Meet the Team

  Director

Ricci Polack spent the period from 2004 to 2016 working on urban rejuvenation projects in Braamfontein and Johannesburg, South Africa. His first development in the area, a 27 loft development in the old Chubb security buildings on Owl Street, was the first of its kind in Johannesburg, starting a revival of true New York style loft living. Ricci carved the old factory and offices into multi level, industrial style lofts, incorporating wherever possible original elements such as hoists and old goods lifts into the new apartments. The Refinery, and Ricci’s other developments in the area, embraced the ideals of sustainable building practice with much of the material initially gutted from the buildings later being re-used. The Refinery became home to an avante guard community of artists and media professionals and received extensive media coverage.

Polack’s next two developments, Tribeca and Frost Street Lofts were along much the same lines, mixing in these instances residential apartments with studios and offices. Starting to extend into more commercial projects, Ricci was also responsible for the development of the AFDA Film School in Braamfontein Werf, a building admired for its seamless integration of rough industrial design elements with hi-tech functionality, and a set of film studios in Braamfontein itself. Ricci’s creative design for a building he purchased in City and Suburban in Eastern Johannesburg CBD was carried to fruition by the developer and stands today as Arts on Main.

Following that, Polack co-founded, designed and built an active birth unit in Saxonwold, Johannesburg called Genesis Clinic. Created to take the sterility of a hospital environment out of women’s birth experiences, the conversion of a beautiful old Saxonwold home and the development of a new medical wing on the premises are more reminiscent of a five star hotel than a medical institution.

Most recently, the old Johannesburg post office and the surrounding Telkom buildings have been the focus of Ricci’s creative hand. He took on a site comprising 35 000m2 of  industrial buildings and created 3 Separate complexes in a combined scheme. 

ricci@isikhala.co.za

Contracts Manager/ Director

Eugen Arnold studied Construction Management and has been involved in the construction industry for the last 34 Years. Eugen worked with Ricci on various projects. His most recent positions was as the Contracts Manager on three High Density Luxury Developments namely, Kikuyu, Polofields and Munyaka all in the greater Waterfall Area, Midrand.

Ø Kikuyu – 1270 Apartments Estimated Value R 1,524 Billion – USD 102 Million

Ø Munyaka – 5020 Apartments Estimated Value R 10 Billion – USD 725 Million

Ø Polofields - 2700 Apartments Estimated Value R 3 Billion – USD 210 Million

Responsibilities

The contracts managers roles within the Balwin structure encompass everything from taking virgin land, through design and town planning approvals on to the phased completion of apartments for hand over to the clients. In addition, the construction and completion of all amenity buildings, lifestyle centres, lagoons and hotels to be found on the development. This includes all infrastructure upgrades required to meet provincial and national requirements for approval namely, road and bridge construction, bulk water and sewer installations, new reservoir construction and electrical sub stations and network construction. 

Direct Responsibility 

Ø Town Planning Submissions, approvals and compliance.

Ø Environmental Submissions, approvals and compliance.

Ø Professional Team Appointments, Service Level Agreements and Payments

Ø Management and Co-ordination of the entire design team.

Ø Building Plan Approval, permits, and Occupation Certificates.

Ø NHBRC registration, enrolment and compliance.

Ø Department of Labour Registration and compliance.

Ø Bulk Service Main Contractor Appointment, management, compliance and payment. i.e., road, bridge, electrical, Fibre network, water and stormwater construction.

Ø Budgets and Budget Management

Ø Contracts Management of all construction activities from start to handover.

Ø Internal infrastructure construction

Ø Estate Management on the entire estate, including Service Level Agreements and Payments.

Ø SMME and Community Forum, management, employment and mentorship.

Ø Utilities Management, prepaid metering and billing.

Ø Security and access control management.

Ø Marketing, show block, signage, billboards and banners.

Ø Client Liaison, snagging and complaint resolution.

Ø Community and Stakeholder management and liaison.

Additional Responsibility

Ø Chairman of the Residents’ Associations on the developments

Ø Representation to the Waterfall Management Company the landowners.

Ø Cost saving initiatives, design improvement and modernisation.

Ø Ambassador of the Balwin Foundation

In short, the contract’s managers are ultimately responsible for everything on the development from inception to completion. 

Websites for the Developments I have been involved in for Balwin.

MUNYAKA 

https://balwin.co.za/developments/munyaka-lifestyle-estate-apartments/

KIKUYU

https://waterfallcity.co.za/properties/kikuyu/

POLOFIELDS

https://balwin.co.za/developments/the-polofields-apartments/

Engineer -Modular Projects

• Modular Projects develops property in Johannesburg. Arthur has created the following exciting projects - 
• 1.  The Silos Newtown up cycling a grain silo into a residential development (student quarter) and 2.Building a 3 storey flat in Windsor with shipping container units and  two sets of student quarters in Brixton near UJ also constructed with shipping containers.
• 3. 27 Boxes Melville - A retail shopping centre constructed from Shipping containers.

Legal - Lawtons Africa

Penny  has practiced as a real estate professional for over 15 years and focuses on providing advice to property developers, corporate clients and individuals on all aspects relating to real estate matters and developments, including implementation strategies relating to the acquisition and disposition of real estate.

She acts for corporate real estate companies as well as companies with large real estate portfolios such as :

• First National Bank
• BP Southern Africa
• One Property Holdings
• Telkom
• The Enigma Group; and
• Zenprop Holdings

Penny has been involved in a number of new developments in Johannesburg:

• Industrial developments such as Newport Business Park in Kyasands, The Stewards Industrial Park and Apex Industrial in Benoni 
• Residential and mixed-use developments such as Arts on Main, Main Street Life, Revolution House, The Main Change, Rocket Factory are all situated within the Maboneng District on the east-side of Johannesburg 
• Sectional and full title residential developments such as Ballantyne, West End  and Anika in Bryanston, Eternity in Rivonia, and Ascot Estate/The Stewards in Benoni

Recently the firm received the Property and Construction Team of the Year award from African Legal Awards for our involvement in the Maboneng District mixed-use development, one of Penny’s projects.

She provided legal advice to the developers in respect of subdivisions, consolidations and sectional title development regarding the buildings acquired and re-developed within the precinct

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