African Kingdom Holdings is behind the impressive revival of the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate
Ceenex’s ongoing participation in the development of the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate in Kempton Park in the East Rand of Gauteng serves as a sound example of the firm’s ability to provide cutting-edge civil engineering infrastructure solutions to innovative private property developers, such as African Kingdom Holdings. AKH and its professional team are behind the impressive revival of the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate which is attracting many new residents with its unique and comprehensive property solutions.
Ceenex have nurtured a long working relationship with the developer of both Serengeti and Eye of Africa Golf Estates. The company was appointed to undertake the design and construction monitoring of all civil services, including water, sewer, stormwater and roads, for the full title stands in the Golf & Residential Estate. Based on the company’s track record at the estate, Ceenex’s Infrastructure Division was also appointed to design and supervise the bulk earthworks and construction of all services for Whistling Thorn, the first 188 apartments in the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate in 2018. Four months later, the company was appointed to undertake similar services for an additional 108 apartments in phase 2. The company has since also successfully designed and supervised the construction of the civil infrastructure for 360 full title stands and 203 cluster housing units in the estate. Future planning for the estate includes an additional 150 cluster housing units and commercial development.
Nico Meyer, a Civil Engineer and Project Manager in Ceenex’s Infrastructure Division, led the design and management of these projects from the outset and is now also representing the firm on the Technical Advisory Team of the Serengeti Property Owners Association (SPOA). “Ceenex’s appointment to this position bears testament to the quality of our work for this client and the confidence that it has in our abilities. Our involvement in both the Eye of Africa Golf & Residential Estate and Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate have provided us with ample opportunity to demonstrate our leadership in the design of quality civil engineering infrastructure for residential estates in the country, which remains a pioneer in estate living,” Meyer says.
As part of the Technical Advisory Team of the SPOA, Ceenex also developed a state-of-the-art infrastructure asset register for the estate. It is just as detailed as the Generally Recognized Accounting Practices (GRAP)-compliant infrastructure registers that Ceenex continues to develop for many of the country’s municipalities. Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate is believed to be the first golf estate in the country to adopt such a system to guide the proactive maintenance of its infrastructure assets. Meyer believes that it sets the precedent for other golf estates in the country as they increasingly take custodianship of the
services within their properties to help relieve stretched municipalities of the maintenance of critical infrastructure.
Meyer says that Ceenex has retained its competitive edge in the private development market through its extensive skills and depth of experience designing and supervising civil engineering infrastructure, combined with the intense focus and personalised service that a mid-tier consulting engineering firm can provide clients to ensure a successful outcome.
The company’s innovative designs helped save the developer in construction time and cost while also ensuring the construction of civil engineering infrastructure of the highest possible quality. For example, significant cost savings were achieved in the construction of the roads by harnessing some of the latest road construction methods, while the innovative use of polyvinyl chloride pipes for certain sections of the development provided a more feasible alternative to high-density polyethylene pipes.
By efficiently managing the application of the many Water Use Licenses and Environmental Authorisations for this development, Ceenex was able to keep the various projects on track. Notably, Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate has received much acclaim from the authorities for the way in which construction of the civil engineering infrastructure and various structures have been managed in an environmentally sensitive area.
At the same time, the engineering team was also able to mitigate the significant risk associated with constructing services in ground that is underlain by dolomite. This entailed devising unique and effective engineering solutions for both the Eye of Africa Golf & Residential Estate and Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate in Kempton Park where dolomite classifications are particularly high.
Meyer concludes that he is proud of Ceenex’s involvement in both the Eye of Africa Golf & Residential Estate and Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate and looks forward to the company’s continued long association with AKH and its team moving forward.