Government precinct- your responses

Posted by Peter le Roux on
(Drawings from Lucille Davies' article on the Jo'burg.org.za site-these are images from January so the scheme may have changed):



You've probably noticed the articles and posters around the campus about the Provincial Government Precinct in Johannesburg.

If you haven't, here is the plan in brief: (from Robert Greig's Sunday Independent article)

The Gauteng plan envisages what has been described as "a radical intervention" in central Johannesburg, by:

- Extending Beyers Naudé Square by demolishing eight buildings south of the square, provisionally named "New Heritage Square".

- Demolishing two more protected buildings - the South African Reserve Bank Building and Clegg House - to create space for a new building.

- Creating a traffic underpass the length of Market Street (between Kort and Harrison), entered from West to Kort and exited from Harrison to Rissik.

- Skywalks to link the government buildings on the square's perimeter and to create a sense of enclosure.


This is a very contentious issue. Here are some links to articles in the press:

Guy Trangos' letter in the Star
Sunday Independent article 'Jo'burg plan will destroy city's character'
Neil Fraser's article 'SAHRA decision a sad day for heritage preservation.'
Petrolium's M&G blog

What I'd like to see here is your opinion on the scheme- what do you think of the proposed demolition of these buildings and the scheme that will be built?

Comments

Anonymous said…
the fact that the city would even think that placing a huge hole in the center of our city would improve any conditions is insane, please understand the word city implies little space,in a cbd which is not enormouse how much will such a squar bring value to the city structure, this is not melrose, its a city !!!!! why not leave the city alone, you've messed with it enough maybe if you stopped messing around it might acaually finction on its own.
9:08 am
Anonymous said…
Well i think it would be a great boost for the city! I my self do travel throught he city on a daily basis and i have realised that there is a need for public space! I myself have witnessed over the past two and a half years the gradual improvement of the CBD. I find it somewhat ironic how the very poeply who contest this idea are the poeple who travel more often to the states than into the CBD! The CBD to most of these poeple i've noticed is like a dark reagion in which they have extremely distorted preconcieved ideas
8:48 pm
Post a Comment