Acquired by a new property consortium, the Rand Steam Joint Venture, the lead developers were a partnership between The Moolman Group and Jonker Evolution, who embraced and effected the reconstruction of the original buildings of the Rand Steam Laundries to their formal state. The very first laundry was a wash site located on the rocks and in the small stream known as the Gasworks Spruit where Zulu entrepreneurs washed the clothes of the inhabitants of the dusty mining town from 1887. Laundry requires very soft water and soon the Rand Steam Laundry and Palace Laundry sprang up along Napier Road, eventually uniting to establish the highly successful Rand Steam Laundries, which closed in 1962. Craftsmen and small businesses used the site for the next 40 years.