A work force of close to a thousand people is working around the clock to complete the mega R750 million Crystal Towers development at Century City on time.

The development, which is the largest to be undertaken in the burgeoning Century City precinct since the Canal Walk Shopping Centre in 2000, comprises a 180 room five star hotel, 91 luxury apartments, restaurants, a health spa, 1 500 sq m of triple A grade office suites and a standalone 6 000 sq m office block which has been let to international audit firm, Mazars Moores Rowland.

The Crystal Towers Hotel and Spa, which will be a sister hotel to Melrose Arch and will form part of the exclusive African Pride Collection, is due to open in December this year.

The standalone office block is also due for completion in December while the second tower block, which comprises two levels of office suites and seven storeys of luxury residences is due for completion in March 2010.

To date the ground, first, second and third floors of the hotel tower, which include the back of house kitchen, the hotel’s spa and gym and the first 64 hotel rooms have been completed and handed over for furnishing, fitting and equipment installation.

The remaining hotel rooms are due to be handed over for fit-out in the first half of this month.

Greg Deans, a director of developers, the Rabie Property Group, says the late winter rainfall together with industry resource constraints due to 2010 projects put contractors under pressure but they are working flat out to make up for lost time.

The iconic development is being built on a landmark site on the Grand Canal across the water from Canal Walk shopping centre and also enjoys frontage onto Century Boulevard, the main thoroughfare of Century City.

Deans says the Crystal Towers Hotel & Spa, which will be the fifth hotel to open at Century City, will be aimed predominantly at business travellers and will fill the demand for a high end hotel in the precinct which is the fastest growing commercial node in the Western Cape.

Century City is currently home to more than 300 000 sq m of offices with the development rights in place for further extensive office development which, when completed, will place the precinct on a similar size footing as the Cape Town CBD.

Deans says they will be developing the additional office space on a market driven basis over the next 10 to 15 years with work on the next office development expected to be announced shortly.