MYSTERY BILLIONAIRE TO DOME GORDON’S BAY: LOCALS UNSURE WHETHER TO BE EXCITED OR DEEPLY SUSPICIOUS AND ARE MANAGING TO BE BOTH SIMULTANEOUSLY
THE HELDERBURGER — BREAKING DEVELOPMENT EDITION We Did Not See This Coming And Neither Did The Municipality
In what can only be described as an unexpected consequence of a municipal proposal that began on the back of a Spur menu the Helderburger can exclusively reveal that a representative of an unnamed but apparently extraordinarily wealthy individual from the Middle East made contact with the Gordon’s Bay local business forum last Thursday to propose what he called “a visionary enclosed coastal lifestyle destination” and what Oom Frikkie Esterhuizen of the beachfront called “a very big tent.”
It is not a tent. According to the twelve-page preliminary concept document distributed to selected stakeholders and then immediately photographed and circulated on every Helderberg WhatsApp group by Friday morning it is a fully engineered climate-controlled transparent geodesic dome structure intended to cover the entire Gordon’s Bay beach and harbour precinct including the beachfront road a significant portion of the existing commercial strip and what the document refers to as “curated leisure and hospitality nodes” and what everyone else refers to as shops pubs and restaurants.
The document is printed on paper that smells faintly expensive. Several recipients have mentioned this unprompted.
WHAT IS BEING PROPOSED
The concept as outlined by the representative — identified only as Mr Khalid who arrived at the business forum meeting in a vehicle that Beverley Lategaan described as “the kind of car you only see in movies and occasionally in the Waterfront car park on a Saturday” — is broadly as follows.
A fully transparent domed structure of sufficient scale to enclose the Gordon’s Bay beachfront precinct from the harbour wall to approximately the existing parking area and extending inland to include the existing commercial strip along Beach Road. The dome would be engineered to eliminate wind while maintaining natural light create a self-regulating internal microclimate with controlled temperature and humidity house an integrated retail and hospitality precinct featuring restaurants coffee shops craft breweries a boutique hotel and what the document calls “curated water feature experiences” include a sheltered internal lagoon with non-motorised water sports facilities such as kayaking paddleboarding and what is described only as “ambient aquatic leisure” and incorporate landscaped internal gardens walking paths and open community spaces designed to feel according to the document “like the Mediterranean but better and without the queues.”
The cost of this project is not specified in the document. In place of a figure the document contains the phrase “investment at scale commensurate with the vision” which Mr Khalid confirmed when asked directly means “a very great deal of money” and which he confirmed further when pressed means the kind of money that has its own money.
He smiled when he said this. By all accounts it was an extremely confident smile.
THE DOME IN DETAIL
For those attempting to visualise the structure the preliminary architectural renders circulated with the concept document depict something that appears to have arrived from a future in which Gordon’s Bay won a significant international competition that nobody in Gordon’s Bay entered.
The dome skin would be constructed from a high-performance ETFE foil — the same material used in certain international stadium and botanical garden projects — which is fully transparent allows ninety-five percent of natural light through is self-cleaning in rain and is according to the document “wind resistant to beyond any relevant local specification” which given that the relevant local specification is approximately a hundred kilometres per hour of sustained southeaster is either reassuring or alarming depending on your disposition.
Internal climate control would be maintained through a combination of passive solar design low-energy ventilation systems and what the document refers to as “thermal buffering technology” which Mr Khalid declined to elaborate on beyond saying it was “very good technology” from a company he could not name due to what he called “competitive considerations.”
The internal lagoon would be fed by filtered seawater maintained at a “pleasant bathing temperature year round” which in the Gordon’s Bay context means warmer than the Atlantic currently manages between June and November which is to say warmer than something that would stop your heart if you entered it unexpectedly.
Shops would line the internal perimeter. Restaurants and coffee shops would face the lagoon. A pub described in the document as “a premier social anchor establishment with heritage character references” would occupy a prime corner position and would according to Mr Khalid be “very good” and also “open quite late.”
The word “Instagram” appears eleven times in the twelve-page document. This has been noted by multiple readers.
GORDON’S BAY REACTS
The response from Gordon’s Bay has been rapid layered and contradictory in ways that suggest the town is having a genuine and unresolved conversation with itself about what it actually wants.
Corné Pietersen who submitted the twelve-page wind objection to the municipality regarding the original wall proposal and who has been monitoring wind speeds from his stoep since 2009 said he was cautiously supportive of the dome concept on the grounds that it solved the wind problem comprehensively without displacing it onto neighbouring areas and also on the grounds that he had always wanted a decent coffee shop within walking distance and the current options were “not what you would call inspiring.”
He has however submitted a preliminary question list to Mr Khalid’s representative containing forty-one items the first of which is “what happens to the wind pressure differential on the exterior dome surface during a sustained southeaster event” and the last of which is “will there be parking.”
Ruan Fick who wrote to the Helderburger previously about the Bernoulli effect and his brother-in-law who studied engineering for two years said he was in principle supportive but wanted it on record that Gordon’s Bay had been overlooked by the municipality for decades and that if a Middle Eastern billionaire was now required to solve their weather problems through private investment that reflected poorly on elected officials and he would be raising this at the next ward meeting.
Local pub owner Jannie Strydom of the Harbour Arms said he had one question and one question only which was whether the proposed “premier social anchor establishment with heritage character references” inside the dome would be competing directly with the Harbour Arms and when told that yes it probably would said he had several more questions and requested a meeting.
He has not yet received a meeting.
THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY DIVIDES PREDICTABLY
Petro Swanepoel of the accommodation sector and previously vocal supporter of the original wind wall concept issued a statement describing the dome as “visionary and transformative and exactly the kind of bold thinking the Helderberg coast needs to compete internationally as a tourism destination.”
She then asked whether the boutique hotel inside the dome would be taking guesthouse bookings through a central platform or operating independently and when told it would likely operate independently issued a follow-up statement describing the dome as “visionary and transformative but raising important questions about fair competition and the protection of existing local hospitality businesses.”
Bakkies Kleinhans of Ocean Riders surf and kite shop and previously the most vocal opponent of the original wall said the dome was in his view even worse than the wall on the grounds that at least the wall only blocked the wind whereas the dome replaced the entire outdoor coastal experience with what he called “a shopping mall that had confused itself with a beach.”
He said the internal lagoon was particularly offensive to him as a concept and that paddleboarding on artificially temperature-controlled filtered seawater inside a plastic bubble was not water sport it was water theatre and that there was a difference and that the difference mattered.
He is still bringing a lawyer. The lawyer’s brief has expanded.
THE ENVIRONMENTALISTS HAVE ENTERED THE CHAT
The Helderberg Green Coalition which submitted its original wall objection in triplicate and also by fax convened an emergency session upon receiving the dome documentation and released a statement the following morning that ran to six pages and contained the phrase “we hardly know where to begin” in the opening paragraph which is the kind of thing that suggests they absolutely know where to begin and have in fact already begun.
Key concerns raised include the following.
The dome would constitute a permanent structure within the coastal management zone of a scale and permanence requiring environmental authorisation that would take years to obtain and which the coalition believes would and should be refused on grounds of coastal visual impact alone. The Gordon’s Bay coastline forms part of a scenic landscape of national significance and erecting a structure visible from Sir Lowry’s Pass and presumably from space constitutes what the coalition called “an act of architectural aggression against the public viewshed.”
The enclosed ecosystem concern is significant. The coalition notes that creating an artificial microclimate within a sealed transparent structure adjacent to a marine environment raises unresolved questions about condensation management thermal runoff into adjacent tidal zones the impact of artificial internal humidity on surrounding fynbos and whether the filtered seawater lagoon would have any exchange with the open ocean and if not what happens to it over time biologically which the coalition says is “a question with some very unpleasant possible answers.”
The bird situation has been raised again by Tannie Sannie Rousseau who is not a greenie but who attended the coalition meeting as an observer and who says that a large transparent dome is a known hazard to birds who cannot perceive glass or ETFE foil as a barrier and will fly into it which she described as unacceptable and which she raised by standing up at the meeting and saying “what about the birds” until the chairperson acknowledged her.
The coalition has started a second petition. It currently has 1 200 signatures. Tannie Sannie is responsible for at least forty of them personally.
WHAT ABOUT THE WHALES
This question was raised at the business forum meeting by a member of the public who had not been invited but had heard about the meeting through the Gordon’s Bay Community WhatsApp group and arrived anyway.
The question specifically was whether the dome and its associated construction and ongoing operation would affect the Southern Right Whales that use Gordon’s Bay and the broader False Bay coastline as a calving and nursery area between July and November each year and whether Mr Khalid’s representative had considered this.
Mr Khalid’s representative said he was aware of the whales and that the project team found them “very beautiful.”
This was not felt to be a complete answer.
The question remains open. The whales have not been reached for comment. They are not expected until July.
THE MUNICIPALITY RESPONDS
Councillor van der Merwe who originated the wind wall concept on the back of a Spur menu and who has been largely unreachable since the story broke issued a brief statement through the municipal communications office on Friday afternoon.
The statement said the municipality “welcomed investment interest in the Helderberg coast” and “looked forward to engaging with all relevant stakeholders through the appropriate regulatory processes” and “remained committed to the wellbeing of all residents of Strand and Gordon’s Bay.”
It did not mention the dome specifically. It did not mention Mr Khalid. It did not address the question of whether the municipality had been consulted before the business forum meeting or had learned about the proposal the same way everyone else did which is to say through a WhatsApp message at six-forty-five on a Friday morning containing a photograph of a concept document that smelled expensive.
Sources close to the municipal offices say the councillor has requested a full briefing on what ETFE foil is. The briefing has been scheduled. It has not yet happened.
THE BROADER PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION NOBODY ASKED FOR BUT SEVERAL RESIDENTS ARE RAISING ANYWAY
A number of letters received since the story broke have moved beyond the practical objections and into what can only be described as existential territory.
One writer who signed herself only as “A Person Who Has Lived Here Her Whole Life” asked whether Gordon’s Bay enclosed in a dome would still be Gordon’s Bay in any meaningful sense or whether it would become something else entirely something that wore Gordon’s Bay’s address and used Gordon’s Bay’s views and charged Gordon’s Bay-adjacent prices but had in fact replaced everything that made Gordon’s Bay what it is with a climate-controlled simulation of a coastal town that was easier to monetise and harder to love.
She said she did not know the answer. She said she was not sure the answer was findable. She said she was going to think about it on the beach while she still could and that she was going to face into the wind while she did so because at least the wind was honest about what it was.
Joost van Niekerk the self-described purist and contrarian wrote to say that the dome represented the logical conclusion of a conversation that should never have been started and that the original sin was the wind wall proposal and that if the municipality had simply accepted the southeaster as a permanent and defining feature of this coastline and worked with it rather than against it none of this would be happening and Gordon’s Bay would not currently be at risk of becoming what he called “a terrarium with a pub.”
Bakkies Kleinhans forwarded this letter to his lawyer.
MR KHALID’S FINAL WORD
Reached by telephone on Saturday morning Mr Khalid’s representative conveyed the following message on behalf of the investor which the Helderburger prints in full.
“Mr Khalid has visited Gordon’s Bay twice. He finds it very beautiful and very windy. He believes it has extraordinary potential and that potential is being lost every summer to a wind that nobody is using well. He does not wish to replace Gordon’s Bay. He wishes to protect it from one thing while allowing everything else to thrive. He is patient. He understands there will be questions. He welcomes questions. He has answers to most of them and for the ones he does not yet have answers to he has people working on it. He is very serious about the pub.”
The Helderburger has been unable to verify the identity of the investor the source of the investment or whether any formal application to any regulatory body has been made. We have verified that the concept document smells expensive. We have verified that the southeaster is currently in day four of its latest cycle and is operating at eighty-seven kilometres per hour as of this morning. We have verified that Bakkies Kleinhans’s lawyer has now been briefed on ETFE foil and describes himself as “concerned.”
The dome does not exist. The wind absolutely does. Gordon’s Bay is having a moment and the moment does not appear to be ending any time soon.
Letters responses questions and philosophical reflections may be directed to the Helderburger office. We ask that correspondents note that our own front door sign still has not been replaced following the southeaster incident of last Tuesday and we are currently identifying ourselves to visitors verbally which is not ideal but is at least authentic.
The Helderburger — Still Here — Still Uncovered — Facing Into It.