Main Street Mall gets recognition

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News and media releases: 2009

01 July 2009

A vibrant and attractive pedestrian mall in the CBD

MAIN STREET'S radical transformation from an empty, gloomy and decaying strip into a vibrant, busy road has been recognised with a Halala Joburg Award, winning this year in the category Sustaining Joburg.

The category's theme was Past, present and future. Run by the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA), the annual Halala Joburg Awards are handed out to projects that are reviving the inner city. This year the winners were announced on 11 June.

The Sustaining Joburg category recognises how public space has been used to highlight and preserve Joburg's heritage. It also looks at projects that support the City's environmental initiatives.

In the beginning of the 21st century, Main Street, historically one of Joburg's most important streets as it is a living link to its mining origins, was deteriorating. This alarmed property owners in the area, who wanted to preserve its history and heritage.

Section 21 company

Together they decided to invest in resuscitating the area and established a section 21 company, Main Street Mall, to undertake the work.

Halala Award winner in the category Past, Present and Future

Improvements began in 2004, and a stretch of the street was turned over to pedestrians. Now this award-winning pedestrian mall has infrastructure that highlights the city's past and creates a safe and sustainable commercial environment.

Throngs of people walk among its trees or sit at pavement cafés; plants and gardens are well maintained. A full-time cleaning company, appointed by Main Street Mall, keeps the area clean; helpful security guards ensure safety.

Main Street has always been home to mining company headquarters, such as Anglo Platinum, Anglo Gold, Goldfields and BHP Billiton, as well as the Chamber of Mines. With this in mind, street art includes a replica of the Mapungubwe Rhino while a stamp mill and mining headgear are also installed along the stretch.

The iconic gold rhino of Mapungubwe, South Africa's first kingdom, dates back 800 years. The original is housed in a museum on the University of Pretoria campus, while the Mapungubwe site - now a World Heritage site - is within the Mapungubwe National Park in Limpopo province. The metre-long golden fibre-glass replica is on a plinth in the mining precinct, to serve as a reminder of the city's gold-mining history - and of Mapungubwe, South Africa's first "city of gold".

Special character

These items add to "the special character which we set out to create", says Hans Jooste, from the Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition.

A living link to the past

Mining artefacts and equipment were placed strategically along Main Street Mall to emphasise the mining theme, he explains. The "Mapungubwe Rhino statue was placed with a story board depicting the history of the first gold mining in South Africa".

Development of the strip has brought opportunities to surrounding businesses. Besides the mining companies, the street boasts craft markets, restaurants and public space oriented businesses.

"What set Main Street Mall apart is the fact that they managed to use a public space, develop it and make it accessible to everyone. They took elements of the mining heritage and portrayed these in such a way that everyone relates," says Joan Millan, from the Halala Joburg Awards management team.

"Main Street Mall has created an accessible, tangible heritage experience that highlights the participation of all South Africans in the history of gold mining," she adds.

According to Jooste, "the most successful achievement has been that every sector of the population is able to find something which appeals to their interest".

Background

In 2000, the street was deserted and the only people seen on it were either arriving for work or leaving for the day.

An exciting, clean and safe environment

The Main Street Mall company was set up and funded by property owners, who also committed to paying a monthly levy to ensure that it was well maintained. The City, through the JDA, also contributed to the project. It assisted in raising the capital and was involved in planning and implementation.

"Main Street Mall was formed to create an exciting, clean, safe and landscaped environment for the owners of and tenants in the buildings in Main Street," explains Jooste.

"A historical mining theme was adopted to give recognition to the fact that Main Street has been the home of many of the leading mining and commercial companies in the republic."

The development, aimed at benefiting property owners, small businesses and tenants in the buildings along the street between Rissik and Mclaren streets, supported the City's urban renewal projects and city improvement district initiative.

"Main Street Mall is proof of a very successful exercise and has contributed enormously to the revitalisation of the Johannesburg inner city," says Jooste.

It is "the portrayal of the core of Johannesburg", Millan explains.

The City has entered a lease agreement with Main Street Mall to ensure that the area is well maintained and continues to grow for the next 45 years.

Two projects out of five nominations won in the Halala Joburg Awards' Sustaining Joburg category - Main Street Mall and eKhaya Neighbourhood Improvement Programme in Hillbrow.

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