Cell C has officially broken ground at what is to be the company's new operations hub, integrating data and network operations, customer care, and distribution.
In a bid to desegregate its Johannesburg-based offices - in Rivonia Road, Esher Place and Sandton - Cell C recently signed up for the development of a 46 000 square-metre campus, north of Sandton. Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig inaugurated the site this week with developers Atterbury Property Developments, at an official sod-turning ceremony at Waterfall Business Estate - the 1.6 million square-metre complex that will house the campus.
Knott-Craig says the campus will improve operational efficiencies and bring social cohesion.
“Currently, our head office functions are spread across Johannesburg. It is not helpful in communications and it is expensive. We are sitting in the most expensive area in SA and need to bring costs down.”
Site specs
Cell C's new campus, scheduled for occupation in December next year, will include offices, a distribution warehouse, customer care, Cell C's network operations centre and a Cell C shop.
Taken on a 15-year lease, the campus has 14 000 square-metres of future development potential, which Knott-Craig says will be useful should the company need to hire more people. “We won't have to find a new campus.”
The site is part of the multibillion-rand Waterfall Business Estate mixed-use commercial development, described by Atterbury Property Group as “the most ambitious of its kind being undertaken in SA”.
Knott-Craig says the leases of Cell C's current buildings all expire at more or less the same time, making it easier to shut the door on its old, scattered offices and move on to the new amalgamated campus.
The estate spans ground on both sides of the N1 highway, from the Woodmead Interchange - through the Buccleuch Interchange - to the Allandale Interchange. It joins Modderfontein, in the east, and reaches beyond Kyalami, in the west. Its location ensures easy access from Pretoria, Sandton and Johannesburg. Atterbury Property Group says the estate will close the gap between northern Sandton and Midrand, “creating a large commercial growth node”.
Cell C is one of a number of companies that have opted to locate operations at the estate - others include Walmart's Massbuild, KFC and McDonalds. A number of technology companies, including Nashua and Oracle, currently have offices in the area, which is flanked by Johannesburg and Pretoria. Altech Group will take occupation of a 4 200 square-metre office building in the nearby Woodmead North Office Park, in the next few months.
The development of Waterfall Business Estate will take place over the next 14 years, with a total value developers say is “well over R25 billion”.
Cell C's presence, says Atterbury Property Group, will also result in improved road infrastructure in the area.
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