Property

Construction begins on new R1 billion precinct in Pretoria with its own shopping centre, school and housing

Kirsten Minnaar • 24 August 2026

Construction has begun on the R1 billion-plus Rosslyn Hub precinct in Pretoria North, a 100-hectare development which will include retail, housing, logistics, healthcare, education and hospitality facilities.

Developers Abcon Developments and Rosslyn Hub Development Company have positioned it as the first Retail Development in the precinct for the Tshwane Automotive City (TAC).

This project represents a joint initiative between the City of Tshwane and the Gauteng Provincial Government.

The Automotive Industry Development Centre believes TAC could draw R500 billion in investment over 50 years, with the ambition of building Africa’s first and largest dedicated automotive manufacturing hub.

Rosslyn Hub precinct sits at the centre of that plan. Once complete, the 700,000 m² precinct will integrate residential housing, a logistics park, and a vehicle distribution centre.

The development will also feature a regional shopping centre, a hospital and clinic, a school and a hotel and conference centre.

All of this will be built on land directly opposite Nissan, BMW, Iveco and Tata’s Rosslyn plants and within reach of the Ford-anchored Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ) in Silverton.

More than R1 billion in bulk infrastructure investment has already been secured for the precinct, creating over 1,400 construction jobs to date.

Rosslyn Hub director Brendan Falkson has previously put the investment case for the TAC’s three priority nodes, of which Rosslyn Hub is one, at approximately R42 billion.

According to Falkson, it has the potential to create almost 60,000 jobs over the next 15 years. The precinct has also already landed a marker of foreign investor confidence.

YFPO, a French-Chinese components manufacturer and key BMW supplier operating 22 facilities worldwide, committed a R670 million greenfield investment.

This sum is intended to anchor the TAC’s logistics node as YFPO’s first investment outside mainland China.

Housing delivery is already underway. A decade ago, Rosslyn Hub Development Company sold a 40-hectare portion of the site to Cosmopolitan Housing.

Since then, it has completed 1,100 homes alongside the Spark Rosslyn Hub Primary School.

The current masterplan, drawn up by Boogertman + Partners and approved by the City of Tshwane, adds a further 1,180 apartments to shorten commutes for workers in the automotive cluster.

A long time in the making

The land itself has a long history. The 140-hectare parcel was acquired in 2002 for a small quarrying operation, before the company began rezoning and installing bulk services.

In 2012, the Automotive Industry Development Centre approached the company to reposition the remaining 100 hectares within the newly conceived TAC masterplan.

The process took a further seven years to gain municipal approval. Abcon Managing Director Bryce O’Donnell explained that this construction represents years of planning.

“This is the culmination of two decades of patient work, from rezoning the land and installing bulk infrastructure to aligning our plans with the Tshwane Automotive City masterplan, all long before the first brick was laid.”

O’Donnell added that Rosslyn Hub is designed to provide the retail, housing and logistics infrastructure needed to support a working automotive corridor.

The development is being built to meet the expected demand as more investors, such as YFPO, commit to the Tshwane Automotive City.

“The Yard is designed around how people who work in this corridor actually move through their day, not around drawing shoppers in from across the city,” said The Yard development manager Monique Pieterse.

“Everything from the tenant mix to the layout is built for convenience – somewhere to grab groceries, a coffee or a meal on the way to or from work, without adding a detour.”

Pieterse explained that while this is a very different approach from that of a regional centre, it’s the right one for a precinct anchored by tens of thousands of automotive jobs.

Construction on The Yard is underway. Further phases of Rosslyn Hub, including the logistics park, hospital, residential apartments and regional shopping centre, will follow as the TAC masterplan is rolled out.