By Kevin Horack

The flourish of property investment activity within the Garden Route is not only based on housing estates, golfing and retirement villages. Some seriously big players in the market place are set on investing in new shopping centers. Competition is rife within the retail industry and where one retailer positions itself, more are sure to follow. The trend is that major retailers become the core attraction of complete malls. This all bodes well for further development and small businesses but who are the Garden Route based professionals involved in designing, building and managing these shopping centers?

One such company is Bendigo Holdings, comprising of a number of subsidiaries that cater for everything from rezoning property to designing, building and managing your commercial property development. Bendigo Holdings, based in the Garden Route for over 15 years, see themselves as a company that can offer property owners or investors a unique packaged service in that they project manage your requirements from start to finish. From commercial to residential projects, they cater for every aspect of property development. Chris Edwards, director of Bendigo, admits that their new business is generated almost solely from the network they have built up with investors and property owners with their results speaking for themselves. "We are not self consuming developers that seek and develop every bit of vacant land," says Chris. "We instead are driven by the needs of the community, working with the community and striving to enhance infrastructures". An example of this is the Hunters Estate development in Knysna, where a retirement village, including frail care facilities is situated around the private hospital.

Bendigo is involved throughout the Garden Route and their experience provides them with the know-how of each town's business culture and sensitivities. "We are as sensitive to community concerns as we are to environmental concerns, despite the pre-judgement that inevitably takes place" says Chris. "We welcome objective inputs to our projects simply because they usually improve the overall outcome of our development. Bendigo are involved in Woodmill Lane, The Junction, Mellville's Corner and The Warehouse to name but a few commercial centers.

Bendigo Engineering prides itself on being the preferred distributor and installer of ISO Board within the Garden Route. ISO Board is a polystyrene insulation board, which although widely used in other parts of South Africa, is set to make waves in the Garden Route building industry. Reasons for this are that ISO Board is a high-density, strong, vermin proof, waterproof, heat resistant and aesthetically pleasing. The cost is in line with normal ceiling board but the product is far more superior. Used for wall, floor or ceiling insulation in warehouses or homes, ISO Board reduces heat flow into buildings during summer and keeps heat inside during winter. The product is easy to install and comes in a range of sizes. Bendigo are attempting to negotiate with local authorities that all new and existing low cost hosing developments use ISO Board as a standard insulator. In most instances, low cost housing has no insulation thereby leading to all sorts of health related problems, and this in areas where medical bills are ill afforded.