Builders in Pinelands for Garden City and Heritage Homes
Pinelands was Africa’s first garden city. The Garden Cities Trust was formed in 1919 on part of the old Uitvlugt forest reserve, the layout was planned by town planner Albert John Thompson, and the first house, a thatched cottage at 3 Mead Way, was occupied in February 1922. The Mead and Mead Way were declared a national monument in 1983. A century later the suburb is still defined by wide verges, tall pines and oaks, curved streets around Central Square and Howard Centre, and houses ranging from early thatched cottages to mid-century family homes and later infill.
Building in Pinelands is different from building in a newer suburb, because so many homes are over 60 years old and a large part of the original area falls under a heritage overlay. Around The House Building Services takes on renovations, extensions, roofing, damp repair and painting here, and plans each job around those rules. Our services page lists the rest.
What Our Pinelands Builders Do
In Pinelands the work we are most often asked to do includes:
- Sympathetic renovations: new kitchens and bathrooms inside older homes, keeping the steep roofs, sash windows and proportions that give the house its character.
- Extensions: additional bedrooms, family rooms and garden-facing living areas designed to sit comfortably with the original house.
- Damp and plaster repairs: treating rising and penetrating damp and replacing failed plaster on older walls.
- Roofing: tiled and sheeted roof repairs, re-roofing and leak repairs. Thatch itself is specialist work done by a thatcher.
- Painting and paving: interior and exterior painting, driveways and garden paving.
Heritage Rules for Pinelands Renovations
When the City of Cape Town’s zoning scheme came into effect in 2015, the original area of Pinelands was given Heritage Protection Overlay (HPO) status. Alterations to properties in an HPO have to comply with the City’s heritage rules, and separately, under national heritage law, changes to any structure older than 60 years can need heritage approval even outside the overlay. You can check your property on the City’s online map viewer.
The Pinelands Ratepayers and Residents Association (PRRA) is treated by the City as an interested and affected party for heritage buildings, so plans for these homes are sent to the PRRA’s plans committee for comment. This adds a few weeks to the process. Its published guidelines include keeping total coverage, including hard landscaping, at or below 60 percent of the erf, and it will not support structures, including carports, in the street setback. Check the current guidelines with the PRRA before your architect starts drawing.
We do not draw plans or prepare heritage applications ourselves. We work with your architect, ideally one with heritage experience, and we build exactly to the approved drawings. Our article on building plans approval covers the City side of the process.
Matching old and new on Pinelands houses
Heritage-friendly work is mostly about detail: matching roof pitch and materials, keeping window proportions consistent, and using plaster and paint finishes that suit an older wall. Old lime-based plaster and modern cement plaster behave differently, and covering a damp old wall with a hard, impermeable finish can trap moisture and make the problem worse. We look at what the wall is made of before we decide how to repair it.
Common Problems Our Pinelands Builders Find
Homes from the 1920s to the 1960s tend to have similar weak points. Damp at the base of walls is common, often because the original damp-proof course has failed or garden levels and paving have risen over the decades. Our guide to rising damp explains how to tell it apart from leaks and condensation. Old galvanised plumbing, tired wiring and roof timbers that have moved are also regular finds. New plumbing and wiring have to be done and certified by a registered plumber and electrician.
The trees that make Pinelands what it is also cause work. Pine needles and leaves block gutters and valleys, which leads to overflow and damp walls in winter, and large roots near the house can disturb paving, drains and boundary walls. Some older homes also have asbestos-cement roof sheets, gutters or fascias. We do not remove asbestos; that must be done by a registered asbestos contractor before our work starts.
Extending a Pinelands Home Without Losing Its Character
Pinelands plots are generous, and the garden city layout puts the focus on the garden, so most extensions go towards the back of the house. Common projects are a family room that opens onto the garden, a main bedroom suite, or a larger kitchen. Where an internal wall comes out we first confirm whether it carries roof or ceiling load, then prop it and install a lintel or beam to an engineer’s specification. Our home extension cost guide gives current Cape Town figures per square metre.
Pinelands Builders: Common Questions
Do I need heritage approval to renovate my Pinelands house?
If your house is in the Heritage Protection Overlay area or is older than 60 years, external changes and many internal structural changes are likely to need heritage approval in addition to normal building plans. Your architect can confirm what applies to your property.
How long does plan approval take in Pinelands?
Allow a few weeks for the PRRA’s comment on top of the City’s own processing time, and longer if a heritage application is needed. We help you plan the building start date around this.
Do your Pinelands builders work on thatched homes?
We take on the building work around them, such as plastering, damp repair, painting, extensions and paving. Rethatching is done by a specialist thatcher.
How much does it cost to renovate an older Pinelands home?
Older houses usually cost more per square metre than newer ones, because damp, roof timbers and old plumbing tend to need attention once the walls are opened. Our renovation cost guide gives current Cape Town estimates.
What should I send Pinelands builders when asking for a quote?
Use the quote page or call 021 784 2663. If you already have heritage or PRRA feedback on your plans, send it with your enquiry.
Other areas we cover near Pinelands
Across the M5 we also work in Mowbray, Observatory and Rondebosch, and to the north in Goodwood. The full list is on our areas we serve page.