Construction World July 2019

SHOWCASED AT AFRICAN CONSTRUCTION EXPO Pratley showcased its lightweight, thermally insulating and fireproof aggregate, known as Pratliperl ® , at the recent African Construction Expo 2019. The product is ideal for a range of applications, including thermally insulating plasters, screeds, pizza oven liners, bricks, boards and much more. It is best described as a modern solution for energy-efficient building.

B illed as Africa’s ‘must-attend’ construction event, organised by dmg events, and now in its seventh year, African Construction Expo 2019 provided a unique platform for over 9 500 construction professionals from over 45 countries to engage with key industry stakeholders and access valuable network opportunities. The construction industry is an important market for Pratley, Marketing

double the thermal insulation of a two-leaf brick wall by plastering the inside and outside of that wall with Pratliperl ® . One can also imagine the benefits Pratliperl ® brings to low-cost housing.” Visitors to Pratley’s stand at the African Construction Expo 2019 got to see common examples of Pratliperl ® applications, including plastering and screeding. Demonstrations of Pratliperl ® ’s extraordinary fireproofing and thermal insulation features amazed our guests, adds Kruger. Pratliperl ® is derived from a volcanic glass called Perlite, which is mined in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The raw material is then expanded in special furnaces to create millions of small, well-sealed Pratliperl ® beads. Each bead has a small vacuum inside, giving the product its unique thermal insulation properties. “It’s like having millions of tiny thermos flasks,” Eldon highlights. The expansion furnaces are highly specialised, with much proprietary technology in their design and construction. South African Perlite, unlike Perlite in other parts of the world, is also very hard once it has expanded. This makes the mineral ideal for producing high-strength materials for the construction industry. In terms of energy-saving and thermal insulation products, Kruger stresses that all claims by manufacturers should be verified. “There’s no doubt that these types of products are essential in ensuring compliance, but do ensure that what the manufacturer tells you makes sense. "Consider the fireproofing aspect as well. Remember that many products may have exceptional thermal insulation properties, but what happens in fire conditions when they burn? Toxic fumes and smoke can be deadly. Ensure that the products you choose address this concern,” he concludes.  generator sets in our workshop, testing them individually as well as in full synchronisation and load share operation.” Bouwer adds that the location of the generator plant room and the physical size of the generator sets meant that the generator sets could not be installed as fully assembled units. “This challenge was overcome by disassembling the generator sets prior to delivery and re-assembling them in the generator plant room,” he says. “Due to the weight of the equipment, special rigging equipment was required inside the plant room to facilitate the re-assembly process.” 

Director Eldon Kruger notes, especially when considering the ‘green’ aspects of Pratliperl ® . “Energy-saving is, and will continue to be, an issue for the world at large.” In South Africa especially, Pratliperl ®

assists architects and construction professionals to

comply with energy- saving regulations such as SANS 204. The sustainability features of Pratliperl ®

translate into significant growth opportunities, Kruger highlights. “In South Africa, with a constrained power grid and the ever-increasing cost of energy, this is readily apparent. For example, you can literally

inlet and outlet splitter attenuators. The fuel storage and transfer system ensures eight hours of operation, with bulk and day fuel tanks installed in compliance with local fire regulations. The company also installed medium voltage (MV) generator protection and a control panel, as well as a main MV distribution panel for the building, comprising six tiers for all incoming supply and feeder breakers. All the related cabling for the MV

and low voltage (LV) reticulation were also provided for the generator sets, fuel system and auxiliary control equipment Significantly, Zest WEG Group holds a Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) rating of 6EB for electrical engineering work in buildings, as well as a 9EP rating for infrastructural electrical engineering work. “We conducted full in-house MV testing of the system at our modern Cape

Town facility before delivery to site,” Bouwer says. “We were assisted by our transformer division with the supply of three 500 kVA, 11 kV to 400 V step-down transformers to enable load testing at 400 V. This allowed us to conduct functional and load tests on the

47

CONSTRUCTION WORLD JULY 2019