Built as an underground pedestrian walkway in the early 1970s, the concourse beneath Strand and Adderley Streets underwent a recent major refit bringing the passageway into the future.
The new Strand Street Concourse was officially opened for pedestrians to use as a thoroughfare on 14 August 2017.
The Strand Street Concourse, owned by the City of Cape Town, is part of a broader network of underground walkways that serves as a critical pedestrian link between the Cape Town Station precinct and the St George’s Street, Woolworths, Old Mutual and the Golden Acre shopping malls.
The major construction work of the 1 752 m² area has now been completed. This forms part of an overall revitalisation project for the concourse.
‘The concourse allows for protected pedestrian movement across the busy Strand and Adderley Streets, with a number of exit points into the heart of the central business district. It is an integral thoroughfare to the CBD that allows pedestrians to move safely and avoid vehicular traffic. They are able to move quickly without having to take traffic lights into account to get across the busy intersection.”
“In addition, the concourse offers protection from inclement weather conditions,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Assets and Facilities Management, Councillor Stuart Diamond.
The scope of work, which started in September 2016, included retiling of the entire area, installation of new shutter doors at all entrances, installation of new lighting, the replacement of all six escalators, as well as the design and construction of new escalator landings at street level to provide ease of access for pedestrians, among a whole host of other improvements.
At this stage the City services aren’t on site yet. Upon completion, public interface services will include two community courts, municipal pay points, and a centre management office, while offices to accommodate the City’s departments of Social Development, Building Development Management, and Environmental Management will be available down the line. These public interface offices will operate during normal working hours and will be closed from 22:00 to 06:00 daily for security reasons.
‘The Strand Street Concourse refit project ties in with the over-arching principle of the City’s Organisational Development and Transformation Plan to become a more customer-centric organisation. Thousands of residents make their way to the city centre on a daily basis and many previously made use of the concourse as a thoroughfare. It therefore makes perfect sense to have municipal services available within easy reach, thus taking services closer to our residents. I am sure that once the revamp has been completed, the pedestrians will be back in their numbers to make use of this public space again which will be a lot more comfortable than it was before,’ added Councillor Diamond.
This project is also a fine example of how the City plans to manage its strategic assets in future.
‘The refit of the Strand Street Concourse is yet another exciting chapter in the story of the revitalisation of the Cape Town CBD. The upgrades serve as an important recognition of public transport users who travel from other parts of the metro on a daily basis,’ said Ward Councillor for Ward 115, Councillor Dave Bryant.
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