Midrand | |
|---|---|
  Midrand  Midrand  Midrand | |
| Coordinates:25°59′57″S28°7′35″E / 25.99917°S 28.12639°E /-25.99917; 28.12639 | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Gauteng |
| Municipality | City of Johannesburg |
| Area | |
• Total | 152.87 km2 (59.02 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 87,387 |
| • Density | 571.64/km2 (1,480.5/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black | 54.5% |
| • Coloured | 3.3% |
| • Indian/Asian | 17.0% |
| • White | 24.2% |
| • Other | 1.0% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • English | 50.1% |
| • Zulu | 10.2% |
| • Afrikaans | 6.9% |
| • Xhosa | 5.4% |
| • Other | 27.4% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Postal code (street) | 1682 |
Midrand is a town in centralGauteng,South Africa. It is situated in-betweenCenturion andSandton. Formerly an independent municipality, Midrand now forms part of theCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.
Midrand was established as a municipality in 1981 (in an area known asHalfway House, named after its position betweenPretoria andJohannesburg[2]), but ceased to be an independent town in the restructuring of local government that followed the end of apartheid in 1994. It was incorporated in theCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in 2000. It was made part ofRegion 2 and, as of 2006, when the number of regions were reduced to seven, it forms part of Region A of the City of Johannesburg.
Though no longer an independent town, the name Midrand is still in common use to denote the suburbs around theN1 highway north of theJukskei River up to the border with theCity of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (this portion of the N1 highway is also known as theBen Schoeman Highway). Suburbs that are generally regarded as being in Midrand include among others:Country View,Carlswald,Crowthorne,Ebony Park,Glen Austin,Ivory Park,Kaalfontein,Rabie Ridge,Halfway House,Halfway Gardens,Vorna Valley,Noordwyk,Randjesfontein,Randjespark,Blue Hills,Kyalami Agricultural Holdings and Waterfall City.
In 2010, it was reported that the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality wished to annex Midrand from the City of Johannesburg, reportedly to boost its income, which was severely strained.[3]
The city is relatively modern, having experienced much growth in the last decade. Many businesses have relocated there due to its proximity to good highway links and its location in the economic centre of Gauteng Province. The development of Midrand has resulted in little break between the outskirts of Johannesburg and those of Pretoria.
TheSouth African Civil Aviation Authority is headquartered in Midrand,[4] as is theRailway Safety Regulator (RSR),[5] and theNational Credit Regulator. Midrand is also the location of theAfrican Union'sPan-African Parliament and of theNEPAD secretariat.
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As the name suggests, Midrand lies centrally within theGauteng province positioned halfway betweenJohannesburg to the south (27 km) andPretoria to the north (30 km). It forms the northernmost part of theCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, bordering two othermetropolitan municipalities within Gauteng namely theCity of Tshwane to the north and theCity of Ekurhuleni to the east. Midrand is flanked byCenturion to the north,Sandton to the south andThembisa to the east.
Midrand has the largest[citation needed] conference centre in South Africa which is known asGallagher Estate which was built on the former site of Halfway House Primary School, which subsequently moved to new grounds near the fire station.
A landmark of Midrand is theNizamiye Mosque, opened in 2012,[6] thelargest mosque in South Africa. The ClassicalTurkish-stylemosque was personally funded byTurkish-born construction tycoon Ali Katircioglu at a cost of R210 million.
The largest single-phase shopping mall built in Africa,The Mall of Africa, is located in the Waterfall City precinct of the town.[7][8]
It is now also home to the new headquarters for a multinational auditing-finance company, PWC. (Constructed byWSP) Visible, as currently (2018) the only skyscraper in Midrand. It will however be rivaled by its upcoming twin, The Falcon Building. Both the Falcon and PWC are in the same complex as Mall of Africa. Other landmarks include the Boulders Shopping centre, so named after the heritage site housing huge granite rocks which are approximately 3.5-billion years old.[9]
Midrand is a thriving business node, home to the offices of major corporations such asVodacom,Microsoft,Neotel, and Altech Autopage as well as an array of small and medium enterprises.
In 2013, Atterbury Properties announced plans to build theMall of Africa, which would be one of the continent's largest.[7] The Mall of Africa is located within the green, mixed-use Waterfall City precinct.[7][8] The N1 Business Park and International Business Gateway are among the commercial developments in Midrand. The latest industrial development is calledWaterfall Logistics Precinct.
TheUniversity of South Africa'sGraduate School of Business Leadership is located in Midrand. ThePearson Institute of Higher Education formerly known asMidrand Graduate Institute, was officially opened on 9 May 1990. AVarsity College campus was established in 2012.Macmillan Education South Africa relocated their offices in June 2017 from Melrose Arch. There are primary and high schools located in several areas.
Kyalami, an international renowned racetrack is in Midrand and is the venue for many of South Africa's premier motor racing events. TheSouth African Lipizzaners riding academy is situated in thesmallholdings ofKyalami.
Midrand lies along theN1 (Ben Schoeman Freeway) which runs through the town in a northerly direction fromJohannesburg toPretoria. Midrand is connected to the N1 by theM39 Allandale Road,M71 New Road, R562 Olifantsfontein Road and theM36 Samrand Road inCenturion. TheN3 (Eastern Bypass) lying just south of Midrand, intersects the N1 at the Buccleuch Interchange and runs southwards toGermiston andDurban.
Midrand is intersected by threeregional routes, namely; theR101 (Pretoria Main Road) fromSandton to Centurion andPretoria, theR55 from Sandton to Centurion and Pretoria and theR562 fromThembisa toDiepsloot.Metropolitan routes within theGreater Johannesburg metropolitan region that intersect in Midrand include theM38 (Modderfontein Road; Allan Road) andM39 (Allandale Road), both connecting the town withKempton Park to the south-east.
Midrand is the home ofGrand Central Airport and also toone of the stations in theGautrain rapid rail system on the route fromPretoria toSandton.
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate assubtropical highland (Cwb).[10]
| Climate data for Midrand | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 26.4 (79.5) | 26.1 (79.0) | 25.1 (77.2) | 22.8 (73.0) | 20.7 (69.3) | 17.9 (64.2) | 18.1 (64.6) | 21 (70) | 23.9 (75.0) | 25 (77) | 25.4 (77.7) | 26.1 (79.0) | 23.2 (73.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 20.5 (68.9) | 20.2 (68.4) | 19 (66) | 16.1 (61.0) | 13.2 (55.8) | 10.2 (50.4) | 10.3 (50.5) | 13 (55) | 16.2 (61.2) | 18.1 (64.6) | 19.1 (66.4) | 20 (68) | 16.3 (61.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.6 (58.3) | 14.3 (57.7) | 12.9 (55.2) | 9.5 (49.1) | 5.7 (42.3) | 2.5 (36.5) | 2.6 (36.7) | 5 (41) | 8.6 (47.5) | 11.3 (52.3) | 12.9 (55.2) | 14 (57) | 9.5 (49.1) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 140 (5.5) | 91 (3.6) | 83 (3.3) | 55 (2.2) | 15 (0.6) | 8 (0.3) | 6 (0.2) | 7 (0.3) | 23 (0.9) | 74 (2.9) | 111 (4.4) | 110 (4.3) | 723 (28.5) |
| Source:Climate-Data.org (altitude: 1587m)[10] | |||||||||||||
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