JSE-listed large-scale residential property developer Balwin Properties announced on Wednesday that it has concluded agreements to develop a 1 260-apartment lifestyle estate in the larger Westown mixed-use development near Hillcrest, in the outer west of Durban.

Comprising one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments priced from about R900 000 to about R2.1-million, Shongweni Park will be developed in 20 phases over the next four years and is set to break ground in mid-2024.

The new lifestyle centre will be built in accordance with Balwin’s Classic brand and will include a training science gym, a children’s play area, a swimming pool, and running and walking tracks. Additional amenities include a spa, a laundromat and a restaurant.

Complementing Balwin’s two lifestyle estates on the KwaZulu-Natal coast – in Umhlanga and Ballito – Shongweni Park will comply with IFC EDGE certification and will be built to Six-Star Green rating and net-zero carbon emissions as certified by the Green Building Council of South Africa.

“All our apartments are IFC EDGE Advanced certified, with the benefits of this being passed on to our homeowners,” said Balwin CEO Steve Brookes at the project site on Wednesday.

“Because of these more sustainable building practices, homeowners save on utility bills and also qualify for a Balwin Green Bond with most of the major financial institutions. This additional discount on the normal interest rate that homeowners qualify for can save them hundreds of thousands of rands over the bond term.”

Shongweni means ‘column of smoke’ in iTshongweni and is derived from the spray at the Ugede waterfall close to Hillcrest.

Outside KwaZulu-Natal, Balwin has residential apartments in the middle- to upper-market segments in high-density, high-growth nodes in key metropolitan areas in Johannesburg, Tshwane and the Western Cape. It has a secure development pipeline of 45 411 apartments across 27 developments that represent an approximate 15-year development horizon.

Westown, where Shongweni Park is located, is a 100-ha mixed-use precinct of urban and green space positioned off the N3 freeway between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. It is the first phase in the Shongweni Urban Development and one of the biggest infrastructure developments by the eThekwini municipality since the 2010 soccer World Cup.

Planned as a managed urban environment, Westown will not only integrate with existing outdoor and lifestyle activities and facilities in the area but also enhance them with the rehabilitation of sugar cane into an indigenous active green belt.