UNESCO World Heritage Site & Conference Centre

Gauteng Province, South Africa

On behalf of Gauteng Province Department of Agriculture, Conservation and the Environment (DACEL), Randall Gross completed work on a Financial Plan for the nominated United Nations World Heritage Site at Sterkfontein and surrounding palaeo-anthropological sites. He assessed indicative operating and capital costs and determined an appropriate budgeting plan for conservation management and tourism development of the area and specifically for a major interpretation and conference centre at the site. He also recommended approaches for maximising the community economic benefits and skills base generated by the site. As part of his analysis, he reviewed tourism market potentials and recommended the tourism “product” for the sites, including a major interpretive, conference, and research centres. Based on the proposal that included this Financial Plan, the site was selected by UNESCO as one of South Africa’s first World Heritage Sites. ADEC’s Director also assisted DACEL in completing the site’s interpretation and conference centre Financial Plan and Community Benefits Analysis as part of the Master Planning process. The resulting financial analysis was included in DACEL’s Request for Proposals to potential developers, one of which was selected to follow through on the project, which has been successfully developed and is exceeding operating expectations.

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