26 November 2009

• Coastal Education and Visitors Centre, an environmental ‘feather in the cap’ for East London

East London - ‘Making exceptional strides towards education and awareness of our natural heritage and to protect a valuable heritage site and conserve the wealth of coastal biodiversity in the area’ - that is the main aim of the newly developed Mercedes-Benz Coastal Education and Visitors’ Centre in the Nahoon Point Nature reserve in East London.

At the official conclusion of the three-year, R3-million sponsorship today, Rainer Ruess, vice-president responsible for manufacturing at Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA), emphasised the important role business plays in assisting the conservation South Africa’s natural heritage, “Globally protecting the environment is a major focus area for our parent company Daimler AG, and obviously also for ourselves here in East London. This centre provides an eco-tourism facility to educate our children and city residents. It will also be an attraction to tourists who visit our beautiful city. MBSA’s involvement in the centre dates back to 2005. When we were first approached to support the concept of this special education and visitors’ centre we did not hesitate to support it given our CSR focus on tourism; community upliftment; protecting the natural environment; and education in general. The sponsorship of this centre was a perfect fit.”

The centre has already enhanced the use and importance of the coastal area since it first started operating in its pilot phase just over a year ago. The centre consists of a
café and restaurant, a 30-seat conference facility and a large-display area for information boards and museum exhibitions. The centre is equipped to educate learners and the public alike on coastal environmental matters and is a nucleus to connect all activities which take place in the reserve.

The centre provides for a number of social benefits include job creation and opportunity for SMMEs by way of car guards, guides, vendors, etc. Since its pilot operations last year the centre has seen the training and placement of 22 coastal rangers and ranger guides, an educational officer, and naturally, a number of restaurant staff. A further 64 people were employed on contract to remove alien plants and assist with beach clean-up work. In total over 200 previously unemployed people have benefitted permanently or temporarily from the establishment of the centre.

The eco-friendly building, in the shape of a giant footprint, is set to become one of the best tourist attractions in East London. The design is based on the association of the trace coastal fossil footprint site, the oldest of its kind in the world. “The symbolism of the left foot shape acknowledges the importance of the area from a palaeo-anthropological point of view,” explains Kevin Cole, principal scientist who has represented the East London Museum on the Nahoon Point Nature Reserve Working Group on scientific, conservation and educational aspects of the project. The most unusual part of the construction was the roof-design, constructed using a ferro-cement mixture, following a technique first used in France in 1848 for the construction of rowboats. The thickness of the concaved roof is only 50 mm with supports at a maximum spacing of 4,5 metres. The main advantage of this design was that the roof construction was labour intensive and did not require expensive formwork to create the required shape.

The reserve has a few kilometres of wooden and recycled plastic boardwalks, walking trails and lookout points. It offers excellent views of Bonza Bay for dolphin and whale watching and the area continues to attract international surfers. The area is managed by the Nahoon Point Nature Reserve Management Committee.

Together with the construction of the visitors’ centre, two of the city’s most prized tourist attractions – the Nahoon Estuary nature reserve and the Nahoon Point nature reserve are being improved as part of the Buffalo City Coastal management Plan which aims to improve the city’s 68 km coastline.

Ruess concludes, “The Mercedes-Benz South Africa Coastal Education and Visitors Centre project is an excellent example of how successful joint venture partnerships can be. By partnering with government and other organisations that we have ensured the positive impact we make on the development of our communities is long lasting and significant. At MBSA we are committed to building a leading nation and creating a vibrant and prosperous society.”