Property

Photos of the new R3.2 billion Afrikaans ‘university’ rising from the ground in Pretoria

Kirsten Minnaar • 18 October 2026

Construction is progressing on Akademia’s new R3.2 billion campus in Pretoria East, with the project’s first phase targeted for completion in time for the 2028 academic year.

The campus is being developed on a 220-hectare site near Boschkop Road, 8 km from Solomon Mahlangu Drive. It is intended to provide a permanent home for Akademia’s growing student population.

The development is expected to cost R3.2 billion, with the first phase accounting for R1.8 billion.

This is being funded through investment and financing by the property investment company Kanton, with contributions from the Afrikaans community via the Toekomsbouer campaign.

Akademia managing director Marthinus Visser previously said the construction team was ahead of schedule and below budget.

The first phase will establish most of the campus’s academic infrastructure, including lecture halls, laboratories, research spaces, staff facilities, and supporting infrastructure.

It will also include four student residences with 750 beds, a 2,500 m² student centre, and an amphitheatre designed to accommodate 1,500 people.

This phase will see 85% of the campus’s eventual academic core being developed. Akademia aims to welcome 3,500 campus-based students to the new campus in 2028.

The master plan provides for eight residences with 1,500 beds, sports facilities, and an agricultural faculty with a trial farm.

Other planned facilities include a library, an auditorium, a cafeteria, restaurants, coffee shops, and dedicated research spaces.

The campus will be developed in phases as Akademia grows, which allows the institution to expand its facilities and student accommodation over time.

The latest construction progress includes the casting of the concrete ring beam for the dome at the centre of the campus.

The concrete was poured on 9 October, and the construction team began exposing the concrete and tensioning the supporting cables a week later.

Kanton’s real estate director Francois van Vuuren explained that the dome forms part of the campus amphitheatre and features an 850 m² glass roof containing 20 tonnes of glass.

He said 280 tonnes of concrete must be supported by the structure. To achieve this, the structural engineers incorporated a post-tensioning and cable system into the design.

“It is a large span, extending 23 metres across the front of the dome, which forms part of the amphitheatre stage,” Van Vuuren explained.

The latest construction update shared by Kanton stated that the central spire will reach 25 metres, while the ring beam will measure 33 metres in diameter.

The dome will form part of the campus’s central gathering area, which is designed to encourage interaction between students from different faculties.

A project years in the making

The campus development was first announced in August 2024, but the planning began several years earlier.

In August 2019, Akademia had 700 online students and did not yet have a campus-based offering. That same month, Kanton signed the purchase agreement for the land where the new campus is being built.

The following years involved acquiring the necessary land-use rights, obtaining environmental approvals, developing the design and securing financing.

Kanton began the initial bulk earthworks using its own resources while raising capital for the larger development.

The first construction phase officially began in January 2026, following a sod-turning ceremony at the Mooiplaats site in eastern Tshwane in November 2025.

The project is being developed through a partnership between Akademia and Kanton, which was established to develop and manage property for Afrikaans institutions.

According to Kanton managing director Henk Schalekamp, the project’s design was shaped by discussions about the type of university Akademia wants to become and the experience it wants to provide students.

Rather than giving each faculty its own dedicated building, the campus will share academic facilities across faculties.

Visser said this approach would encourage interaction between students and educators throughout the campus.

The cafeteria and amphitheatre will be positioned near the centre, which provides shared spaces for students to gather.

Akademia’s new campus builds on Kanton’s experience developing the Sol-Tech campus, which was constructed during the Covid-19 pandemic and occupied by students in 2021.

Kanton also developed a 400-bed residence for Sol-Tech in 2024. The residence is now fully occupied.

The experience provided Kanton with a track record in developing educational facilities and student accommodation before undertaking the larger Akademia project.

Beyond Pretoria, Kanton has also purchased land in Paarl for a possible future Akademia campus.