#University of Cape Town Expansion Projects/Refurbishments | Under Construction

[Lydon]

Dear Colleagues and Students

Close to 30 000 people pass through the UCT campuses on a daily basis. Over the last ten years we have grown tremendously, from 16 976 students in 2000 to 24 000 (estimated) in 2010. This level of growth places enormous pressure on the university.

You will know better than I that space, especially on the Upper Campus, is at an absolute premium. We have a range of constraints, including environmental and heritage considerations (the oldest part of our campus is more than 180 years old), which militate against the extent to which we can develop new buildings or re-develop existing sites to meet the demand for appropriate facilities. Despite these hurdles, we are making progress in meeting these challenges.

We have committed to spending more than R900 million over the next three years on infrastructure development. The Department of Higher Education is funding about a third of this capital expenditure programme through an infrastructure development grant, with the remainder funded through our multi-year budget process.

We are also using this opportunity to move some of the administrative and support services away from their current locations on upper campus in order to create more space for academic - both teaching and research - activities. Appropriate teaching, research and residence facilities are critical if we want to establish ourselves as the intellectual hub that connects our continent and the world.

You may know that I was very keen to move the UCT executive management team to the upper campus, to place us at the heart of the academic environment, as I believed this proximity would serve us well. However, I recognise that while there is much to be gained by placing the executive offices there, the university community may benefit more from committing that space to academic use. As a result, the executive management team will continue to be housed at Bremner.

It is not just the shortage of academic space that affects our mission. You will all be aware of the pressures we face in offering residence accommodation. The shortage of accommodation has a critical impact on our ability to attract and retain the students we want. Additional accommodation will allow more students from diverse backgrounds to live together and have access to the many features of on-campus housing, such as the student learning centres, social and sporting activities, and life-skills and peer-tutoring programmes - all designed to ensure the holistic development and success of our graduates. The availability of on campus accommodation is particularly important in attracting students from outside Cape Town and outside South Africa.

Our infrastructure development programme will go some way in tackling some of the issues we face. It includes new buildings for student accommodation and administration, the School of Economics, the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (EBE), Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) and the university archives. We are also renovating various facilities. Many of these projects have begun.

Here is an overview of the expansion projects now in progress:

Obz Square: This brand new residence is the biggest investment in UCT's history and will cost some R485 million. The 6000m2 block, between Main Road and William Street in Observatory, will be our largest residence, housing 887 students. Seven stories high with shops on the ground floor, Obz Square will provide accommodation in single rooms, with the possibility of an additional 70 beds. Each room will have its own toilet, shower and washbasin. Facilities will also include more than 100 kitchens, each shared by eight students.

Middle Campus development for the School of Economics and Student Administration: UCT's School of Economics has ranked first among economics departments at SA universities for the past five years. Almost a fifth of our total cohort of 24 000 students takes courses in economics. Our research units focus on the economics of labour markets, the environment, rural development, regional and industrial development, financial markets, with a strong focus on poverty and inequality. So it is appropriate that we give this school room to grow. The facilities will also provide new offices for student administration, with a total investment of R158 million. These buildings, which are being developed adjacent to the existing Kramer Law Building, will be completed during the first semester of 2011. The discovery of a slave burial site in the vicinity of the new building has stimulated a memorialisation space and project linked to the new building.

Additions to the Snape building: This R167 million investment for EBE will house the department of civil engineering and provide additional accommodation for chemical engineering. Work will start on this project in 2011.

Upgrade to Centlivres building: This facility currently houses the School of Architecture. The renovations, scheduled to start in 2010, will allow for an expanded intake of 80 architecture students. The cost of improvements will amount to R52 million.

ICTS-on-Main: We have purchased the life assurance building (5 Main Road) which, from mid-June, will be the new home for the university's Information and Communication Technology Services, purchased for R22 million and refurbished at a cost of R13 million. The move allows the current ICTS accommodation in the computer science building on Upper Campus to be reconfigured for academic use.

Relocation of the Department of Statistical Sciences: This department will go into a newly renovated section of PD Hahn, after an investment of R1.8 million.

New Archives Facility at Shell Court on Main Road: The archives were previously housed in Kramer Building but had to be moved to accommodate the re-development of the Middle Campus. The new, improved archive facility will cost R8 million.

Avenue House refurbishment: This will provide new offices for the Student Housing department from October this year. The department is currently in temporary accommodation. The refurbishment, at a cost of R6 million, will restore this 100-year-old building to its original state.

Renovation of Falmouth building: This Faculty of Health Sciences building will be upgraded for teaching and research purposes at a cost of R4 million.

Other improvements in the current financial year will include refurbishing of the Jameson Substation; reroofing of the Otto Beit building, Mathematics building and a section of PD Hahn; modernising the lifts and chiller plants in various buildings; and renewing the access control system for better security on campus.

These developments will unfortunately also entail noise, temporary relocation of some departments, inconvenience for many users and neighbours, and additional stress on various support departments, particularly Properties and Services. I want to thank those affected for their patience and understanding. I have no doubt the improvements will justify the pain.

Finally, I have requested Deputy Vice-Chancellor Thandabantu Nhlapo to add to his portfolio the oversight of infrastructure development and space allocation. This is consistent with the line responsibility he already has for Mr John Critien, Executive Director Properties and Services.

Dr Max Price
Vice-Chancellor

[Lutzno]

what about a parkade? what we need most

[Lydon]

Definitely! Followed by a stadium ...

[Cape Town Guy]

Yeah a parking garage would be pretty good....but well done UCT for this, this is great news.

[EduardSA]

Man was just about to post this.... great news tho!! UCT is going up

Hopefully once these upgrades are done, we can build a parkade and a stadium

Btw they could definitely build a parkade at the sports science center parking!! and even at the middle campus parking!! oh well, not gonna happen during my studies.....

[Lydon]

They should build it at the parking lot down next to the fields on the Centilevers building-side of campus.

[kilps]

Originally Posted by Lydon

Definitely! Followed by a stadium ...

A stadium would be fantastic. But first that no alcohol rule at rugby games needs to go... Home games have no atmosphere compared to, say, the games in Stellenbosch (where I happen to be headed for the Varsity Cup final tomorrow )

Originally Posted by Lydon

They should build it at the parking lot down next to the fields on the Centilevers building-side of campus.

I'm sure that would get in the way of all the rules about building on upper campus... Wouldn't look right...

[Lydon]

Originally Posted by kilps

where I happen to be headed for the Varsity Cup final tomorrow )

You and me both

Originally Posted by kilps

I'm sure that would get in the way of all the rules about building on upper campus... Wouldn't look right...

I thought that too, at first, but I'm sure Anja from the Architecture department would just die to employ the use of her "green" walls that she's making heavy use of in the new builds on middle campus It could actually fit in quite well. But it would be nicer if it wasn't necessary.

Sadly SOMETHING has to be done, though. Perhaps they should build a parkade somewhere in the southern suburbs close to UCT along with a new Jammie stop

[kilps]

Originally Posted by Lydon

Sadly SOMETHING has to be done, though. Perhaps they should build a parkade somewhere in the southern suburbs close to UCT along with a new Jammie stop

I agree something must be done. It would take the same amount of time for me to walk to the nearest Jammie stop as it would to do the same to campus, which is just too far to be practical.

Quite simply I think that the Jammies need to be expanded and made more pleasant to use, I have friends for whom it is practical to use the Jammie - but they hate it enough to get up that bit earlier to drive. :/

[GetDownAdam]

When I was there (and they had just started with the new big blue Jammies), there were park-and-rides from Groote Schuur / obs between med school and Rochester, and also one from Clarinus. They also tried to organise one from Newlands. The parking solution that always appealed to me although it is close to impossible and impractical is a single level parkade located under the rugby fields on upper. It's where it's meant to be and it doesn't mess with the look of the place.

[Awesome.e]

haha~ I don't think they going to build anymore parking areas. They are promoting green campus and encouraging everyone to use the Jammie. So don't think they would do that! The stadium idea is really good, but where? The main rugby field will never become a stadium. They will never allow it! But we must def get one or else we would never host the varsity cup finals =.=

[Lydon]

Middle or Lower Campus, I'd assume.

[kilps]

Originally Posted by Lydon

Middle or Lower Campus, I'd assume.

Where the soccer field is? http://www.uct.ac.za/images/uct.ac.z...big/middle.jpg - I've never been down there so don't know what it is like.

If we get a home final for varsity cup the game should be at Newlands...

[Lydon]

Unfortunately that's not allowed.

That was actually the plan once when Stellenbosch complained about the lack of seats at the rugby fields. We were then going to use Newlands as a venue instead, but it would apparently have been "unfair," and teams have to play at one of the teams' home ground for some stupid reason according to Varsity Cup rules.

[kilps]

We should really be complaining about too little seating at Stellenbosch - apparently they gave us less than 2 000 tickets when the place seats 17 000...

[Lydon]

Oh yes...yet another reason why Monday night was fail The tickets get sold out so fast it's ridiculous. At the very least we should get double that.

[mazeppa]

Plans to convert UCT Radio area/Nedbank in Leslie Social Science building area into new computer lab.

Current computer labs in Leslie Commerce 3rd floor will become offices probably to house proposed new Dept of Finance as well as a smaller lab exclusively for postgrads.