An improvement in South African consumer and business sentiment in early 2018 contributed to real estate investment trust (Reit) Tower Property Fund’s vacancies reducing to 5% at the end of its financial year to May 31, after having reached a high of 12% in January. However, in order to secure new tenancies, Tower has had to offer lower-than-anticipated rentals and longer beneficial occupation periods, dubbing it “a clear sign of the times”.

A resolution passed by City of Cape Town council earlier this week is expected to get the ball rolling in expediting housing opportunities across the city. According to a statement by the City of Cape Town, the city’s Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA) will now conclude the four contracts for the appointment of multi-disciplinary teams tasked with overseeing the successful implementation of housing developments. “These teams – one for each of the City’s four areas – will consist of …

An idea to retrofit existing buildings in African cities with three-dimensional (3D) printed porous insulation panels to improve liveability and reduce energy consumption for cooling and ventilation has been named the African winner of the Cities for our Future competition run by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The idea is now on the global shortlist of 12 ideas, narrowed down from 1 200 entries, with the overall winner to be announced in November.

LafargeHolcim first half profit fell 43%, the company said on Friday, as the world’s largest cement took 300-million Swiss francs ($301.81-million) in restructuring costs from its overhaul under Chief Executive Jan Jenisch. The Zurich company said first-half net profit tumbled to 371-million Swiss francs ($373.24-million), from 651-million francs a year earlier.

The Southern Africa Readymix Association (Sarma), The Concrete Institute (TCI), the Concrete Society of Southern Africa (CSSA) and the Concrete Manufacturers Association (CMA) are looking forward to hosting more than 300 delegates at this year’s The Concrete Conference (TCC), which will take place on August 1 and 2 at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, in Boksburg. Themed The Future is Concrete, the event is sponsored by construction materials companies AfriSam, Chryso, PPC, Sephaku Cement and KonkreteGlobal.