Welcome to Hydro Holdings
Fred Wypkema
Founder, owner and MD of Hydro Holdings and associated companies
Hydro Holdings HQ in Silverton
Hydro Holdings (Pty) Ltd was established in 1968 and started off as a company buying houses, renovating them and selling them again. Within no time it blossomed into full scale township development. Large areas of Delmas, Witbank, Brits (ext 22 & 28) and Kempton Park (Riebeeck Park and Birch Acres) were developed. In Pretoria a portion of Monument Park as well as Waterkloof ext2 was developed.
During the seventies the construction of big buildings were also undertaken such as the Technicon Kempton Park, apartment buildings in Sunnyside, Pretoria, office blocks and commercial buildings in Pretoria and the Flora Clinic and first phase of the Mayo Clinic in Weltevreden Park.
The eighties saw the birth of five private hospitals, Hydromed Kempton Park, Hydromed Trichardt, Hydromed Bloemfontein, Hydromed Harmelia and Hydromed Welkom. Hydro purchased the land, designed and planned the hospitals, had them erected, equipped them and operated these hospitals until they were sold to Medi Clinic in early1996.
Towards the end of the nineties township development was phased out. Most of the further construction activities of Hydro Holdings were to house its own ventures. From 1996 the automotive workshop of Hydro Holdings, which was always an integral part of the company for the purpose of maintaining and servicing its construction vehicles and motor car fleet, developed into a service and repair centre for heavy and light vehicles and was registered as a company in 2000 in its own right, Hydro Fleet Services (Pty) Ltd. At the same time a body building plant was developed within Hydro Holdings which also became a full fletched company, Hydro Plant (Pty) Ltd, in 2000.
www.hydro-automotive.ws .......................www.hydroplant.ws
At the end of 1996 Hydro Holdings ventured far south and acquired the
prestigious wine estate Mulderbosch in the Stellenbosch district and in
early 1997 two other Stellenbosch wine farms, Goedgeloof and
Goedgevonden. The former Spier cellar (totally dilapidated by 1997) was
situated on Goedgeloof. After renovating, expanding and modernizing the
cellar it was named Kanu. Both Mulderbosch and Kanu are popular wines in
Europe and the USA with Mulderbosch rated as one of the top 100 wine
estates of the world.
www.mulderbosch.co.za ........
www.kanu.co.za
During 1997 the North Park shopping Mall was acquired, expanded and managed until it was sold towards the end of 2004.
In 2000 Hydro Air (Pty) Ltd was established for the transport of cargo between South Africa and Europe. A boeing 747 cargo aircraft was purchased and operated the route from Johannesburg, (Harare sometimes), Lagos, Victoria (Spain) Brussels and back from Brussels via Lagos. This operation came to a sudden end in the early hours one Saturday morning at the end of November 2003 when the pilot of the aircraft was instructed to land on a runway which was under construction and not serviceable at the time. Hydro Air still operates a Pilatus PC12 8-seater aircraft which can be chartered for passengers to any destination in sub-Sahara Africa. For reservations contact Frik Knoetze, +27 83 4520261; fwknoetze@yahoo.com
In 2005 Hydro Holdings became 50% partner in Hydro Cabinets (Pty) Ltd which manufactures and installs kitchens and built in cupboards. www.hydrocabinets.com
Under supervision of Hydro Holdings an associated company, 86 Grayston Drive (Pty), Ltd is currently (August 2006) developing a 250 unit apartment block in Sandown. www.86grayston.co.za
