The Waterfall City Conference Centre and Hotel (WCCCH) had now formally started its construction phase, following a sod-turning ceremony. Located in the much larger Waterfall City development in Midrand in Gauteng province, the WCCCH is a R750-million joint development project by Attacq and Rabie Property Group.

The hotel will have 180 rooms and apartments, with an open-all-day restaurant, a swimming pool, and other wellness amenities, including a spa and a gym. The conference centre will be able to accommodate 1 350 delegates in a single venue and 2 000 guests across 16 flexible event spaces.

“This has been a long time coming – five years in the making – and it’s exciting to finally see it out of the ground,” enthused Attacq Development Executive David Oosthuizen. “This development is a natural evolution of where our management team has wanted to take Waterfall City, alongside our work on Gateway East and Aspire. The conference centre and hotel are going to be a real trigger for the rest of the precinct – Waterfall City is going to look very different in the next 18 months, and our clients are just as excited about that as we are. We’re grateful for the partnership with Rabie Property Group in bringing this to life, and we look forward to watching it take shape.”

The WCCCH will be operated by the African Rain Collection, which ran the Century City Conference Centre and Hotel, and other hotels and restaurants, in Cape Town. African Rain will contribute more than ten years’ experience in operating business events and in hospitality.

“[This] groundbreaking marks an exciting milestone for everyone who has contributed to bringing this vision to life,” highlighted African Rain Collection CEO Gary Koetser. “We’re incredibly proud of what our teams and partners have achieved together. The response since announcing the project has reinforced our confidence that we have the right product, in the right place, at the right time. Enquiries are already coming through, and the market, the media and the travel trade are all telling us the same thing: this is exactly what Johannesburg needs.”

The WCCCH is scheduled to be fully operational by the first quarter of 2028. Bookings for conferences and events are already being taken.