Balfour Precinct

Project: Balfour Park Precinct Developmental Details

Location: Balfour Park Precinct along Athol Road and Louis Botha Avenue

Client: Ntsika Architects

Team Members: Cenette Dippenaar, Dario Long, Christine van Zyl and Sarah Hulett

Status: On Going

The Balfour precinct projects included, the Student Promenade, People’s corner, Safe Park and Northview Educative Park .

The Student Promenade consisted of the improvement of the stretch of road between Burn Street and Northview Road with the implementation of much needed sidewalks, road crossings, bus stops and drop off points.

This stretch of road begins to form the basis on within which the rest of the projects begin to form, as a result, all of the projects are linked by a common denominator, the safe movement and transportation of students from the various schools in the area.

This a particular reason why the student promenade forms an important driving factor in the creation of NMT (non-motorised transport) routes.

Many of the students currently walk to school and along roads where the sidewalks have been worn down to nothing but a stretch of compacted earth, leaving no protective barrier in between the pedestrians and the vehicles on the road.

The people’s corner is located on the North Eastern corner of the Athol and Louis Botha Avenue.

This corner is significant as the land it falls on contains the Investec centre, and further along, the Balfour Mall, which is a major commercial undertaking within a largely residential area. The aim of this project is to create an interface for the pedestrians in between the large vehicular intersection and the more stationary parking lot and pedestrian routes of the Investec centre and Balfour Mall.

The project includes measures such as the implementation of safe road crossings, taxi stops and informal traders so as to create a more pedestrian orientated and aware situation. The safe park is located along Athol road, in between Campbell and Douglas street. As this area is located very much within the residential part of Balfour precinct and is one of the only instances of open space, it is proposed that this area should become a community centre and security station.

The result of this is that the residents have a place to gather or meet and resolve issues they may be facing within the area, as well as a space for recreation and socialisation which is close to home, so it is not necessary for them to travel far for the use and enjoyment of public open space.

Northview Educative Park is located along the intersection of Athol Street and Northview Road. The park forms part of the proposal to use a partial area of the Northview High School’s sports fields and turn it into a public open space which would ultimately serve as a student centre of the pupils of Northview. The school currently has a large portion of its land devoted to sports fields and the area is in desperate need for public open space.

The transformation of a small section into a community centre would serve to boost the social interaction of the pupils with their community.