The story of Rand Steam Laundries is a contentious one. This heritage site in Richmond, Joburg, came into being around 1896, when a group of Zulu men made a business of washing clothes along the Gas Works Spruit for the mining industry. The AmaWashas, as they were called, were displaced when two formal laundry businesses, which later became Rand Steam, opened up there.

Rand Steam Laundries became so popular that hotels from all over SA sent their laundry to be cleaned and dyed there. After it closed in the early '60s, the industrial buildings were inhabited by craftsmen and informal traders.

Next came Imperial Holdings in the 2000s, who illegally flattened the buildings to make way for a car dealership. Their plans were intercepted as the community and heritage association took umbrage, leaving the property derelict until now.