Urban Dynamics Gauteng was involved in the feasibility, concept development and town planning applications relating to the proposed Savanna City project in Midvaal.

The R7,8bn contract signed between Old Mutual Investment Group SA (OMIGSA) and Basil Read Developments, in March 2008, will deliver a project over approximately nine years. The project will offer prospective buyers a wide price range of houses - from around R260 000 to over R1m. Cosmopolitan Housing (Pty.) Ltd has also committed to the project and specifically the provision of a variety of bonded housing products.

The township establishment application and phasing wasapproved and the environmental authorization (ROD) obtained. The planning process included a technical feasibility phase, taking into consideration environmental sensitivities of the site, geotechnical conditions, flood-lines, slopes, adjacent development fabric, road and rail infrastructure and the capacity and availability of municipal services, including engineering services. A township layout was done as an iterative process involving the project planners, engineers, developers, local authority, financiers and environmentalists. The result was a mixed urban land use, integrated with a 'green belt' or open space area connecting to open space adjacent to the site for conservation of biodiversity. The layout design was based on the principle of activity boulevards/ commercial zones along a binding Spine road, which links to the local and sub-regional road network and provides access to residential clusters. A variety of residential typologies are provided aimed at the affordable and middle income bonded market and the Financial Services Charter market. The development includes interlinked neighborhoods and security estates (total of 18 637 housing opportunities/homes), all functioning within an Urban Development Framework, which guides participation of individual land owners and body corporate, in a management and maintenance partnership with the local authority.

Areas to accommodate a full range of urban supportive facilities have been provided, including Parks (Public and Private: 95 erven), 31 erven for community facility purposes, sites to accommodate 16 schools and erven to accommodate municipal and public uses, five secondary business nodes and three major mixed land use and modal transfer nodes (72ha). A regional/sub-regional mixed use zone is planned adjacent to Stretford Station in the north-west corner of the site and a lower order business node in the south-eastern corner of the site. The north-east corner of the site will act as the 'entrance' to the site from the R82 with external road upgrading extending into the site and linking the main spine road to the existing network. The high-density residential and retail zones are located along the major spine roads predominantly at key