the public on October 24 after more than five years of planning.
The state-of-the-art mall was designed by Winterbach Pretorius Letele Architects and developed by Construction ID in a joint venture with Top Dog Construction.
This facility joins a growing trend of retail centre development in KwaZulu-Natal, making it the window to the Eastern Cape and surrounding areas.
Inside the mall, shoppers will be met with a wide selection of stores, service offerings, restaurants and over 65 tenants.
Anchor tenants include firm favourites Shoprite, Boxer, Clicks and Dis-Chem, and many retail stores.
The superstructure was a magnificent display of large-scale construction. The building was split into three parts, with a tower crane in each zone. These cranes made the 16 month construction timeline possible, as all corners of the site could be reached.
It took a total of 52 concrete pours to construct all of the slabs. One slab took 130 truckloads of concrete, which was brought into the site non-stop over a 14 hour period.
The project has provided in excess of 1100 jobs during the construction phase and is estimated to provide permanent employment to around 700 people once the mall opens.
Craig Kirkpatrick from Winterbach Pretorius Letele Architects said the mall was designed to fit into its environment.
“A conscious decision was made to use the fall of the land to benefit the building instead of building skywards. Our goal was to create a vibrant and friendly hub for all visitors and locals. It is our hope that the mall will provide a world-class shopping experience for the local Port Shepstone community and beyond.”
There are four levels at the mall, and all four can be traversed within the central core, which has two lifts and eight escalators.
Level zero is the main public transport entrance with around 200 active taxi bays, which also links to the adjacent bus rank and an overflow taxi holding area.
This entrance will cater for taxis only, their commuters and designated vendor points, which will be allocated at this level.
This active taxi rank means that taxis will drive in, drop off or pick up their commuters and leave, making it easy and safe for all who commute by public transport.
Level 1 consists of 12 000sqm of retail space, making it the mall’s main attraction and marketplace.
There’s a central entertainment area with exciting pop-up stores and communal seating, plus an amphitheatre, creating a place for all to interact and socialise.
Level 2 consists of 12 000sqm of retail space and a pedestrian entrance of Ryder Street. This level will be home to fashion tenants and, for added convenience, the banking offering.
Level 3 has an excess of 400 public parking bays (rooftop), which can be accessed onto a ramp from Ryder Street.
No taxis will be allowed on the rooftop.
The developers have created their own purification water system, stored in a 100 000 litre tank, with an additional 750 000 litre fire tank.
Kirkpatrick said the establishment of a mall of this nature was a catalyst for growth and improvement. “There are already four new buildings commencing construction in the near future around the mall,” he said.
Trading starts on October 24, and an official cutting of the ribbon will be held on November 15.
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