Project Progress report - Cape Town

I thought it was about time that I posted a few photos of the building progress in both Cape Town and Zambia.

First, Cape Town - outside

The main entrance, facing the road, is on the first floor. The building is on a slope so the ground floor is is accessed from a car park to the right of the building. The ground floor is currently being used as the office area for staff. This will be refurbished later on, when the first floor offices are complete.

The ground in front of this corner was largely obscured by trees, until recently. These have been moved onto the land at the side to provide more light into the building and enable cabling to be moved underground - this has been a major landscaping task, constructing a retaining wall and paths next the building.

Andy is standing next to the retaining wall where a back-up generator, supplying electricity during power cuts, will be installed soon.

The trees and other plants, which have been moved from the front, have been replanted around this large plot, next to the building. This will be grassed over, but for now you can see where the wheelbarrows have been pushed along tracks between the plants. When we have heavy rain this land becomes more like a quagmire!

Our apartment is the four windows on the right, behind the white wall and there is a gate through to this piece of land exiting from a very small courtyard.

Eventually the land will be enclosed with a fence around, separating it from a large car park, which is in front of the apartments.

Cape Town - inside

This is the first floor, which will be the main open-plan office area, with the stairs in the centre facing the entrance. There were lots of small offices on this floor, so many of the walls have had to be removed and ceiling supports put in place. The floor is now being laid and most of the walls and windows are finished, giving a better idea of what it will look like.

All the studios and edit-suites will be on the second floor. They form a balcony around a central atrium with a peaked glass ceiling.

The three south-facing studios will have magnificent views of Table Mountain. Here the inner skin has just been enlarged to house a large picture window, giving magnificent views of the top of Table Mountain...

...and this will be the view.

I can also see this view from my lounge window - if I stick my head out of the window!