Craft Homes, the Gauteng-based residential developer behind some of Johannesburg’s most talked-about addresses, has been named a winner in five categories at this year’s International Property Awards.
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Three of the company’s flagship developments – Iconic Melrose, Riverstone Wetland Estate and Bryanston Country Estate – were singled out for excellence spanning architecture, sustainability and marketing, capping a year in which Craft Homes brought three very different projects to market in quick succession.
The wins recognise the full breadth of what Craft Homes builds, from a design-led apartment tower in one of Johannesburg’s most established nodes, to a wetland-fringed estate engineered around green building principles, to a campaign-led community launch in Bryanston that turned a painted wall into one of the city’s most talked-about marketing moments.
Reinier van Loggerenberg, CEO of Craft Homes, says the spread of categories is what makes this year’s results stand out: “What I find most satisfying about this set of awards is that no two of them were won the same way. Iconic was recognised for design and architecture in one of Johannesburg’s toughest, most established markets.
“Riverstone was recognised for sustainability, for treating a wetland as something to design around and protect, not simply build alongside. And Bryanston was recognised for marketing, for a campaign that had nothing to do with bricks and everything to do with getting people to feel something about a neighbourhood before a single unit had launched. Three completely different disciplines, three completely different teams and yet all three tell the same story about how we build.”
The Iconic Melrose recognition follows the recent opening of sales at the development’s 50 Jameson Avenue site, where three mock units are now open for viewing. The building moves away from the long, dimly lit corridors typical of apartment blocks, introducing a central atrium that draws natural light and greenery into the heart of the development, alongside a landscaped deck with a gym, coffee shop and clubhouse.
Riverstone Wetland Estate, set along the rehabilitated wetlands of Magaliessig in Fourways, has been awarded preliminary EDGE certification, the International Finance Corporation’s green building standard.
Bryanston Country Estate’s award-winning marketing centred on the now-famous “Red Wall” campaign, which reached more than 300 000 people organically and drew over 6 000 competition entries before Craft Homes revealed itself as the brand behind the wall. The campaign culminated in a community blood drive with the SA National Blood Service and Bryanston Country Estate carried that momentum into sales, with every house in the estate offered out on launch day.
Van Loggerenberg adds: “Winning is never really about the trophy. It’s validation for the architects, the landscapers, the marketers, the site teams and the partners who don’t get their names on the press release but who are the reason a project like Riverstone can sell 60% of a phase over a single weekend, or why people were still talking about a red wall in Bryanston months after it went up.
“We’ve been developing in Gauteng since 1993, and the thing that hasn’t changed is that we’re only ever as good as the people around the table. This is their win as much as it is Craft Homes’.”
