December 2013
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
76
Professional Services
C
University of Pretoria: Engineering Building
– parkade and concourse area
T
he erection of the new parkade/engineering building, main
entrance and upgrade of the adjacent Aula Building won
an award at the South African Property Owners Association
(SAPOA) 2013 awards ceremony for Mixed Use Development.
It was the largest single construction project in the history of the
University of Pretoria (UP). The project came about as a result of an
announcement in 2006 by the Department of Education regarding
their intention of allocating funding to five universities to increase
the number of engineering graduates. The additional engineering
facilities were built to accommodate the annual growth in student
numbers as per UP’s long term strategy.
The project has also won an award from the South African Land-
scape Institute (SALI): the Bristle ConeTrophy for theMost Innovative
and Original use of Plant Material. The award was presented to Life
Landscapes, who implemented the project. The construction period
was just over two years, and the project was officially opened on
25 August 2011 by Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education
andTraining, and Prof Cheryl de la Rey, theUniversity’sVice-Chancellor
and Principal.
The entrance and adjacent six storey building features four full-
height external green sun screening panels, comprising vertical plant-
ing strips in boxes and twenty planters located inside the building.The
building has six lecture halls with a total of 1 800 seats, a hall with 450
seats, and two levels of laboratories and offices totaling 10 800 m
2
.
The entire floor area of the building covers approximately 40 000 m
2
.
A seven-lane entrance eases traffic flow into the parkade as
well as onto the Campus. The architects were ARC Architects from
Pretoria. The parkade comprises four-and-a-half levels of parking
(two-and-a-half of which are underground) and makes provision for
996 parking bays. This consists of reserved parking for lecturers and
University staff, as well as open parking for students and visitors.
Partnership, during the design process, with the University
ensured continuity of the campus plan. Engagement with the Botany
Department guaranteed the extension of the existing Botanical
Garden, which was developed using a carefully thought through
planting palette and the use of specimen plants sourced directly from
the University’s green houses. In addition, an integrated approach to
the irrigation design ensured that harvested water is pumped from a
basement storage tank that is filled with roof and seepage water and
topped up, when necessary, with borehole water from an existing
supply line adjacent to the building.
UP explained that the design of the new Engineering Building
creates places for students to form informal groups where they can
engage in engineering reasoning and problem-solving.
Project information
• Name of project: University of Pretoria: Engineering
Building – parkade and concourse area
• Company entering: Newtown Landscape Architects
• Project start and end date: 2009 – 25 August 2012
• Client: University of Pretoria
• Landscape architect: Newtown Landscape Architects
• Main contractor: Stefanutti Stocks
• Landscape contractor: Life Landscapes
• Architect: ARC Design
• Contract value: R 3,2-million
