Sod-turning ceremony in Pretoria North marks the commencement of construction on a 100-hectare precinct built to serve the commuter economy around Chery, BMW, Ford and Iveco’s Tshwane manufacturing base
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Construction has officially begun of The Yard Rosslyn Hub, a 100-hectare mixed-use development in Pretoria North, following a sod-turning ceremony attended by City of Tshwane Executive Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya, Deputy Executive Mayor and MMC for Finance Cllr Eugene Modise and MMC for Economic Development and Spatial Planning Cllr Sarah Mabotsa.
Developers Abcon Developments and Rosslyn Hub Development Company have positioned it as the first Retail Development in the precinct for the Tshwane Automotive City (TAC), a joint initiative between the City of Tshwane and the Gauteng Provincial Government. The Automotive Industry Development Centre believes TAC could draw R500 billion in investment over 50 years, with the ambition of building Africa’s first and largest dedicated automotive manufacturing hub.
Rosslyn Hub precinct sits at the centre of that plan. Once complete, the 700 000m² precinct will integrate residential housing, a logistics park and vehicle distribution centre, a regional shopping centre, a hospital and clinic, a school and a hotel and conference centre, all on land directly opposite Nissan, BMW, Iveco and Tata’s Rosslyn plants and within reach of the Ford-anchored Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ) in Silverton.
A commuter-facing first phase
Phase Now Under construction is The Yard, a convenience retail centre anchored by Shoprite, designed to serve the daily needs of the automotive workforce and surrounding residents rather than draw shoppers from further afield; a deliberate contrast to the regional malls typically built around industrial nodes.
More than R1 billion in bulk infrastructure investment has already been secured for the precinct, work that has created over 1 400 construction jobs to date. Rosslyn Hub director Brendan Falkson has previously put the investment case for the TAC’s three priority nodes, of which Rosslyn Hub is one, at approximately R42 billion, with the potential to create almost 60 000 jobs over the next 15 years.
The precinct has also already landed a marker of foreign investor confidence: YFPO, a French-Chinese components manufacturer and key BMW supplier operating 22 facilities worldwide, committed a R670 million greenfield investment to anchor the TAC’s logistics node as its first investment outside mainland China.
Housing delivery is already underway. A decade ago, Rosslyn Hub Development Company sold a 40-hectare portion of the site to Cosmopolitan Housing, which has since completed 1 100 homes alongside the Spark Rosslyn Hub Primary School. The current masterplan, drawn up by Boogertman + Partners and approved by the City of Tshwane, adds a further 1 180 apartments aimed at shortening commutes for workers in the automotive cluster.
Two decades from quarry to construction site
The land itself has a long history: the 140-hectare parcel was acquired in 2002 for a small quarrying operation, before the company began rezoning and installing bulk services. In 2012, the Automotive Industry Development Centre approached the company to reposition the remaining 100 hectares within the newly conceived TAC masterplan; a process that took a further seven years to gain municipal approval.
Abcon Managing Director Bryce O’Donnell says: “This is the culmination of two decades of patient work, from rezoning the land and installing bulk infrastructure to aligning our plans with the Tshwane Automotive City masterplan, all long before the first brick was laid. What’s exceptional about Rosslyn Hub is that we’re building the retail, housing and logistics layer that a working automotive corridor actually needs, at the scale the TAC is going to require as more investors like YFPO commit to the node.”
Monique Pieterse, Development Manager for The Yard, says: “The Yard is designed around how people who work in this corridor actually move through their day, not around drawing shoppers in from across the city. Everything from the tenant mix to the layout is built for convenience: somewhere to grab groceries, a coffee or a meal on the way to or from a work, without adding a detour. That’s a very different brief to a regional centre, and it’s the right one for a precinct anchored by tens of thousands of automotive jobs.”
Construction on The Yard is underway, with further phases of Rosslyn Hub, including the logistics park, hospital, residential apartments and regional shopping centre, to follow as the Tshwane Automotive City masterplan is rolled out.
