Construction World August 2023

The changes and innovations have also extended to the materials being used to produce the gabions which give a longer design life. “We work with several consulting engineers who back up our designs. We do technical training for institutions as this industry is not something which one generally gets a qualification for,” says Cheyne. 

– in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, but have various agents who offer local supply of our products throughout Southern Africa,” Cheyne says. “If needed, we can offer a full turnkey solution that includes the design of civil engineering design of structures with AutoCAD drawings and bill of quantity.” Flexibility is key “We thrive on innovation,” says Cheyne. “I think you have to be flexible in our business as you have to constantly innovate to better your process. This includes our range of service offerings, the design of the structure, the wire, rock supplier and the installation. We are sometimes called on by the consulting engineer on a project to offer a site critique of a gabion structure. On tall structures, the rocks in the gabions carry the compressive loading, but the mesh carries the tensile load,” he adds. Gabion Baskets’ flexibility is especially evident in the way it has changed its market offerings. “The company started out offering a product to the civil engineering industry. Through our passion we have expanded to the building industry and increasingly to the architectural industry. “Gabion Baskets is able to offer the full solution – the designer supplies us with a solution, we manufacture it and can assist with its installation,” says Cheyne. They also offer full on site advise and practical training. “This can include a skilled installer if full installation is required,” he explains. “By changing from products for civil engineering to products for the building industry, meant that specification and tolerances were much tighter. On gabions for the civils industry there can be a tolerance of 10% which is obviously not the case on building projects where measurements have to be exact,” says Cheyne. He adds that work for architectural structure is also different in the sense that each site is different and often the gabions cannot merely be supplied like a flat box with six sides that is easily transportable. “The mesh has to be shaped around what one is building,” he says.

39 CONSTRUCTION WORLD AUGUST 2023