Vacant Land For Sale in Hermanus
Property description
Situated in the sought-after Overberg on 156 Ha of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve along the sea with sweeping mountain views.
Summary:
Conveniently situated close to Arabella Golf Estate, wine farms, Hermanus and Cape Town International Airport, approximately 1,2km to the east of the small coastal town of Kleinmond within the Overstrand municipality, this magnificent 156-hectare property is surrounded by the ocean and mountain views. It descends a short distance down a granite outcrop through natural vegetation to the shores of a wetland, and across a vlei to include the coastal dunes overlooking the ocean.
Classified as a Critical Biodiversity Area, the land falls within the UNESCO Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve and forms part of the Southern Coastal Belt Ecoregion. The southern half of the property forms part of the Bot River Estuary and the entire northern half is part of a freshwater wetland. Magnificent flowers include common and rarer Ericas, members of the fynbos endemic families of Brunia, Lanaria and Peneaceae. Some impressive proteas like the Common and Marsh Pagoda and Green Tree Pincushion are found on site. Endangered species include the Hangklip Sand Fynbos, Southwest Sand Fynbos (Critically Endangered) and Southwest Sandstone Fynbos (Endangered).
The property has been carefully managed and conserved with continued control of alien vegetation to maintain the indigenous vegetation.
Municipal approval has been granted to develop six free-standing dwellings for a mix of long-term or short-term/tourism use. (one main house and five additional dwellings) on an 8 ha terrestrial portion of the land while the remaining approximate 148 ha of the property will be conserved by a Biodiversity Agreement with Cape Nature to ensure the long-term protection of the site.
Excellent architectural work has been done to lay the foundation for this small selection of truly sustainable climate-responsive homes that blend into the landscape with natural lines, and make maximum use of the extraordinary views yet won't see each other. Some of the key elements envisioned for this development are that it is designed to be off-grid for all services, and various fire-wise building concepts, including natural rock berms with indigenous vegetation, are designed to eliminate any Fynbos fire threat.
Features:
Perfect location
Situated along the beach, beautiful mountain views, surrounded by wine farms, 20 Minutes to Hermanus, 7 Minutes to Kleinmond, and 4 Minutes to the 5-star Arabella Golf Course
Within the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
The farm falls within this approximately 100 000 hectare of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve and includes both land and ocean environments, designated by UNESCO in 1998 as South Africa's first biosphere reserve and also Africa's most southerly.
The farm is also part of a wetland site in the process of being designated as one of 23 Ramsar Convention sites in South Africa.
The farm has been managed to conserve and protect the biodiversity of soil, water, wild plant and animal species, and is mostly alien-free.
There are over 500 species of indigenous fynbos flowers on the farm.
Wildlife
There is a wide variety of birdlife, including the Fish eagle nesting in the wetlands. Wild horses are roaming freely. The critically endangered Micro Frog is still found as well as the Montane Marsh Frog. Birds of prey regularly seen are the African Fish-eagle, Black-shouldered Kite and African Marsh-harrier which all breed on or adjacent to the property. The fynbos endemics like Orange-breasted Sunbird, Cape Sugarbird, Fynbos Buttonquail, and both Striped and Red-chested Flufftails can be seen by diligent birders. Mammals are typically few, but Cape Clawless Otter are resident in the marsh as are Water Mongoose. Tracks of Honey Badger, Porcupine and the fynbos endemic Cape Grysbok are regularly seen whilst walking. There is the possibility of co-sharing the free-roaming original indigenous game species that have been reintroduced by the adjacent game farm.
Award-winning Overstrand Municipality
Awarded a Green Economy Change Champion Award for championing sustainability and innovation in municipal services in 2022. As one of the best Municipalities in South Africa, Overstrand covers a surface of almost 1,708 square kilometres. The area has a permanent population of 90,000. The municipality has its head office in Hermanus, but municipal services are delivered on a decentralised basis from offices in Gansbaai, Stanford, Hermanus and Kleinmond. The area is divided into three administrations: Hangklip-Kleinmond, Greater Hermanus and Gansbaai/Stanford. The area is demarcated into fourteen wards, each with a directly elected councillor. These councillors are assisted by a ward committee of ten members. Ward committee members are elected democratically. Ward committees play an important role in the drafting and reviewing of the Integrated Development Plan and the identification of budget needs.
No holding costs
The application and approval process for the proposed development has taken four years for the final approval from the Municipality. A significant amount of work has been done to ensure that low-impact development sets an example in best practice within a biosphere reserve.
Specifications and guidelines for the Municipal approved development
Approximately 8.3ha of the property has been proposed for the development of six Individual houses. Five of the houses can have a surface area of approximately 250 sqm each with the sixth expected to be 550 sqm. The total building/footprint area will equate to 1 800 sqm, with exclusive use areas of 1450 sqm per additional dwelling plus 2 010 sqm for the main house. The proposed development site is set 32 meters away from the adjoining wetland vegetation areas. identified by wetland specialists to minimise any impact on the wetland ecosystem. The area of approximately 8ha would accommodate all six of the houses with a separate 0.3ha area for one of the houses if preferred. The houses are to be placed /at intervals around the periphery of the proposed site, each served by an access road.
Design
The guidelines clarify the sustainable and aesthetic principles for the buildings in the context of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve. The overriding intention of the designs is to ensure they are both climate-responsive and context responsive. These two aspects cover the sustainability and aesthetic sensibilities of any building constructed in a conservation area.
Climate-responsive. The adaptability of the building to the changing weather will take into consideration the topography, the seasonal changes including the prevailing winds, the changing sun angles and their affect on passive solar heat gain, natural lighting and shade, the rainfall, the requirement for insulation and so on. This not only reduces the energy load on the off-grid bulk services but also significantly improves the internal climate, comfort and efficiency of the dwellings.
Context-responsive. The shapes and contours of the built structures will reflect the forms of the local flora and hills of the Kogelberg biosphere and the colour palette will be harvested from the plant colours, and not be monotone but textured variant and matt. This will significantly improve the overall visual impact and aesthetics of the structures within this natural context.
Building platforms and height envelopes
Each building and immediate surroundings will be located within a restricted land area and to a limited height according to the Site Diagram. This is to contain the size of the built areas and also to limit the visual impact relative to the whole property and the neighbouring buildings. Any gardening or other activity will be limited to being within the building platforms. The platforms and heights are calculated to mitigate visual connections between neighbours giving residents a sense of being surrounded by nature alone.
Roads and paths
Roads will be either farm dirt tracks or simple hard surface strip roads to minimize impact. Driveways at dwellings for cars within building platforms will be permeable surfaces such as loose stone chips, bark chips or grow-block surfacing to allow water to drain through. No impermeable hard surfacing will be used for driveways to garages or carports.
Off the grid
The bulk services will be independent of council supplies. Electricity: Solar power to be implemented. Photovoltaic panels, inverters and batteries. Water Heating: Solar panels. Water: Borehole and rainwater harvesting. The Borehole location has already been identified and to be implemented. Waste: To be removed by the operator to the municipal site as required. Sewage: Closed conservancy tank with float level alarm to be decanted by private municipality contractor when required.
Fire protections
Berms: strategically located with succulent planting as fire breaks. Fire Pool: 10 cubic litre splash pool or open reservoir with a pump system to each dwelling with sides 450mm off the natural ground level for quick and easy access with buckets or the like. Planting: selected indigenous planting around dwellings as indicated by Botanist. Low Rock Walls: Curved natural rock boundary walls on the windward side of anticipated fires to a maximum of 1.2 meters high and always fade gently into the ground at the ends. Natural rock bonded with clay/sand/lime only, no cement so the wall can be moved or removed. Fire retardants: External surfaces of buildings to be treated with fire retardants Roof Eaves: underside of overhanging eaves to be fire-resistant material or fire-resistant treated.
Building forms, materials and finishes
The shapes of the buildings will be primarily petal and leaf formed with a minimum of 2/3rds of the external walls and roofs being curved to blend in with the curvilinear forms of the natural surroundings. The intention is to avoid conventional rectangular shapes, conventional double-hipped roofs and large monolithic structures, but rather to differentiate the large building volumes to create more sculptural shapes concordant with those of the local biosphere. Roofs will be a maximum of 15-degree pitches with a height limit from the existing natural ground level (NGL) of 5 meters and covered with coloured natural stones on a waterproofed sub-structure to match the colours of the Kogelberg flowers and vegetation. Some roofs will be planted with indigenous succulents. The uncovered verandahs will have timber pergolas on supporting structures to offer shade and dappled shadows on the facades of the buildings where desired to soften the visual impact. There will also not be any conventional freestanding shade cloth garage structures. The materials of the structures and floors will be made from sustainably grown timber or a lime/sand slab with a hard surface material covering or carpet. The walls will be timber and where needed with plinth walls generally up to 1200 of natural rock. The external finish of the timber will be treated with fire retardant and left unpainted to go grey over time. The external cladding will be fixed vertically and without machined V joints or the like. The external surfaces to the patios and verandahs will be timber decking, stone or slate. There will not be any square or regularly shaped tiles: the grid format visually clashes with nature.
The windows and doors will be manufactured from sustainably grown timber other than the seamless glazed openings, which require aluminium frames and tracks. The intention with the windows and doors is to have large openings under verandahs or pergolas rather than numerous small openings. Solar tubes and skylights will be included where needed. Security will be managed with beams/cameras/alarms and armed response. Burglar proofing on windows will be clear strip bars, and designed metal gates on doors where needed.
Peripherals
The dwellings will have the PV panels in a yard of approximately 33 square meters enclosed to avoid the aesthetic challenge of having them on the roofs. There will not be any PV panels or exposed geyser water tanks on the roofs. Hot water solar panels to be fixed flush with the roof pitch to minimize visual impact. The rainwater tanks will be concealed behind timber dropper enclosures or underground. The external lighting to the dwellings will be modest and not create any light pollution to the countryside surroundings or neighbours. Satellite and TV aerials will be located below the eave height and not free-standing. Any air conditioning units will be at ground level and we will not have window-mounted air conditioning units. The clotheslines and refuse/recycling bins will be screened from view with a 1.8-meter-high timber fence in an enclosed yard. The only pets allowed will be dogs, and to be on leashes or in yards. Any dogs found hunting will need to be permanently relocated off the property. Construction of any of the buildings will not take longer than 12 months. If for any reason construction is stopped for more than a month then site huts and related contractor's temporary structures will be removed from the premises. Also, a particular footprint will be demarcated around the building during construction to contain all building works to keep the surrounding vegetation intact. This area will also prescribe where stockpiling etc. can happen.
Purchaser's responsibilities:
1. Endorsement of plans
The house plans of the proposed development are indicative and not prescriptive. Should the purchaser wishes to develop something different, Natural Architecture will have to be appointed to act as a watching brief to endorse any plans not designed by them prior to being submitted to the council for building approval to ensure they conform to these guidelines and any others parameters they deem to be applicable at their own discretion with the intention of maintaining the integrity of the conservation and aesthetic principles in this sensitive environmental context.
2. An Entrance gate
The Purchaser will be required to build an entrance gate (estimate previous quote R183,000)
3. A 6-meter wide access road will have to be built and maintained by the Purchaser along a servitude of the neighbouring property from the R44 to the farm as per SDP (Site Development Plan). (Estimate previous quote R130,586)
4. The Purchaser must sign a Biodiversity Agreement to ensure the long-term protection of the remainder of the site, approximately 148 Ha that will not be used for the development. (Estimate previous quote R10,200). The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the international legal instrument for the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources that has been ratified by 196 nations on the 22 May 2022
5. It is mandatory that the Purchaser will adhere to the final Basic Assessment & Estuarine Assessment Reports
6. The Purchaser is responsible for installing a borehole and Solar pump (estimated previous quote for R100,000 to R150,000)
7. Before any development can commence, an ECO (Eco officer) must be appointed by the Purchaser. (Estimate previous quote R14,000)
