Introducing Bettesworth Scott -
We are an urban and environmental planning practice based in Cape Town. The three directors Martin, David and Isalde first met in 1999 whilst working together at Blaauwberg Municipality. The Blaauwberg Planning team had their hands full at that time with major planning projects such as Century City, Parklands, Sunningdale, Royal Ascot, Big Bay, Marconi Beam and Atlantic Beach Estate. In addition to this, day to day land use management, spatial planning and other projects such as social housing (for example Witsand, Joe Slovo Park and Du Noon) all had to be dealt with. This was an exciting but challenging environment for young planners to work in, and it provided great experience at a pivotal stage of our careers. We keep contact with many of our former colleagues in the now City of Cape Town Planning office and still regularly undertake work in the greater Blaauwberg area.
After resigning from the City of Cape Town within a year or two of each other, David and Isalde teamed up to form David Bettesworth Town & Regional Planners and Martin formed ILALI Town & Regional Planners in 2008. A few years later the three of us reconnected when the two firms started sharing office space in Milnerton. This initially led to the forming of an association to jointly work on projects, but eventually a decision was taken in 2018 to formally merge the two companies. Bettesworth Scott (Pty) Ltd officially started trading on 1 March 2019.
Changes to the City of Cape Town Municipal Planning By-Law -
Notable changes to the Municipal Planning By-Law (MPBL) and Development Management Scheme (DMS) are being proposed and are likely to be formally adopted during October 2019. The following two amendments deserve special mention:
- 3rd Dwelling Unit: the current provisions in the Single Residential SR1 zone will be expanded to permit 3 dwellings as of right, subject to conditions. This will present homeowners and developers with significant new opportunities to upgrade and retrofit existing single residential properties, without having to consider a rezoning. In particular, sectional title schemes for single residential properties may now in certain circumstances start to make sense. The DMS will state that the three dwelling units can either be in separate buildings or in a single building, which could effectively amount to having three apartments on a SR1 zoned property. Contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for professional advice as to how to best maximize the potential that these new amendments afford.
- New height calculation method: the City intends to abandon the current “base level” height calculation method and work from a new Ground Level Map, which is based on 2m contour intervals. To comply with maximum height restrictions in meters, buildings will thus have to now fit within a 3D-type height envelop that follows the fall of the land on which the building is placed. The idea is for building heights to better mimic the topography of the land below. Please feel free to approach us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for professional assistance and advice as to how to best prepare for the change in height calculation method.
Kind Regards
The Bettesworth Scott Team