STAG African
Accommodating an African TransformationWriter: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Stuart Parker STAG African’s dream of becoming the most innovative green Company on the African continent is well on its way to fruition following the completion of numerous projects ingratiated into its core model, while diversifying into myriad adjacent sectors through the optimisation of its guiding principles.Established in its current guise in 2008 as an organisation committed to producing more affordable student accommodation in South Africa, the pillars on which this vision was built incorporated sustainability, flexibility, technology, innovation and community. With affordability the umbrella keeping all of these facets aligned, STAG African soon made a name for itself in bringing much needed efficiencies and cost savings to a country having somewhat of an accommodation crisis.Education was required in most cases, and it’s not to say that the crisis is over, but STAG African, guided by its driven Managing Director (MD), John Schooling has certainly succeeded in making affordability and green solutions mainstream, with numerous opportunities both home and abroad being formulated as a consequence of these initial achievements.“It’s still a crisis in Africa as a whole with most students not able to afford the true cost of student accommodation and all of its operating costs,” he affirms. “Our new approach provides a sustainable solution guided by expectations of our own markets and bridging that gap to the expectations of universities and the current costs of student accommodation.“Our eight guiding principles can combine to drive affordable student accommodation, based on principles of the 21st century student lifestyle. Through these principles – namely…
STAG African
International Expansion given the Green LightWriter: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Stuart ParkerSTAG AFRICAN is well on its way to achieving its goal of being the most innovative green Company on the continent as it looks to build upon a business model that has taken the property development market by storm over the past six years.Progressing as an established traditional construction business throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Company’s gateway to the reputation and market prominence synonymous with today’s STAG can be traced back to 2009, and the strategic decision to challenge what the Group perceived as an outdated and costly student accommodation market.Catering to a sector where affordability is of the essence, the idea was to overhaul the niche market by introducing the most modern international design and build techniques, using more green and sustainable products, with the lowest end cost possible as a result.“We wanted to come up with an optimal concept to reduce the costs of providing accommodation to students, and it was architectural design and product innovation that achieved this,” recalls STAG AFRICAN’s Managing Director (MD), John Schooling. “We looked around the world for the best facility building system and came across one known as lightweight steel framing which we began using, and really pioneering, on accommodation in South Africa.”Subsequently branching out across the surrounding region from its South African headquarters, STAG went on to complement this acknowledgement of the 21st century construct with six guiding principles which have formed the basis for the overall business model ever since: sustainability, flexibility, technology, innovation, affordability…
