April 2011

There are various articles in the April issue of Construction World that indicate just how vibrant the South African construction industry is - this despite the severe downturn that it is experiencing. Alan Watt, who has been in the construction industry for more than 46 years and have seen the industry go through various phases, gives a holistic view as he reflects on the past but also presents his take on the construction industry in the future.

"The universal adoption of prefabricated components and a completely new approach to how we deal with design and erection on site will make obsolete the ponderous, inefficient and fault-inducing methods we accept as the norm today on a building site." - Alan Watt.

Menlyn Maine in Pretoria, is set to become Africa's first green city, and is well on its way to becoming a reality with construction having commenced on the first of the precinct's commercial buildings - which will become home to Nedbank's regional head office. Key benefits of a green and sustainable precinct development include a cleaner environment, resulting in a healthier community and a more robust local economy, all fast becoming non-negotiable necessities for future generations.

Building a low carbon footprint business means moving away from the traditional way of doing business by instituting change, thereby making a commitment to preserve the environment in which we operate while generating business profits.

This month's project profile focuses on the Stefanutti Stocks Geotechnical and Esorfrankie joint venture at Kusile. The project entails the installation of auger bored piles. The JV is doing all of the piling for the turbine, boiler and ACC. The original contract was for 4 160 piles varying between 800 and 1 200 mm in diameter, but this number is slowly expanding to 5 200. Up to the end of February, unit 1 and a significant part of unit 6 was piled.

Various different international design engineering departments were involved in providing the information to Ken Schwartz so as to provide the client with the necessary designs and reports. The seven diamond coring teams mobilised carried out additional boreholes in advance of the pile designs being prepared.

One of the new bridges for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Projects was bridge B0041, a 240 m long bridge which was constructed using the incrementally launched method. The incrementally launched method offers advantages over conventional construction, including creating minimal disturbance to surroundings, providing a more concentrated work area for superstructure assembly and increased worker safety.

The method of incremental launching basically involves the assembly of the bridge superstructure that is constructed on one side of an obstacle, after which the superstructure is then moved (or launched) longitudinally into its final position.