Five sectors
The same law, decided differently
We provide town planning for developers, institutions and landowners in five sectors, across all nine of Gauteng’s metropolitan and local municipalities and in eThekwini and Mahikeng. Every project runs under the same framework: SPLUMA, the municipality’s planning by-law and its land use scheme. What differs is what decides it.
A data centre is won or lost on bulk electricity before anyone considers the zoning. Student accommodation turns on which land use definition the building falls under. An agro-industrial project turns on where farming ends and industry begins, and a school on the traffic outside it at eight in the morning.
Knowing which constraint governs your kind of project, and testing it before the land is bought or the design is fixed, is the difference between meeting it at feasibility and meeting it at the Tribunal.
Five sectors, one team
What usually decides it
- Residential Density, bulk services and the form of title
- Commercial Parking, access and the spatial development framework
- Industrial Bulk services, heavy vehicles and the neighbours
- Institutional Traffic, parking and the neighbours
- Specialised Agricultural land, and a consent beyond the municipality
One team takes instructions in all five: the same planners and architectural professionals.
Twenty kinds of project
What decides each kind of project
What usually decides a project of each kind, and the route most of them take. Which applications your site needs is the first thing we establish, before anything is lodged.
Five kinds of project
Residential
From a second dwelling to a new township.
| Project | What usually decides it | Usual route |
|---|---|---|
| Second dwellings and subdivision | What the scheme allows on the erf as it stands. In Johannesburg, clause 21 of the City’s scheme allows up to two subsidiary dwelling units on a Residential 1 erf with a house, within floor-area limits; a separate title needs a subdivision, and a title deed condition can bar either. | Usual route Building plans; subdivision for a separate title; removal of a title condition where one stands in the way |
| Sectional title schemes | Density, parking and common property, settled in the layout before building starts, because the sectional plan records what was built. | Usual route Rezoning, site development plan, then sectional title |
| Affordable housing | Density and bulk services at a price that leaves no room for a second attempt. The route has to be right the first time. | Usual route Rezoning or township establishment |
| Lifestyle estates | Internal roads, services and bulk contributions, and whether the streets stay private, all settled before the township is proclaimed. | Usual route Township establishment, with excision where the land is an agricultural holding |
| Student accommodation | Whether the scheme reads the building as a commune, a residential building or flats. The parking, the density and the route all follow from that. | Usual route Consent use or rezoning |
Four kinds of project
Commercial
Shops, offices, filling stations and mixed use, on nodes and corridors.
| Project | What usually decides it | Usual route |
|---|---|---|
| Retail and mixed use | Parking, loading and access, and whether the site is on a node or corridor that the spatial development framework supports at this intensity. | Usual route Rezoning and site development plan |
| Offices | Parking ratios and floor area. A house converted to offices usually needs a rezoning or a consent use, and the spatial development framework shows whether the street is expected to change. | Usual route Rezoning or consent use |
| Filling stations | Access, traffic and sight lines at the entrance. The fuel licences run alongside the land use application. | Usual route Rezoning, with the licences |
| Urban regeneration | Existing buildings changing use, offices to flats or warehouses to mixed use: their rights and approved plans established first, and any unlawful work regularised. | Usual route Due diligence and approved plans, then rezoning or consent use |
Four kinds of project
Industrial
From light industry and warehousing to data centres.
| Project | What usually decides it | Usual route |
|---|---|---|
| Data centres | Bulk electricity and water, confirmed with the supply authority rather than assumed. They decide the site before the zoning is considered. | Usual route Feasibility, then rezoning where the zoning does not already allow the use |
| Light industry | Whether the intended use falls within what the zoning permits, and the interface with residential neighbours: access, noise and hours of operation. | Usual route Consent use or rezoning |
| Heavy industry | Buffers, emissions and noise, with environmental authorisation alongside the land use application. Among the projects most likely to draw objections. | Usual route Rezoning, often before the Tribunal |
| Logistics and warehousing | Heavy-vehicle access, the class of road the site is on, and the turning space a truck actually needs. | Usual route Rezoning and site development plan |
Four kinds of project
Institutional
Schools, crèches, clinics, places of worship and civic buildings, most of them among homes.
| Project | What usually decides it | Usual route |
|---|---|---|
| Schools and early childhood centres | Drop-off, traffic and the neighbours. An early childhood centre’s registration usually asks for the land use approval and approved building plans, even where nothing new is built. | Usual route Consent use and building plans |
| Clinics and healthcare | Parking and traffic, from consulting rooms in a converted house to a day clinic on a main road, and how much of either the street can absorb. | Usual route Consent use or rezoning |
| Places of worship | Parking at service times, sound and the neighbours, mostly in residential areas, where the use needs the municipality’s consent. | Usual route Consent use or rezoning |
| Civic and government | Often on public land, where ownership, the approving authority and community consultation have to be settled before the design begins. | Usual route Rezoning, often with subdivision |
Three kinds of project
Specialised
Renewable energy, agro-industry and tourism, often on agricultural land.
| Project | What usually decides it | Usual route |
|---|---|---|
| Renewable energy | Agricultural land, where the long lease a solar or wind project needs over part of a farm requires the Minister’s consent, alongside environmental authorisation and a grid connection. | Usual route Minister’s consent and rezoning, alongside environmental authorisation |
| Tourism and leisure | Lodges, venues and guest houses on rural or residential land, where the consent, heritage and the neighbours carry most weight. | Usual route Consent use or rezoning |
| Agro-industry | The line between farming and industry: processing, packing and storage on agricultural land, and whether the land has to be divided to allow it. | Usual route Rezoning; Minister’s consent if land is divided |
A usual route is where most projects of a kind begin, not a promise about yours. Most need more than one application, and the order they run in is part of the advice.
Before lodgement
Sector first, application second
The statutory process is the same in every sector. What changes is the work before lodgement, which is where the outcome is usually decided.
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The deciding constraint
The factor that governs your kind of project, from bulk electricity to parking or agricultural land, identified before anything else.
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The rights
What the land permits now: its zoning, its title deed and any approvals already granted on it.
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The route
Which application, or sequence of applications, the land use scheme calls for, and the order they have to run in.
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The evidence
The specialist reports your sector calls for, commissioned before lodgement rather than after an objection or a municipal query.
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The motivation
The case argued on the development principles in section 7 of SPLUMA, in the terms the decision will be written in.
Beyond the municipality
The approvals that run alongside
Many projects need another authority’s approval as well as the municipality’s. Each runs on its own timeline, and each has to describe the same site and the same project as the planning application. We identify them at the start and coordinate them with it.
Schedule of other approvals
Agricultural land: The Minister’s consent
Under the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act, 1970, to divide agricultural land, or to lease part of it for ten years or longer, as a solar or wind project usually must. Its successor, the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Act, 2024, is not yet in force.
Environment: Environmental authorisation
Under the National Environmental Management Act, 1998, where a project includes an activity listed in the EIA Regulations, as many industrial, energy and larger residential projects do.
Heritage: Notice, or a permit
Under the National Heritage Resources Act, 1999: notice before a development that changes the character of a site over 5,000 m², a road or power line over 300 m, or the rezoning of a site over 10,000 m², unless heritage is assessed within an environmental authorisation; and a permit to alter or demolish a structure older than sixty years.
Fuel: Site and retail licences
Under the Petroleum Products Act, 1977, from the Controller of Petroleum Products, for a filling station. They are separate from the land use rights, and neither stands in for the other.
Electricity: Confirmation of supply
From Eskom or the municipal distributor, that the bulk supply a data centre or a large plant needs can be delivered, at what cost and on what timeline.
Water: A water use licence
Under the National Water Act, 1998, for work in or near a river or wetland, or for taking water, unless a general authorisation, Schedule 1 or an existing lawful use covers it.
Early childhood centres: Registration
Under the Children’s Act, 2005. Registration usually asks for proof that the premises are zoned for the use, and for approved building plans.
Roads: Access approval
From the South African National Roads Agency for access from a national road, or the provincial roads authority for a provincial one, as filling stations and logistics sites often need.
Sectional title: Sectional plan approval
Under the Sectional Titles Act, 1986: the sectional plan is approved by the Surveyor-General before the scheme can be opened at the Deeds Office.
Questions
Questions about town planning for developers and institutions
Not answered here? Call +27 10 442 5522, or tell us about your project below.
Do you work across all these sectors, or specialise in some?
We take instructions in all five, with one team. The applications are the same in every sector, from rezonings and consents to subdivisions and township establishment, and so are the planning principles. What changes is the constraint that decides the outcome and, from one Gauteng municipality to the next, the land use scheme it is tested against. Where a project needs a specialist we do not have in-house, such as a traffic engineer, an environmental assessment practitioner or an agricultural specialist, we brief them and coordinate their work.
My project spans more than one sector. How is that handled?
As one project, with each part tested against its own constraint. Shops below and flats above are assessed on the commercial parking and access and on the residential density at the same time, and the application has to satisfy both. The spatial development framework often encourages mixed use on nodes and corridors, but the zoning has to permit every use in the building, or the application has to add the ones it does not.
Is student accommodation treated as ordinary residential?
Not always, and the answer shapes the rest of the application. A house let by the room may be a commune under the scheme, and a block of student rooms a residential building rather than flats, each with its own parking, density and route to approval. Establishing which definition applies comes first, because every figure that follows depends on it.
Can a solar farm go on agricultural land?
Often, but not on a lease alone. A lease of ten years or longer over part of a farm needs the Minister’s consent under the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act, 1970, and the project usually needs environmental authorisation, land use rights and a grid connection as well. They run with different authorities on different timelines, so the order matters as much as any single approval. We establish which consents the site needs before the lease is signed. The Act is to be replaced by the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Act, 2024, once that comes into force.
What decides whether a site works for a data centre?
Usually bulk electricity, before anything else. A data centre needs a supply most sites cannot offer without significant upgrades, and many designs need water for cooling. Whether the supply authority can deliver, at what cost and on what timeline, settles the site long before the zoning does. We confirm capacity with the authority rather than assume it, because a site that fails on supply fails whatever its zoning.
Does a filling station need anything beyond land use rights?
Yes. It needs land use rights from the municipality and, separately, site and retail licences from the Controller of Petroleum Products: two approvals from two authorities, and neither stands in for the other. Access and traffic weigh most in the land use application, and fuel storage can need environmental authorisation; the licence turns on the need for the site and the licensing objectives in the Petroleum Products Act. The two applications have to describe the same site and the same layout, so they are best prepared together.
Do you act for institutions and government, or only private developers?
We take instructions from both. Schools, crèches, clinics, places of worship, non-profit organisations and public bodies need the same applications as private developers, and often face closer scrutiny, because their buildings sit among homes and serve the public. Where the land is publicly owned, establishing who owns it, who decides and what consultation is expected comes before the design, and it can be the longest part of the programme.
Does the sector change what an application costs?
The sector changes the evidence more than the application. A rezoning for offices and a rezoning for a data centre follow the same statutory process, but the data centre needs services confirmation and often an engineering assessment, and a school usually needs a traffic study. That specialist work is often the larger cost, and is appointed separately. We tell you at the first consultation which studies your project is likely to need, so they are in the budget from the start.
Tell us about your project
The first consultation is free and carries no obligation. If your property does not need an application, we will say so.
What happens next
- TodayYou tell us about the propertyThe street address or erf number, and what you want to do.
- Within one working dayA planner replies
- First consultation, freeYou know where you standWhat usually decides projects like yours, the application route, and what the municipality will want to see.