Enough soil moved to fill 140km of train wagons — R3.2 billion Afrikaans private university begins to rise
The property investment firm behind the R3.2-billion Akademia University campus in Pretoria East says the project is proceeding on schedule and should open its doors at the start of 2028.
The comprehensive residential campus has been on the radar of the Solidarity-owned tertiary institution since 2017.
The facility is being built by Solidarity property investment spinoff Kanton, which was also responsible for the Soltech technical college campus in Centurion.
That facility was completed under budget and on schedule, despite construction and material-delivery delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new Akademia campus site spans 220 hectares in the Mooiplaats area next to Boschkop Road, about eight kilometres from the Solomon Mahlangu and Lynnwood interchange.
Kanton identified and signed a contract to purchase the property in 2019. Getting approvals for the site’s building and rezoning for educational purposes took five years.
Concept development for the campus was completed in 2024. In May of that year, Kanton bought the property for R50 million. It launched fundraising efforts in November 2024.
A year later, Akademia, Kanton, and Solidarity held a ceremonial sod-turning at the campus site to signal the project’s readiness.
The project site was handed over to the main building contractors, JC van der Linde and Venter Bouers, on 12 January 2026. The project will encompass two phases.
The first phase is valued at R1.8 billion and will include the campus’s core academic facilities, including lecture halls, laboratories, research spaces, and staff spaces.
It will also include the construction of residences with beds for 750 students. The second phase is set to begin construction after the campus opens its doors to students in January 2028.
It will include a 2,500-square-metre student centre, an amphitheatre with a capacity of 1,500 people, a chapel plaza surrounded by gardens and water canals, sports facilities, and expanding available beds to 1,500.
Off to a flying start
Kanton director Henk Schalekamp recently provided an update on the construction of the facility in an interview with AfriForum public relations head Ernst van Zyl.
Schalekamp explained that the development got off to a quick start with the preparation of the construction site in 2025.
“We decided to do the ground earthworks for phase two as well, because we found the material we needed for phase one in the areas where phase 2 is going to be,” he said.
“We decided to take the soil there; otherwise, we would need to import it to the campus from elsewhere.” Schalekamp said this decision required moving 360,000 m³ of soil, rather than the planned 220,000 m³.
To put that volume into context, Schalekamp explained that the soil would be able to fill about 10,000 train wagons, which would cover about 140km if connected end to end.
Schalekamp also revealed that a large part of the property will remain pristine bushveld, which will add to the campus’s African character.
The buildings and sports grounds will occupy about 70 hectares, while the remaining 150 hectares will be the territory of resident impala, kudus, and nyalas.
Kanton expects the first phase to be completed by November 2027 for handover to Akademia in preparation for the 2028 academic year.
Akademia was founded in 2012 and has grown to five faculties offering 20 degrees, certificates, and diplomas, all recognised by the Department of Higher Education.
The institution already has two smaller full-time campuses without residences in Pretoria and recently launched a third campus in Paarl in the Western Cape.
Schalekamp told Van Zyl that Akademia was planning to launch a larger residential campus in the Western Cape after its Pretoria East campus is fully completed.
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