cffee with guy

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Guy Smith is defined by a restless energy and creativity. He is a veteran property lawyer and conveyancer and is also a property developer in his own right. Now, at the peak of his career, he has personally contributed a number of high quality golf estates and niche residential developments to the South African landscape. It was hard pinning Guy down for a cup of coffee, but when we did, we found his vision practically contagious.

If I could live my life over, I would be doing exactly what I'm doing now - creating property developments with soul! Good urban design changes the way people live. I aim to create special places, places where people feel comfortable and where public spaces, including streets, have a human scale to them. Unfortunately most modern developments are designed around the motorcar, without much thought for people. Many suburbs developed since the 1950s are harsh, aggressive and soulless places. The roads are conduits for motorcars rather than public spaces that can be enjoyed, not only by motorcars, but people as well.

Today, most houses are isolated from neighbours and the surrounding landscape. This is because streets are seen as just a way to get to or from work. With this way of thinking, houses become places that imprison people, rather than forming part of the public domain. I see things differently. I believe houses should fit into the greater urban landscape and that the spaces between houses should be seen as public living areas, which are to be enjoyed by inhabitants of the village or town. If houses are carefully designed and correctly placed in relation to the street, the public spaces change character.

Old Stellenbosch is my favourite South African town. I find that when I am in Stellenbosch it is difficult to stay indoors or to drive around, you are drawn out onto the streets and into the public spaces. There is a quality about those streets and public spaces that changes the way people live and enjoy the urban landscape. I see no reason why this cannot be repeated in modern developments.

Initially, like most developers, I was focused on the bottom line. But when I started developing Prince's Grant on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, I was introduced to John Rushmere and Dr Glen Gallagher. John is a professor of architecture at the Nelson Mandela University, whilst Glen is a former senior partner of GAP Architects in Johannesburg and a doyen of South African architecture. They introduced me to a new way of thinking about urban design, called New Urbanism, and its expression in Seaside, a revolutionary development on the northwest coast of Florida.

Gowrie Village in Nottingham Road is a working example of the great qualities of New Urbanism. We are applying the same principles in designing Garlington Country Estate in Hilton, and hopefully, with time, this will become one of the leading developments in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.

Property development is risky and complex. Many landowners believe that they can successfully develop their properties, even though they have little or no property development experience. The result is that many projects are financially and aesthetically disastrous. Our Property Division is able to offer the full range of professional property development services. Not only do we handle the legal aspects and provide conveyancing services, but we can also advise on how to successfully go about a development. This flows from my own experience in taking developments from raw land, through approval, financing and design, and onto transfer.

South Africa is an sawesome place to live and work. The energy crisis is going to be a challenge over the next few years and, while this could be seen as an obstacle, a developer who thinks laterally on this issue will be propelled to the forefront of the profession. Even in the current economic downturn, there are still great opportunities for developers, particularly in the lower and middle-income markets. The real challenge is to create developments at the lower end of the market that also have quality urban design and soul.