It’s taken over two years to reach the stage where refurbishment work can start on the historic Erasmus Castle, on the eastern side of the Armscor campus in Pretoria.
In January 2024 this publication was told the Castle had fallen into a state of such disrepair a structural engineer recommended its entire renovation. Subsequently Armscor, by way of its Senior Manager: Corporate Communication, Liziwe Nkonyana, said a tender to refurbish the building in line with Armscor’s “obligation to keep the Erasmus Castle in an acceptable standard as it is a heritage site” would be issued.
The tender did not make it to acceptance stage with a re-issue in October 2024. The re-issue labelled EFAC/2024/09 replaced EFAC/2023/12 and called for a CIDB (Construction Industry Development Board) registered company to submit a schedule of work to refurbish the Erasmus Castle, the popular name for House Bella Vista as it was christened by the original owners. Interested bidders were required to attend a briefing ahead of submitting documentation.
Responding to an inquiry from this publication, Nkonyana last week confirmed a Lapeng La Gae/Naledi Entle joint venture (JV) as service provider for the refurbishment. Centurion based Lapeng La Gae Construction has partnered with Naledi Entle, which a search shows to be either Naledi Trading Enterprise or Naledi Entle Enterprise, for the Erasmus Castle contract, with no monetary value given in the Armscor response. The professional team required to oversee the work is, with the exception of an architect, identified according to her with appointments “at an advanced stage for identified professionals”. An architect apart, other professionals deemed integral to a project of this nature include a quantity surveyor and a structural engineer.
There is, at present, no set starting date for work with six months given as the timeframe to complete the refurbishment once the professional team is operational.
The Castle, as far as can be determined, was last used as offices by Roelf Meyer and his 2012 Defence Review team. Prior to that Armscor communication and public relations personnel were housed in House Bella Vista, an art nouveau mansion built for Jochemus Erasmus in 1903.
Armscor informed DefenceWeb it does not plan to use the Castle when refurbishment is complete.
