Construction World February 2019

HERITAGE AND HEIGHT MARKS LANDMARK PROJECT Capetonian city dwellers are readying themselves for new heights, as Concor Western Cape gets into full swing with the construction of 16 On Bree – soon to be the city centre’s highest residential block at 38 floors. T his stylish new mixed-use building building – standing in a U-shape – which will be preserved during the construction process. According to Morilly, 21 000 m 3 of

Among the spectacular skylines visible to many 16 On Bree residents will be Signal Hill.

floors is straightforward, Morilly highlights the demands of staying on schedule with the services, finishing and fitting out of each of the 380 apartments. “The rolling out of apartments needs to be closely monitored and supervised to achieve the highest standards of quality,” he says. “This requires the right kind of supervision and sufficient numbers of experienced supervisors. At least four foremen will look after each floor, to ensure the pace and quality.” Any delays by one subcontractor very quickly has a knock-on effect on the scheduling of the others, he emphasises, pointing out that keeping to the work programme is key in a fast-track project like this one. “With another 20 or so projects underway in town, there is also a limited amount of expertise to go around – especially in trades like dry-walling, joinery, plumbing and electrical,” he says. “Fortunately, we have longstanding relationships with subcontractors and are familiar with their abilities and capacity. We choose the most reliable to ensure that we avoid the risk of any delays.” He also notes that in a project of this scale – where one kitchen will need to be completed each day, for example – it is wise to split up the work packages between key subcontractors to further reduce risk. He is confident about the overall prospects for this contract as the Concor Western Cape team on the job has proved itself on its most recent project – the Tsogo Sun hotel. “I believe our track record in the city helped us to secure this important contract,” he says. “Having just finished at the Tsogo Sun – which was able to open a month early – the team certainly has what it takes.” He highlights the depth of experience in the team – including over 85 years of experience between just Morilly and his site agent Ahmed Jones. “The company’s legacy and experience dates back over a century, and is today carried in the expertise of our staff,” he concludes. 

begins with two floors of retail beneath nine parking levels and 25 living levels of 380 apartments in total. Two floors of plant, equipment and storage make up the final levels, putting the structure’s height at 120 metres. After two months of careful demolition, construction began in May 2018 and will continue for a 24 month project duration until May 2020. The space-confined site on busy Bree Street in the Cape Town city bowl makes for challenging logistics, and the project has also had some heritage elements to consider. “The heritage value of the 16 metre front façade of the previous building required us to erect a specially designed structural steel brace to support this wall while we cut it free from the rest of the building,” says Concor Western Cape senior contracts manager Collin Morilly. “Being about 100 years old, the wall is relatively brittle and is constructed not of concrete but of rock, clay and lime so needs to be treated very gently.” A concrete ground beam was also cast along the base of the façade to act as a counterweight and prevent any movement. Once this was in place, demolition could proceed and as the new structure is built, it will be tied in with the braced façade. There are also three other heritage walls within the

concrete will go into the construction – mainly pumped to the required levels – as well as in excess of 1 650 tonnes of reinforcing bar and 650 000 bricks. Early work has involved the placement of 40 concrete foundation piles, and the construction of the two lift shafts. “With limited laydown area, it has been challenging to move around and work with large equipment like piling rigs, so we are pleased to now be getting out of the ground and into the structure,” says Morilly. “The two lift shafts are underway and we have begun to reach the efficiencies that we expect. The climbing gear is set up and pours are being conducted for the lift to achieve one floor level every eight days.” The lift shaft will be climbed out ahead of the actual floor structures and will be kept ahead, with the fire escape staircases being brought up as close as possible to the level of the climbing gear. This will allow easy access to the lift shaft formwork. “We always need the lift shaft to be about three floors ahead of the floor slabs, which will be done in three pours per level in a 15-day cycle,” he says. While the construction of the parking

Viewed from inside the site, the specialised steel bracing is visible on the 200-year-old façade wall that has been preserved for heritage.

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD FEBRUARY 2019