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C40 Reinventing Cities shortlisted bids for City-owned sites announced

01 October 2022

The City of Cape Town’s participation in the C40 Reinventing Cities Initiative has progressed to the final stage with a shortlist of 13 bids invited to proceed to the detailed bidding stage of the competition. 

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) is a forum that shares strategies for reducing carbon emissions and spurring global action in confronting climate change. C40 connects nearly 100 of the world's greatest cities; its membership represents over 700 million people and one quarter of the global economy.

Reinventing Cities is a C40 global competition aimed at piloting innovative carbon-neutral development on public land to improve environmental sustainability and resilience.

Cape Town and nine other global cities successfully bid to participate in the second round of the Reinventing Cities Initiative to promote carbon neutral urban regeneration through four demonstration projects to be implemented by private developers on under-utilised, public land.

'For us to meet the City's commitment to the Paris Agreement, we need new buildings to be as close to zero carbon as possible and for existing buildings to be retrofitted. In October 2019 we made four City owned sites available to the private sector for zero carbon development. It is encouraging that 32 bidding teams participated in the first stage of the competition. They submitted the proposals for the four sites, and 13 have now been shortlisted to proceed to the next stage of the competition,' said Alderman Eddie Andrews, the City's Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment.

The successful bids invited to proceed to the next stage of the competition are:

  • Athlone station site: Lead & Reimagine; Circular Community; Athlone Green City
  • Kapteinsklip site: CITRA C40; Lathitha Consortium; Mnandi Green City
  • Moquet Farm site: Eco-Village; Mouquet Green City; Block by Block; Sustain'ikhaya Development
  • Tygerdal site: Team Revolut, CITRA C40, Tygerdal Green City

The 32 bids were assessed against the C40 '10 Challenges' to deliver decarbonised development, and the following additional criteria applied: sustainability of the bidding team, relevance of the proposals to the context of the site, and bidders demonstrating an understanding of the sites' context and challenges.

'The competition was stiff with many innovative solutions and ambitious community focused plans,' said Alderman Andrews.

Evaluation of the bidders Expressions of Interest was not a standard process and several steps were necessary to ensure compliance with applicable regulations, and a fair process. As such, the City obtained specialist legal advice at key points during the evaluation process and an independent external assurance provider observed all proceedings of the Bid Evaluation Committee to ensure compliance.

'I'm excited that we are now progressing to the next stage. The proposals are of a high quality and innovative. This bodes well for a more climate resilient future for Cape Town,' said Alderman Andrews.

Helene Chartier, Director of Urban Planning and Design at C40, echoed these sentiments: 'C40 is delighted to note the finalist proposals selected for the Reinventing Cities Competition in Cape Town. Teams selected for the four sites were shortlisted from a large number of submissions. This confirms that there is great interest from the private sector to collaborate with cities to harness a new model of urban regeneration that is more sustainable, resilient and inclusive. We look forward to the next phase of the competition. Congratulations to the finalist teams.'

Located in Cape Town's transit-accessible precincts of Athlone, Mitchell's Plain, Diep River, and Goodwood, the four sites all have significant potential for transit-oriented development, mixed land uses, and affordable and inclusionary housing.

These are aimed at supporting the rejuvenation of the surrounding local areas, and transforming them into beacons of zero-carbon and resilient development.

The competition requires multi-disciplinary teams of architects, planners, environmental specialists, and communities, led by a developer; to submit proposals which deliver carbon neutral and resilient urban regeneration, focusing on energy used for building heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, ventilation, electrical services, water demand management and harvesting, sustainable materials, and green mobility, among others.

More information about the competition, the subject sites, and the shortlisted projects is available at http://www.c40reinventingcities.org.

The second detailed bidding stage will commence early next year, the details of which will be communicated to shortlisted teams in due course.  

End


Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office

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