District Six staff members and students can now boost their health and fitness levels at the new Outdoor Gym on the campus.

The new facility, situated at corner of Constitution and Tennant streets boasts eleven pieces of equipment and is the second one of its kind at CPUT.

The outdoor gym park at the Bellville campus opened last year and plans are afoot to roll out the project at the Mowbray and Wellington campuses.

According to the Residence Business Unit, which has been managing the project, outdoor gym sessions and a boot camp series will soon resume at the Bellville campus. The District Six gym will also have professional trainers on site on Mondays to Thursdays from 4 pm to 6 pm. The starting dates will be announced soon and these sessions will be free of charge for staff and students.
The unit hopes that the project will provide a spot where staff and students can enjoy the benefits of an outdoor gym like at many other university campuses around the world.

“We have looked into the benefits of the project and we are confident it will bring a much needed service within our living and learning spaces. We believe a healthy body leads to a healthy mind and this is important as we strive to be the innovation centre of Africa through our One Smart CPUT drive," said Johnny Basson, Manager of the Residence Business Unit.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CPUT has secured more than 3 000 additional beds which will significantly alleviate the growing demand for student accommodation.

The addition means that in 2020 about 38 percent of the student population can be accommodated, a notable increase from 29 percent in 2019.

“In 2019 the secured beds available to the university was 9395 beds. For 2020 we have pushed up the numbers to 12 460 beds.  The institutional target is to get to a 40 percent ratio by 2021. The business unit will continue to work towards this target,” said Phillip Chibvuri, Residence Finance Specialist in the Residence Business Unit.

“We will also continue with our huge drive in maintaining our old residences and refurbishing them, where possible. It has been a challenging journey to get to where we are now and we trust that CPUT students recognise the efforts of University management in addressing accommodation issues. We will continue to strive to provide the best student life and residential service to our students,” said Chibvuri.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Residence Business Unit (RBU) continues to make strides in its quest to ensure a client-centred approach for the benefit of all students in residences.

A designed supply plan by the RBU, a unit of the Department of Finance, has resulted in more than 4 000 beds being added to the system in the past few years.

According to the unit, this has meant that more than 40% of the student population are able to be accommodated by the university – a huge stride from the 23% prior to 2018.

“This has, however, come with a serious commitment for the RBU to reach these targets and striking a balance and understanding the economics of the student accommodation market around our campuses, region and nationally, with careful financial decisions which have to be considered for every step taken,” said Phillip Chibvuri, CPUT Finance Specialist.

The focus is not only on increasing beds but the RBU has taken a Sustainable Business Model Innovation approach, consisting of four stages to reach sustainable levels.

These are:

• Increase supply of beds - which was met per targets
• Focus on the quality of supply - a process was crafted for standards and protecting the brand CPUT when going into business with the private sector.
• Automation and communication within the Model - this is a pertinent area which sees the RBU establishing rapport, relations and process flows with stakeholders to achieve a desired operational model.
• Going into 2023, the unit and university will be looking at a Client-Centric Approach (CCA), where the first three stages of the strategy will allow the focus on the client to be more ‘real’ and have a notable impact on creating the desired client experience.

Chibvuri said several projects have been administered by the unit, which shows the wheels on the four stages beginning to move in sync and setting the runway for a sustainable residential operation. Several infrastructure and other needs have to be upgraded in the institution’s owned residences to start seeing sustainability.

“We still need to plough in a lot of dedicated work to attain a good result. The market and its variables need to be understood to avoid pitfalls. The risks are there but need to be managed and, in some instances, risks can be opportunities if the “risk culture” is cultivated well within our local business ecosystem,” said Chibvuri.

“The distance between us now and total success is dedication and real commitment toward understanding our client, environment and intentional good culture. There are things that will need to change inevitably with the times and foster us into the future. We should take all the wins thus far and grow them and at the same time look at our oversights more carefully and learn from them,” said Johnny Basson, Business Manager.

The RBU has also embarked on a beautification project of residences where common and other areas that hold significant importance in the living and learning environment, but may have been neglected, have been enhanced. This has included beautifully painted murals.

Chibvuri said residences have become like second classrooms since the Covid-19 pandemic

“Making these spaces more liveable and workable is a priority. The residences have become more than just a bed facility and that has to be widely understood.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Despite the challenges brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic, the Residence Business Unit has, over the past few months, intensified its green initiatives and sustainability drive, with a particular focus on the university’s accommodation portfolio.

With an operation of close to 60 residence buildings across the Cape Metropole and the Winelands, the Business Unit, as an arm of the Finance Department, has had to rewire the financial model to ensure the sustainability of residence operations while maintaining the required quality in providing services to its primary client – the students.

“Several models are being explored to get the best value for the rand given the times we are in with lower occupancy in residences but expenditure requirements remaining highly sticky and inherently increasing”, said residence finance specialist, Phillip Chibvuri.

He said the ‘Triple R’ approach, of reduce, reuse recycle has been adopted by the Unit and seeks to provide the best alternative in all provisions of services at the best available option.

The unit has already rolled out three successful projects of recycling available moveable and immovable infrastructure and reusing it. 

“Instead of disposing of over 500 study tables and 500 metal bed bases utilised years ago and seen as obsolete, the unit has refurbished these items and has successfully installed these back into the system. This three-way project has saved the institution over R2 million and counting,” Chibvuri said.

“We have adopted an approach to think without the box at all and not just outside the box, and that has equipped us to see things quite differently and progressively. There are a number of areas that we will be focusing on to really get value for what we already have. It’s all about how you look at it,” He added

Business Manager Johnny Basson said the initiative was born out of the need to really propel the residence operations in its entirety. 

“The university has achieved a great deal in providing sufficient supply of beds for our students and now the next hurdle is the quality and value-chain of that supply. We expect more awareness of what we can do with our existing infrastructure. The options are limitless as we re-brand CPUT residences,” Basson added.  

Written by Ilse Fredericks
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.