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CONCRETE BLOCK PAVING REJUVINATES HERMANUS CBD THOROUGHFARE
June 7,
2021 1009 1009 
Situated in the heart of the Central Business District (CBD), High Street in Hermanus has been upgraded from a traditional asphalt, kerb and pavement through-road where the car was king, into a shared street with an integrated living space for pedestrians, cyclists and cars. Kerbing has made way for open-stormwater channels, which, in conjunction with the new road and pedestrian layouts, have been paved with Concrete Block Paving (CBP) supplied by CMA member, CEL Paving Products.
High Street’s upgrade forms part of an overall framework plan commissioned by the Overstrand Municipality in 2016. Developed by Gapp Architects, the framework focuses on revamping the CBD, the treatment of public spaces and traffic flows. As one of several development opportunities, the framework identified High Street as an important historic route, and as such, recommended transforming it from a traditional shop-and-go precinct into a recreational space.
Hedwig Crooijmans-lemmer from Gapp Architects and Urban Designers, says the Overstrand Municipality has taken the framework plan on board.
“The municipality is actively promoting the Hermanus CBD and it recognises the important role that the quality of the public space plays in promoting tourism and stimulating the CBD’s economy.
“Business and restaurant owners have suffered with the introduction of shopping malls on the outskirts of the town. Given that High Street and the CBD have a lot to offer, we believed that if packaged differently, the area had great potential to pull back the shoppers and tourists. We reasoned that encouraging them to linger and sample High Street’s unique mix of shops, boutiques, restaurants and coffee shops at their leisure, was the best means of achieving this goal.
“Before drawing up our High Street plan, we developed a public space manual based on the principles outlined in the overall framework. The manual speaks directly to international best-practice standards on outdoor urban environments and covers aspects such as colour, materials, the principles of greening and the creation of better pedestrian locations.
“By providing more leisure space we wanted to encourage shops and restaurants to spill out onto the sidewalks. We took our cue from other sections of Hermanus which have been redeveloped over the past five-to-ten years, including some of the earlier paving projects. We looked at Gearing’s Point and Market Square where the paving was well received by the local community and has held up well, and we decided to create a sense of place in High Street using the same visual language. This is why we chose CEL’s concrete pavers which had been used on the earlier projects.”
The High Street upgrade was implemented in conjunction with the installation of a new stormwater drainage system and both projects were handled by main contractor, Meyer Beton Siviele en Boukontrakteurs. In addition to new piping, seven Sustainable Urban Drainage Sections (SUDs) areas were installed at various points along the 300m street. Measuring approximately 1.5 x 5m the SUDs allow some of the stormwater to drain back into the ground rather than into the stormwater system. The SUDS have been planted with indigenous shrubs, flowers ground and trees and will be flanked with benches built with natural stone and wooden seating.
“We have also constructed a pergola at the intersection of High St and Dirkie Uys St. Facing onto High St, it is integrated with the adjacent pavement and creates an attractive focal point. It will house market stalls and be used in support of events such as the annual whale festival.
“The number of parking bays has been reduced in High Street which is always a contentious debate. However, our public-space initiative has enjoyed good support from the local officials, politicians, local business and organisations such as the History Society,” concluded Crooijmans-lemmer.
The High Street upgrade was combined with the installation of a new stormwater network in the CBD. Designed and managed by Element Consulting Engineers, it formed part of Overstrand’s new stormwater master plan for Hermanus.
“It was during the planning phase of the stormwater network that we learnt about the High Street Revitalization Project,” said Element civil engineer, Uli du Toit.
“Therefore to eliminate unnecessary expenditure and disruptions to the residents and business owners in High Street, I proposed that both projects be implemented simultaneously. It made no sense to resurface High St twice, with asphalt after the pipe installation and again a few months later with concrete block paving. So Element and GAPP integrated their design proposals and coordinated the installation and positioning of elements such as the stormwater network, paving, SUD’s, trees, bollards, benches, pergola footings, and so on.
“Moreover, while our structural engineers provided valuable input in optimising the pergola’s design, our electrical engineers were involved with the design of new streetlights as well as the relocation and replacement of aged electrical underground cables prior to the installation of the concrete pavers,” advised Du Toit.
Precast concrete stormwater pipes for the entire CBD stormwater upgrade project which ranged from ø450 mm to ø900 mm was supplied by CMA member, Rocla.
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