Building 6- Samancor

Building 6, known as the Samancor Auditorium, was established to address the growing need for training in the Vaal Triangle region, driven by industrial development after World War II. Vanderbijlpark gained municipal status in 1952 after the establishment of steelworks and was named after Dr. Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer tasked with planning South Africa’s industrial development. Sasolburg was founded the same year following the creation of a plant to extract oil from coal. In 1958, discussions began about establishing a university campus for the region, led by Dr. FP Jacobsz and representatives from the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (PU for CHE). By 1963, Prof. AJE Sorgdrager was offering refresher courses for cost accountants in Vanderbijlpark, and in 1965, the PU formally established its Vaal River Branch. Land was acquired in 1973 to develop a university campus, and by 2004, the campus spanned 111 hectares.

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Samancor Building 6, Year 2010

Vaal Triangle Campus in 1982. However, the relocation of the faculty to Potchefstroom in the early 1990s and evolving university strategies led to the abandonment of the original master plan for campus development. In 1995, it was decided to construct a building with a large lecture hall and small group rooms between Buildings 4 and 7. Funds were raised from the private sector and supplemented with government funding to complete the project. The building was specifically designed to support Telematic Learning Systems, which had been developed on the Potchefstroom campus. To recognize the generous contributions from ISCOR, a longstanding partner of the Vaal Triangle Campus, the building was named the ISCOR Centre for Telematic Learning. Construction began in 1998 and was completed by mid-1999.

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Aerial view of Samancor Building, Year 2008

The ISCOR Centre consists of two auditoriums: the Samancor Auditorium, which seats 328, and the Old Mutual Auditorium, with 72 seats. In addition to the auditoriums, the building features eleven rooms and a cafeteria area. The total construction costs were R1.7 million, with an additional R500,000 allocated for equipment. Today, the building remains one of the most iconic structures on the campus and is a significant part of the university’s history and development in the Vaal Triangle region.

An aerial view of the Vaal Triangle Campus in 2003 shows Building 6 centre front