AE01450V
A report on a heritage impact assessment for the building of an educational centre at the Voortrekker Monument heritage site on the farm Groenkloof 358 JR, Pretoria District, Gauteng Province
Summary
Archaetnos cc was appointed by the Voortrekker Monument Heritage Site to conduct a cultural heritage impact assessment (HIA) for the new Educational Centre at the site. The Voortrekker Monument is a well-known national heritage site, located to the south of the city centre of Pretoria in the Gauteng Province.
The fieldwork undertaken revealed no sites of cultural heritage significance. This is due to the extremely disturbed environment at the specific area where the Educational Centre is planned. It is imminent that nothing of a heritage value would be found here.
The only remaining matter would be if the Educational Centre would have a negative visual impact on the Voortrekker Monument itself. It is believed not be the case. Two main reasons for this exist. Firstly the monument is built on the top of the hill and therefore elevated to such an extent that the Educational Centre, which lies much lower down the hill, will not create any visual barrier towards the monument. Secondly the high trees existing between the monument and the area where the Educational Centre will be erected create a visual transition between the two buildings.
It also needs to be indicated that the Educational Centre will be placed outside of the boundary of the declared national heritage site. Therefore no mitigation is required. The applicable social consultation has also been done, consisting of site notices and newspaper advertisements. No comments were received.
Note should also be taken that all archaeological and historical sites may not have been identified as it is possible that subterranean archaeological sites may be found later on. On identification of these it needs to be dealt with by an archaeologist.
Report by
Dr. A.C. van Vollenhoven (L.AKAD.SA.)