1. Arnhem Renovation:
The Arnhem exterior renovation was completed at the end of February this year. During the final 2 months of the project we discovered large cracks in the brick façade at very high elevation. This issue and a few other minor variations increased the project cost by 17%. Considering the extent of the cracks, a 17% overrun on the budget feels like a reasonable outcome.

Project budget: R 871 157 .50
Final cost: R 1 018 585 .00
Total overrun: (17 %) R 147 427.50

A sincere thank you to our contractor Elite for their hard work on this project. One item that was not addressed in the renovation is the roof waterproofing, which was only spot repaired. We anticipate that this “may” need to be completely redone in the next 3 years.

 

2. New Portfolio Manager:
Our new portfolio manager is Danie Smit from Osro. We sincerely thank Johan van der Merwe for all his years of assisting Arnhem and wish him well.

 

3. Load Shedding & Generator:
Load shedding has increased dramatically over the last few years. In July 2022 we surpassed the total hours of load shedding in 2021. As per prior circulars, a generator will be installed on the 10th August 2022. The Trustees have taken the view that this is a necessity in a 14-storey building. We have received 15 letters of agreement and support from owners. One resident on the 1st floor objected to the process. Another non-resident owner on the 10th floor queried the install from an environmental standpoint, which we covered in a circular distributed in July 2022 (they had not read that yet).

 

4. New Rules:
In the past, Trustees and owners have requested that we update the conduct rules. The old rules have become out dated for a modern sectional title scheme. After months of work we have a new set of rules, that to a large part are fairly standard. We hope to approve these at the next AGM.

 

5. Water Meters:
This has been a hot topic for years at the AGM. It has become law that schemes are required to have water meters. The Trustees aim to comply with this law and to start the process to install the meters. This will be discussed and dealt with at the AGM.

 

6. Security:
We have no incidents to report on security, however we advise owners and residents to continue to be vigilant. Once the generator is installed, our security and access control will be operational during load shedding.

 

7. Recycling:

The recycling room has been transformed into the new green room, with comprehensive guideline and explanations. Thank you Agnes.

 

Sincerely,
Nicholas Maunder
Chairman