New building for the City adds to renewal of Germiston

Construction of the City of Ekurhuleni’s state-of-the-art building, which will house some of the City’s departments, is taking shape in the CBD of Germiston.

The building, which, once it is finished will stand as a modern landmark of Germiston, is rising on the corner of Spilsbury and Queen streets, where the old SAAME building once stood for the past 50 years.

It will be used as the new office block for the City and will accommodate 235 City officials. It will also house Germiston Customer Care Centre where residents will get all services provided by the City with face-to-face assistance by the officials, said Themba Gadebe, spokesperson for the City.

Construction work started in March and it is expected to be completed by June 2019.

It entailed the demolition of some parts of the old building, while retaining and repairing all that had heritage significance in line with the heritage resources legislation. Some roads have been temporarily closed for construction and traffic redirected into alternative access streets into Germiston CBD.

“The construction of the building is part of the Germiston Urban Renewal, which together with Kempton Park and Boksburg, are parts of the City’s economic triangle. Around 95 per cent of the City of Ekurhuleni’s revenue is drawn from these three nodes and there is a high concentration of industrial activity in these areas,” said Gadebe.

Among the departments that will be housed at the SAAME Building will be water and sanitation, roads and stormwater, energy and electricity, city planning, human settlements and customer relations management.