*Making Places *Changing Lives * Shaping Africa
Our Team
The firm is headed by Ms. Nadia Schoeman, and fellow director Coenraad Bester. They are assisted by the company’s non-executive chairman Coen Bester.
The firm is fifty percent female owned, and boasts a team of professional planners and associates who are well-experienced within the urban planning, property development, and policy environments. More recently, the firm acquired the well-established town planning practice of Ella du Plessis Town and Regional Planners to bolster the firm’s operational capacity and reach in the property development market. Together, the two entities feature over 25 years of experience within the development field.
Our Service Offering
By making use of a diverse group of specialist associates, clients can be provided with a total development solution when required, encompassing statutory planning, strategic planning, urban modelling, healthcare planning, infrastructure planning, urban design, project management, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), AutoCad, project management, and legal and environmental skills.
Our client base includes private property owners, commercial developers and government entities. No matter how large your property or extensive your needs, we would gladly be of assistance – town-planning is our passion...
Our Firm
Established in 2008, URBANSMART Planning Studio (Pty) Ltd. has developed into a boutique town and regional planning and urban development practice, focusing on land development applications; development planning and associated project management requirements; forensic planning-audits, urban and healthcare demand modelling; and CAD drawing and design. The practice comprises three full-time (3) qualified professional town and regional planners, and a limited number of ad-hoc town-planners in training and support staff.
Service Approach
“Development projects require product leadership, customer intimacy and operational excellence” – URBANSMART 2008
Our philosophy and business approach is to treat each client’s development needs and project sites as unique, and to present them with the most appropriate and cost-effective town-planning response and service offering. In doing so, we strive to attain three strategic goals - product leadership, customer intimacy and operational excellence.
By making use of a diverse group of specialist associates, clients can be provided with a total development solution when required, encompassing statutory planning, strategic planning, urban modelling, healthcare planning, infrastructure planning, urban design, project management, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), AutoCad, project management, and legal and environmental skills. An associate approach to offering clients a complete development solution when required to do so allows the firm to reduce core operational costs and associated costs to the client.
In short, our approach affords clients with access to in-depth town-planning advice and a diverse development planning service offering at market competitive professional fees and better.
URBANSMART’s product offering caters for clients with either a specific need, or for those clients who are looking for a complete development solution under one roof.
Practice Areas
URBANSMART’s product offering caters for clients with either a specific need, or for those clients who are looking for a complete development solution under one roof.
Land Development Applications
The firm can assits clients with a diverse and expansive range of land development applications. CLICK ON ICONS to ask our planners a question!
Development Planning and Site Identification
The firm can assist clients to make an informed decision whether or not to sell, buy, or (re)develop a property by means of assessing development potential, development risk and the current and future value of a property.
The firm also has extensive experience in identifying new development site for clients, especially commercial clients looking too
'land bank' for future expansion e.g. big-box retailing, storage, schools, etc.
Services under this portfolio include:
-
Feasibility studies
-
Development options scenarios
-
Development Risk Assesement (policy and environment)
-
Site Indentification
-
Land Use Budgets
Forensic Planning
In partnership with several corporate property funds, the firm has developed an in-depth town-planning audit methodolgy that forms a critical part of the due diligence process pre- and post the procurement of a property or portfolio of properties.
In many instances a full town-planning audit is not required and clients may simply want to ascertain what type of development is permissable on a property. To this effect, the firm assists clients to obtain zoning information from local authorities.
Urban Services Demand Modelling
The firm can assist public and private clients in establishing the quantifying the current demand and likely future demand patterns for a service or product found within the urban environment using specialised demand modelling methodologies and GIS platforms.
To date the firm has been concentrating on the healthcare market, but is actively applying the lessons learnt in healthcare modelling to a diverse commercial client base. The firm welcomes clients from all sectors to work in partnership with the firm to gain greater insight into the demand patterns for their particular service(s) or product.
Healthcare Demand Analysis and Hospital Licence Applications
In collaboration with an asociate firm URBANSMART is a leading expert within the field of healthcare demand modelling and hospital licence applications.
Appeals, Hearings and Planning-related Legal Services
The firm can assist clients with Townships Board appeals and representation at Municipal development hearings / tribunals in respect of land development applications.
The firm is also equipped to assist clients with town-planning related matters such as servitudes, notarial ties, etc.
Drawing Services and Urban Design
As part of a complete development-planning service offering, the firm posesses over the necessary equipment and skills to conduct all required town-planning and urban design work associated with a land development area on an in-house basis. Upon request, the firm does however collaborate with design specialists.
With in-house drawing and design capabilities,
the firm assists several smaller town and regional planning practices / individuals without with their drawing requirements on a per job basis. Services include inter alia the compilation of:
-
Conceptual design and layout plans
-
Township development plans
-
Site development plans
-
Zoning and land use plans
-
Sub-division and consolidation diagrams
-
General Plans
The firm’s in-house surveying services include cadastral, topographical engineering, precision surveying, photo grammatory and aerial surveying.
Project Management
The firm can assist clients with project managment and co-ordination services required to facilitate a succesfull land development project. Depending on the needs of a client, the core planning team may be assisted by our long-standing project managment associate.
*Questions?
Contact Us
FOR A FREE CONSULTATION
012 993 0406
HEAD OFFICE
UrbanHouse
Woodhill Golf Estate
09 Warren Hills Close
Pretoria East
City of Tshwane, Gauteng
News and Publications
Property sYnc
We are very excited to announce that URBANSMART now runs Property sYnc for its clients. Property sYnch enables our clients to securely store and retrieve all of their documents related to a specific property “on-the-go” from anywhere. Project teams also have access when required. More information coming soon!