On the 16th August 2007, at a gala event held at the Table Bay Hotel in the V & A Waterfront, the Urban Renewal Programme (URP) Department was given an award by the National Productivity Institute for being one of the finalists in the Western Cape Productivity Awards. The event was  held in recognition of organisations and communities in the Western Cape for their contributions to building South Africa’s productive capacity and characterised by high calibre and high quality entrants ranging from emerging businesses, the public sector and the corporate sector.

In the public sector category, seven entrants were short-listed for the awards, and the City of Cape Town was presented by Utility Directorate’s Scientific Services as well as by the URP Department. The winner of this category was Kirstenbosch Gardens, and both the URP Department and South African National Parks were the runners-up. Despite not winning the first prize, the gala function was a good learning and experience sharing event. City departments that have highly productive, innovative and high quality projects are encouraged to enter the awards in 2008.