CHANGE IN VALUE ALTERATIONS MADE OCCUPANCY CHANGES

Transcription

1 INTRODUCTION This assignment is based on a residential house situated on 104 Rochester Road in Salt River, Cape Town. The house has an erf size of 238m 2 and floor size m 2 with two storeys. The ground floor is currently occupied by the owner and his family. The first floor was built to be a student accommodation. It has a lounge with open planed kitchen, two bathrooms to share and five individual bedrooms. All the tenants are students from University of Cape Town. The house originally had only one storey and the addition of the second storey took place in This house was built in 1800s and it s current? Municipal rates is R1.2 million. The current owner bought this house in 2002 and the value of this house was R600, 000. The properties with similar erf size are selling from R2.3 million to R3.5 million within the same area.

2 CHANGE IN VALUE ALTERATIONS MADE OCCUPANCY CHANGES Since the occupancy change in 2002, there have been so many alterations that have been made to the old solid and strong residential building. It was constructed for residential use and the back yard was a stable. When the present occupiers (owners) of the building bought it, they had to make alterations to the property, making the whole building a residential property, changing the stable into a 2-roomed student accommodation and lowering the ceiling to a height of 2 meters from 3.5 meters which was too high for them. The value of the building increased after they had rental incomes but the maintenance costs were high since it is an old building. In 2011 the alterations of the building changed not only inside but the outside the building as well.

3 The largest and most visible alteration was the addition of another storey with a different plan to the first one to make it a double storey. The storey was constructed for student accommodation in a modern way and it consists of student rooms, with the internal envelope being partitioned with timber boards which has an advantage of having good thermal insulation but also has a disadvantage of unsupported sound proof. The walls are of timber, with the floor finish being carpet in the student rooms and tiles in the rest of

4 the rooms, which requires good maintenance to keep the value of the building. Openings that allow enough light into the new storey were added and also the open plan in the kitchen, dining and sitting rooms has a social significance and allows people to interact. This modern storey also exhibits the use of technology in the installation of air conditioners. Safety was also included in the construction of this storey, for fire there are fire extinguishers in the house. Some alterations were also made in the first storey, such as rubble was added to the foundation which only had mountain rocks aligned and changing the 2- rooms in the backyard to a garage and this is an advantage since it provides shelter and security of the motor vehicles. The rubble covered the hollow part of the foundation therefore reducing the amount of sound that is produced by stepping on the floor. Lastly the outside of the building was painted a new colour white, which according to the owners is easy and less costly to maintain.

5 Considering the age, location, strength and stability, social significance, alterations and costs incurred to the building and the amount of income that is received in form of rent. It shows the value of the building is high and the maintenance is not very high. However there is a factor that might pull down the value of the house, which is covering all the land with concrete slab, leaving no space for gardening or recreational space. This might reduce its value because it will not be considered as sustainable.

6 3.0 TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION The building is built on wide-strip foundation; which is favourable because the land beneath is a mountain rock which is stable.

7 EXTERNAL ENVELOPE EXTERNAL WALLS The house is painted white to reduce the maintenance costs since white is easy to maintain and appealing as compared to the former colour peach. White also has an added advantage of maintaining the room temperature. On the outside the building is characterised by limestone cladding which is resistant to harsh weather, making the building withstand environmental loads. It s also cheap to maintain since it requires painting once in every five years. The building is a solid building since loading was done on site, with clay bricks which are 460mm thick, which proves that the labour force was expensive to obtain due to the massive labour input. The ground floor, which little or no alterations are allowed maintains the heritage of the building by the presence of bay windows. For the added storey there are aluminium windows which are easy to maintain and appealing to the target market.

8 INTERNAL WALLS PARTITIONS The internal partitions are made of gypsum boards which are characterised by poor sound and thermal insulation since their thickness is negligible to this parameters. This makes the building internal design in the first floor temporary and flexible since it can be easily changed from one form to another. The choice of materials was cheap since gypsum board is cheap compared to wood and concrete, they are also painted instead of furnishing which makes it cost effective and little maintenance since paint is changed in a period of five years. The internal divisions are non-loading thus they do not rely on foundation walls for load transfer to the ground. The doors as viewed in the picture above are two panel doors with glazing and furnished which makes it expensive to put up and maintain since the sleek nature of the door.

9 DIVISIONS The building has loading walls in the bathroom as shown above. Similar in the ground floor and first floor thus supporting the claim that it is a solid structure. Because the internal divisions are made of concrete it has a good sound insulation, considering the thickness of the walls which differs in the ground floor (460mm) and the first floor (110mm). The thick walls also act as good thermal insulation because heat is not transferred through the walls. Due to the thickness in the ground floor it is expensive for alterations due to the cost incurred during blasting. Also due to the shrewdness of the walls constructed during the late 1800 s it was difficult and risky adding the first floor which was expensive since they had to level the walls before construction.

10 ROOFS Observing the cut-through section it is evident that the roof is a double- pitch roof made of corrugated iron sheet. Which is maintenance free since it does not rust.

11 4.0 CONCLUSION How does the location of the building influence the value of the building? 1. The building is in the range of the University of Cape Town, which makes it a prime area for student resident. This is mainly because it is within a 10 minute drive to Upper campus and also near retail outlets i.e. Spur. 2. It is also near a Rochester Secondary Day School, which makes it a convenient place to reside because parents want their children to locate near the school to avoid walking long distances to school. 3. While we take the CBD into consideration also the building is located 20 minutes drive to the CBD. This actually increases the value of the building because the working class in offices are not willing to live far away from their workplaces. 4. Salt River has some light industries this further increases the value of the building since the industrial workers as well as the supervisors will pay the cost it takes to locate next to their industries. i.e. Allsew 5. Regarding security, gang phenomenon is a frequent citing in the area which makes it a risky place to live thus decreasing the value of the building. Because people are not willing to live in an insecure neighbourhood. 6. Just meters away from the well-connected Public transport system

12 Does the value of the building justify the municipal rates? Yes the value of the building suits its function as it is currently set on R1.2 million and this as compared to the surrounding property is a bit on the higher margins. The surrounding salt river properties are around R R1.3.This high value house is associated by high wear and tear costs such as the floor constant repair as well as the monthly municipal rates that sum up to R2100 a month. These high costs are covered by the income the house brings per months as it has 10 rented rooms that each pay a range of R4000-R6000.As a result the value of the house justifies the municipal rates. Does the functional use fit the building areas (sqm) and design? The house having to be a student accommodation suits the internal functions as to a greater extent. As for the external area it is constrained of space, as it does no space for even a garden or just open space for the student to relax on.

13 Does the building technology suit the function of the building? 1. The wooden flooring plays a great role in maintaining the room temperature since wood can retain heat energy compared to screed, tiles and cement. 2. The white painting on the outside helps maintain the room temperature too this is mainly because the white paint reflects away heat energy thus avoiding extremely high temperatures inside the building. 3. The building is equipped with tiled bathroom which is a modern aesthetic, giving it a higher value to the target market that is the students. 4. The partitions which have been added in the student rooms makes the building flexible since it can be easily converted from one form to another. I.e. from a student housing to an apartment without much alteration. 5. The open kitchen serves as a semi-public area where students can meet and pass the time as well as the balcony thus giving the building a social feel for the students who will not be always isolated in their cubicles. 6. The aluminium windows installed are easy to clean since they can be detached from the flame cleaned separately and fixed back to the flame. This greatly reduces the maintenance cost.

14 Can the building provide additional income for the owner? As a group after assessing the building, we came up with our first decision as no with reasons as explained below. 1. The building is fully partitioned leaving no extra space for any other addition thus the owner cannot make any additional income through additions. Even the attic room is assigned to a residence which shows that the owner had inadequate space. 2. As a heritage house little or no alterations are allowed i.e. the Bay windows are not to be changed as per the municipal development rights. This leaves the owner with no other option but to maintain the design of the building which is an old design not preferred by many people. 3. Also, the building has few dead zones, thus proving that the building is at its maximum capacity and is fully utilized. The only dead zone is the balcony which cannot be redeveloped for structural shortcomings. 4. The technology used in the building is heritage with thick clay bricks which makes it expensive for alterations due to blasting costs. In regards to the same question, we concluded it is possible also for the owner to make additional income. This is if the owner removes the partitions and looks for a working class tenant, she would probably receive more income compared to students since the working class earn more money and are willing to rent a house at a higher price near the CBD.

15 What changes would you suggest, as a group that will increase the value of the building? 1. Sleek finishes i.e. carpet in the lounge and wallpaper may raise the value of the building since students prefer attractive and modern finishes. 2. Also, a garden in the front yard would be reasonable since they could plant trees and reduce the environmental load i.e. winds. 3. At the backyard, a parking facility could be added to increase the target market to students with cars thus raising the value of the building. 4. An automated gated facility would help increase the privacy of tenant while it comes to visitors since the landlady is the one who always check out the visitors stranded at the gate. 5. Lastly, we suggested an air conditioning system could be a considered upgrade since it gets extremely cold at times in the rooms as confirmed by the occupants during an interview.