June 2012
Sustainable construction is seen in increasing number locally. Set in the Johannesburg CBD, Absa Towers West has been recognised by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) as having attained ‘South African Excellence' and was consequently awarded the first 5 star Green Star SA certification as an ‘As Built' building.
Hillbrow is undergoing a rebirth thanks to a public-private partnership that spurred the creation of the Hillbrow Health Precinct, a world-class health and research facility. Specialist contractor GVK Siya Zama was enlisted to restore, renovate and convert a dilapidated, 1928 heritage building, its three-storey operating theatre and main x-ray department block into consultation and delivery rooms.
AfriSam (on this month's cover) invests significantly in research, the upgrading of plant equipment and the revision of manufacturing processes to reduce the impact of its business operations on the environment. Making use of innovative technologies has enabled the company to reduce its CO2 content per ton of cement produced by more than 34% over the last twenty years.
From left to right: The Absa Towers West development; the PPP that is breathing new life into Hilbrow and AfriSam's Eco Cement production facility.
On the property side the fully let 43 000 m2 Middelburg Mall regional shopping centre in Mpumalanga opened its doors recently, bringing comprehensive, quality shopping to the growing and ever more affluent consumers of Middelburg and its surrounds.
Developed by Flanagan & Gerard Property Development & Investment and Moolman Group, construction of the R500-million shopping centre took 14 months. It was successfully completed on schedule.
Atterbury recently launched Waterfall Business Estate and it was followed by a sod turning ceremony for the Waterfall Distribution Campus. A 30 000 m2 distribution centre for Wal-Mart's Massbuild has broken ground at Waterfall Distribution Campus.
Leading SA property development and investment company Intaprop announced that it has assembled a prime mixed-use development - Saxdowne Park - in the Western Cape.
Undertaken in response to market demand for commercial property space in the node, Saxdowne Park includes retail, offices, logistics facilities, distribution warehouses, small to medium scale manufacturing outlets and residential developments.
From left to right: The Middelburg Mall regional shopping centre; an artist rendering of Atterbury's new Waterfall Distribution Centre and an aerial view of Saxdowne Park.
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Waiting with baited breath
The results of Consulting Engineers South Africa's bi-annual Economic and Capacity Survey for the period July to December 2011 indicate that conditions in the consulting engineering industry have eased slightly with member firms being involved in design and feasibility studies.
Organic growth
An interview with Chris van Renssen, head of Golder Associates' new Construction Services Business Unit about the unit's challenges, service offering and long term goals.
Hospital upgrade
Honeywell Building Solutions has been awarded the contract to upgrade the South African Military Health Services facility in Pretoria. Honeywell's globally recognised Enterprise Buildings Integrator systems were chosen due to the fact that the EBI technology offers all required solutions on one platform.
Port Elizabeth goes trenchless
Subsurface pipeline construction and rehabilitation company Trenchless Technologies, in conjunction with Africoast Consulting Engineers, recently completed Phase II of a contract for the Mandela Bay Development Agency for the rehabilitation of two existing concrete parallel sewer pipes located beneath the heavily trafficked Govan Mbeki Avenue.
