December 2013
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
40
Building Contractors
A
2
T
he 15 month project started in October 2011. The sloped
landscape had to be excavated down to create a level platform.
It took nearly four months to take out close to 50 000 m
3
of soil
that consisted of soft to hard rock. WBHO had one of the biggest
excavators in theWestern Cape hammering away daily. Certain areas
had to be blasted. A five storey, 900 m
2
lateral support wall had to
be constructed on the one side of the site to keep the earth in place.
The first concrete was cast in January 2012 and so the con-
struction of the office block started. The building consists of nine
levels office space and five levels parking area. It has three con-
necting bridges to the existing Santam building. The building is
situated in Bellville, Cape Town and 90% will be rented out to Glazier
and Santam.
The buildingwas designed by BAMArchitects, themain features of
the building is the glass façades with its 650m
2
of off shutter concrete
walls, a pipe screen façade section and a unique perforated aluminium
wall covering a big section of the parking area.
Achieving the off shutter concrete walls was challenging in the
beginning for WBHO teams but they quickly got used to this new
method of construction. Special design of formwork and self compact-
ing concrete helped in achieving the off shutter walls.
To achieve the construction of the centre core lift shaft which con-
sists of four lifts and a double spiral staircase, purposemade shuttering
had to be designed to enable the shaft to be independent from the
rest of the building during construction.
A five storey lateral support wall had to be constructed to enable
works to be carried out.
The bulk excavation of 50 000 m
3
had to be done in stages to
enable us to construct the lateral support wall, and back anchoring.
Santam Offices
Project information
• Project name: Santam Offices
• Company entering: WBHO Construction
• Project start date: 24 October 2011
• Project end date: 25 March 2013
• Client: Ingenuity Property Investments
• Main contractor: WBHO Construction
• Architect: BAM Architects
• Principal agent: BAM Architects
• Quantity surveyor: LDM Quantity Surveyors
• Project value: R179 300 000
The building is also achieving a 4 star Green star rating. The decision
to go for a green star rating was decided while construction already
started. This meant that WBHO’s team and the designers quickly had
to adapt for this. Changes were made to the façade to allow natural
light to office areas. Lighting design was changed so no light was
unnecessarily used. Water storage tanks were added to catch storm-
water so that it could be re used for flushing and various other smaller
areas were re looked and redesigned. The landscaping on site had to
be selected from varieties of indigenous flora of South Africa.
