The past decade in the Somerset West/Strand market has seen more than 50% of retail activity shift to the hyper-successful Somerset Mall node. And Standard Bank followed suit securing a stand-alone building on an outparcel of the Somerset Mall site to make the most of passing traffic.

Alchemy was able to identify a suitable space for ABSA in the Habitat Centre, adjacent to the Mall and on the main access road, providing a highly visible set of premises at a below-market rental, with a useful mix of ground floor retail space and cheaper 1st floor office accommodation. The 1st floor tenant relocated to the Mall, the ground floor tenant mix was reshuffled to accommodate ABSA’s retail requirement and after significant engineering input, an internal staircase was punched into the pre-stressed 1st floor slab to provide better vertical  circulation.