Employees can achieve the ideal work-life balance in an area that offers plentiful outdoor living space, proximity to world-class wine estates, and is just a 30-minute drive into the city of Cape Town.
Somerset West has fast become one of the Western Cape’s leading semigration destinations, especially for people who are looking to move away from the city and enjoy a better quality of life.
The advent of remote working at the start of the pandemic has allowed employees to make such moves, and with these working patterns now entrenched in the “new normal”, office space needs to adapt.
Market research conducted by Heartwood Properties, which is listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange and specialises in commercial office and industrial warehousing developments across South Africa, reveals that many employees are not planning to make a full return to the office.
However, because they still need the human interaction that working in an office offers, the company is offering a solution to meet both demands – a hybrid office development. Sunvlei is such a development; a “first-of its kind”.
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Situated in the Paardevlei precinct of Somerset West – an area that has already seen several exclusive residential estates and top schools being built over the last few years – this new development aims to meet the needs of professionals looking for the ultimate work-life balance.
“Somerset West is without a doubt a very attractive location to set up the office of the future – one that is hi-tech, safe, spacious, and not only as comfortable as any home office, but better,” says Andrew Utterson, director at Heartwood Properties.
“And Sunvlei, a 2 000m², R57 million office development, offers tenants access to innovative future-focused features.”
These features include electric-vehicle charging bays, 100 solar panels, a Tesla UPS battery system, ultra-high-speed wi-fi, a back-up power generator and backup water tanks.
The development’s architecture is attractively modern and has been designed by locally based architect Bruce Wilson, who is also responsible for The Sanctuary and Waterstone shopping malls in Somerset West.
The exclusive designer interiors were a collaboration between Michelle Utterson and Madre Meyer of Source IBA and are modelled on some of the world’s best-looking airport lounges, where clean, contemporary designs rival some of the most chic of hotel lobbies.
Meyer, creative director of Source IBA, says: “We are blurring the lines with many aspects in terms of inside versus outside; serviced versus self-help; private versus public; workspace versus hospitality and analogue versus digital.”
The building will house a 190m² designer business lounge, with luxury finishes including meeting rooms, a coffee bar and zoom pods. Tenants will be able to offer these facilities to their remote workers who need to pay the occasional visit to the office.
In addition, there are eight business suites, sized between 163m² and 233m² for purchase or rent. Units can also be combined and range in price from R17 862/m² to R19 213/m².
“It’s a little different from the co-working office model offered by the likes of WeWork and Regus in the sense that only employees of Heartwood tenants will have access to the co-working spaces,” adds Utterson. For more information visit