project profile
Medupi wins Overall and
Mining and Industrial
Category Awards
The main frame and boiler grid supports
project at Medupi Power Station is the Min-
ing and Industrial category winner as well as
overall winner for Steel Awards 2013.
The judges said: “The boiler support
structures really exhibit excellence in the
use of structural steel. It is a classic heavy
engineering project of spectacular propor-
tions. It is heavy engineering at its best. The
structures look so clean and simple, especially
before all the rest of the steelwork, platforms,
boiler casings and piping bundles, and other
equipment enclose them.”
The fabrication of theMedupi structure is
worthy of special mention. The major boxed
column and beam components are fabri-
cated to the extremely exacting dimensional
tolerance requirements – 2 millimetres on
those massive chunky pieces of steel. The
boxed columns have extensive diaphragm
and stiffening requirements making it dif-
ficult to meet the ‘squareness’ requirements,
especially taking the distortion resulting from
the welds into account.
The boiler support grid at the 105 metre
level is critical to the success of the boiler
house structures. It consists of 110 struc-
tural elements. A structural failure at this level
could result in the release of super-heated
steam which could be disastrous in terms of
loss of life to people in the vicinity.
“The enormously high standard of engineer-
ing at every level in the process – structural
design, connection design, detailing of the
structures, fabrication and erection and
the comprehensive checking to ensure that
the demanding requirements are fully met
– are therefore completely justifiable,” the
judges said.
Rooi Els Beach House wins
Residential Category
Upbeat Properties 167’s spectacular
Rooi Els beach house won the Residen-
tial category at Steel Awards 2013. The
judges noted that while the judging cri-
terion for this category is excellence in
the use of structural steel, this house dis-
played excellence in almost everything.
They said they were intrigued right from the
start when, on an early judging trip a few
years ago, seeing the skeleton of the struc-
ture rise from the rocks and then viewing
the photographs of the finished article that
accompanied the entry.
One of the judges, Heather Dodd, rep-
resenting the South African Institute of
Architects, said: “This steel-framed house
sits floating above the Rooi Els promontory.
It is designed as a long thin glass box with
a timber deck wrapping around its exterior.
Internally the box is divided by bathroom
pods and sliding doors which separate the
living spaces from the bedroom areas.”
With a back‐to‐back corrosion protection
SAISC
Steel Awards 2013
Fifty entries of projects completed
in 2012 were received this year and
Spencer Erling, SAISC education
director and convener of the Steel
Awards judges, said that although
the number of entries this year
was less than those in the bumper
years of 2009 and 2010, it was still
a significant amount considering
the industry has experienced a
significant slowdown since then.
This year was the 32
nd
Steel
Awards, which recognises excellence
in the use of structural steel in
various construction projects.
Steel Awards is hosted by the
Southern African Institute of Steel
Construction (SAISC).
Mike Lomas, SAISC chairman and Spencer Erling
SAISC education director (extreme left) with repre-
sentatives from the project team of the overall win-
ner of Steel Awards 2013. From left (bottom row):
Mike Borello (Genrec Engineering), Howard Fox
(Genrec Engineering), and Michael Moller (Genrec
Engineering). From left (top row): Gert Lange (Gen-
rec Engineering), Ernest von Claer (Hitachi Power
Africa) and Mark Marais (Hitachi Power Africa).
November 2013
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
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