New awards have recognised the hard work and dedication of several organisations and individuals in the regrowth of the Joburg inner city. The Halala Joburg Awards will now be an annual event.

Neil Fraser

ACCORDING to Wikipedia (was there life before it?) an award is "something given to a person or a group of people to recognise excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence".

Awards are truly ubiquitous, covering every aspect of human endeavour, and the urban world has its fair share - whether it is for urban art, urban design, land-use practices, city sustainability, urban leadership, different types of projects or developments, whatever - there is some award for excellence internationally, nationally or locally - wherever! So, I liked Wikipedia's added comment that "awards can be given by any person or institution, although the prestige of an award usually depends on the status of the awarder".

The urban awards I am most familiar with are the annual ones of the International Downtown Association (IDA), an organisation of which I have been a member for many years. In fact, the Central Johannesburg Partnership has received a couple of its awards over the years.

This year it has the following categories, with a special emphasis on diversity and sustainable development: downtown leadership and management; economic development; Keep America Beautiful (a cigarette litter prevention programme); marketing and communication; organisational communication; planning; public space; social issues; special events and promotions; sustainable development and transportation.

The IDA also recognises individuals through their Individual Achievement, Lifetime Achievement and President's awards.

The award-winning entries are each covered not only at a ceremony at the annual IDA conference but by a CD that provides one with a library of "best-practice" examples of what is being done in towns and cities, not just across North America, but among the worldwide membership of the IDA.

Municipalities in South Africa use "the freedom of the city" as their most prestigious honouring of an individual - in the post-1994 era I think Johannesburg has thus honoured Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Beyers Naude - but I don't know of any local government that recognises the efforts of its citizens, be they community, business, non-governmental organisations, et cetera, in adding value to the city in a variety of ways. This makes the Halala Joburg Awards something unique! "Halala Joburg" means "let us honour the city of Johannesburg".

The awards
The awards are the way that the City of Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest and most influential city, and its highly successful implementation agency, the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA), honours "the city of Joburg and the people who have steadfastly supported her rebirth, recognising and celebrating projects which have made a fundamental difference in regenerating the inner city".

An independent adjudication body was appointed, with Professor Alan Mabin as the chairperson. Mabin, in his foreword to the awards booklet, says: "Together the entries - and the prize winners among them - tell a story of the inner city's development as a place to live, work and play, a remade and extraordinary urban environment. It is not a place which is retracing its pasts, but rather one building on those pasts and discovering new urbanisms in a different era."

I like that. The city is an evolving story and the past decade has been such an important period of that evolution and the struggle for what I call "normalisation".

So, the City and the JDA held their first Halala Joburg Awards dinner on Wednesday night, 11 June, which was greatly enjoyed by quite the largest gathering of the inner city's movers and shakers from business, community and council that I have seen for many years. It was a fun, relaxed and most enjoyable evening held at Constitution Hill in the functions dome, which wrapped the interior in a gigantic and wonderful backdrop of a night-time image of the city.

This, then, is the first time that the Halala Joburg Awards have been presented and I'm sure that the event will stir many nominations in future for deserving projects and people. Certainly, I thought that there were many projects and names of notable contributors that were missing - not the fault of the organisers but of ourselves for not having put names forward. It will now become an annual event, which will provide an opportunity to rectify this.

The guiding philosophy for the awards rests on three tenets:

• The recognition of efforts that have broken new ground in urban regeneration, advancing sustainable economic growth, community wellbeing and the quality of life of all residents of the inner city (encouraging extraordinary effort);
• The recognition of pioneering programmes and innovative projects initiated by audacious thinkers whose passion has opened new horizons in decaying areas (fostering originality); and
• The recognition of commitment and dedication to fostering partnerships, initiating joint programmes and catalysing sustainable developments that promote social harmony (encouraging participation, equality and inclusivity).

The categories that were developed from these were:

• Caring Joburg - supporting Joburg's citizens;
• Relaxing and Playing Joburg - the recreation destination;
• Living Joburg - not houses but homes;
• Working and Buying Joburg - creating a business destination; and
• Believing in Joburg - Joburg the home of innovators, investors and implementers.

Nice range, which I'm sure will be expanded over years to come, although one must find a balance between its uniqueness and relevant aspects to be honoured.

The winners
The Caring Joburg category was awarded to Metro Evangelical Services, known generally as MES. A 22-year-old organization, it was established to address the pressing needs of the poor in the inner city. I am so delighted that its work has at last been recognised. This is such a great organisation that has really been one of the inner city's unsung heroes.

It provides crèches, drop-in centres for youth at risk; overnight shelters; primary healthcare services; accommodation for young women at risk; transitional housing; and assisting skilled and unemployed matriculants gain year-long community work. Building off a base of spiritual care it provides healthcare, basic care, social services, housing, education, training and job placement.

Relaxing and Playing Joburg went to Gandhi Square, the physical result of the personal vision of Gerald Olitzki, which has transformed one of the "sinkholes" of Johannesburg into a lively social meeting place. Olitzki was probably the first developer to be brave enough, during a period when city property was in a nose dive, to recognise the potential of a regenerated city and the part that could be played by focusing on the upgrading of the urban environment. Today the square boasts a wide array of eateries and related businesses and is an active and vibrant model for a number of urban environment upgrades.

The Living Joburg category was subdivided into three awards:

Firstly, lower income developer was awarded to the Johannesburg Housing Company's Brickfields project in Newtown. Under the visionary leadership of Taffy Adler, the company is not a conventional social housing developer but a builder of communities and a changer of lives. Brickfields brings together all the aspects about which Adler is passionate and that have become the hallmark of the company's work in the inner city.

Lower income management was awarded to the Madulamoho Housing Association, which has developed a sustainable model for integrated housing through a housing continuum - from shelter to transitional housing to communal housing and through to market-related housing - all managed in one structure. It then partners with the MES, which provides its wide range of services.

Although the organisation is relatively young, it incorporates some critical projects such as the previous Europa Hotel, now an integrated housing unit covering the full spectrum of housing needs); Cornelius House, a transitional housing development for the previously homeless; the New Regent, communal housing; El Kero House, integrated housing; and BG Alexander Estate Phase 1, integrated housing.

Upper income was awarded to Mapungubwe Hotel Apartments. The project was developed by relative newcomers to the Johannesburg inner city scene although well known in a number of other cities. Property developer and owner Atterbury Property and management and marketing agent Circlevest Properties have produced a great four-star establishment for the business and leisure markets. Great choice as they again have had the vision and the guts to pioneer a concept that has filled an important space in the inner city needs.

Working and Buying Joburg went to WORKS@registry, an initiative of City Property. Another relative newcomer to the Joburg inner city scene, but long established in Pretoria, it has made a hug impact by buying probably between 70 and 80 properties that it has refurbished, converting a large number into excellent middle-income level flats. One of its purchases was a derelict building formerly known as Registry House that was overrun by illegal occupants. It developed a concept aimed at encouraging the small, medium and micro enterprise sector through providing retail and workshop units to suit the needs of SMMEs and entrepreneurs. And it is right in the heart of the fashion district.

For my sins, I was awarded the Believing in Joburg category.

Thoughts
Some thoughts on the event are:

• I really hope that it will attract many more entries in the future and that these will provide a more inclusive palette from which to choose;
• The award winners were mainly white males, again not the fault of the judging panel, but of the range of submissions;
• Watching the videos that covered the finalists in each category, I was again struck by the huge innovative reservoir that the city draws from and how the video shown of the work of each group of finalists spliced together would illustrate so visibly what Mabin commented on in his foreword "... the diversity of talent and energy which is reshaping the physical and social nature of inner city Joburg".

A CD made available to prospective investors and city aficionados locally and internationally, would be a great marketing tool for the inner city.

And to "une terrible gaffe". Have you ever had a word in your mind that is very close to another word that means something terribly different from what you intended and, so intent are you on using the right one, that the wrong one comes out? Well, in my acceptance speech I wanted to thank "the three women in my life", two for their support and encouragement - my wonderful wife, Hazel, and my business partner, Katherine Cox. The third was the inner city itself, which my wife calls my "mistress").

I wanted particularly to thank Hazel for putting up with many years of my "workaholism", but it came out as "alcoholism". Well, it raised the best laugh of the evening and left me somewhat embarrassed, 'specially as I don't drink!

Halala Joburg! Regards Neil (hic!)

Saturday, 21 June
Marshalltown and Gandhi Square - Walking Tour
This tour starts with some fragments rescued from the demolition of MacPhail's corner tower and the Jewish Chronicle, but others are in fine condition: Magnet House, Tattersalls and the National Union of Mineworkers. It passes the Receiver of Revenue's old office, trimmed in polished granite, then goes on to the Old Marshall Street Charge Office, gutted by fire; around historic Gandhi Square, where it pays its respects, and then on to Fox Street for Salisbury House; back to Rissik Street for Bram Fischer House; and crowns the tour with art deco elegance in Loveday Street.

The cost is R135 and booking is at Computicket. Park at Nedbank's employee parking, the fenced open parking on the south side of the big Nedbank block, between Loveday and Rissik streets. The entrance is in Marshall Street, at 2pm. For information, telephone Eira Bond on weekdays between 9am and 1pm on 011 482 3349.

Saturday, 28 June
Randlords and Finance - Parktown Walking Tour
Upon the discovery of gold, an elite group of capitalists from the Kimberley

diamond mines set up finance to become the shareholders of new mines on the Rand. Through industrial consolidation, these entrepreneurs became influential mine owners. The profits generated benefited them with government support, and even political control. Earnings were also invested for international trade development, resulting in the listing of several companies on the Johannesburg stock exchange.

These events paved the way for these men ultimately to be known as The Randlords. Their aspirations and achievements are reflected in the homes they built. The cost of the tour is R70 and booking is at Computicket. Meet at the Sunnyside Hotel. For information, telephone Eira Bond on weekdays between 9am and 1pm on 011 482 3349.

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• JDA gives out Halala awards