Construction World February 2019

READYMIX

CHRYSO Quad and Optima technologies provide solutions that are most important to customers — concrete strength, slump or open time.

READYMIX SUPPLIERS LOOK TO ADMIXTURES AND TECHNOLOGY FOR GROWTH With the slow pace of the construction sector continuing to place pressure on the readymix market, producers are looking to new technologies as a means of reducing costs while sustaining the quality of products.

A mong the specific challenges they face has been the rising cost and variable quality of aggregate and sand, says Deon Klopper, sales manager readymix segment at CHRYSO Southern Africa. “This situation, driven by a combination of scarcity and tighter enforcement of environmental regulations, has developed at the same time as new entrants have entered the market,” says Klopper. Despite the dearth of work in most aspects of the construction sector, including large government-sponsored civil engineering works, many smaller readymix players have emerged with a growing number of their own plants. “They are supplying privately funded projects like shopping centres, retirement villages and residential developments, where

the demand is generally for standard 20 to 25 MPa concrete for foundations and slabs,” he says. Another aggravating factor is access to good quality construction materials in the remote locations where many of the country’s recent projects have been sited, such as renewable energy projects in the Northern Cape. Transportation of material over longer distances adds to the overall cost and the majority of contractors need to source material close to projects to keep costs down. Klopper explains that high swelling clay content in sand, for instance, negatively affects the final quality of the concrete. This requires solutions to be researched and developed in terms of admixtures to address this challenge.

38

CONSTRUCTION WORLD FEBRUARY 2019