Construction World July 2022

prestigious current contracts – the construction (in joint venture with Mota-Engil) of SANRAL’s Msikaba Bridge in the Eastern Cape which will span the 220 metre deep Msikaba Gorge. The civil engineering challenges on the project, which include working at heights of up to 128 metres (the maximum height of the bridge pylons), are formidable but Concor and its partners have also been responsible for rescuing nearly 15 000 threatened and protected plant species and translocating them to on-site holding nurseries. The plants have subsequently been replanted at carefully selected sites near the bridge. “We have also had to consider the sensitivities of a colony of rare Cape vultures,” says Paul. “The Cape vulture, also known as the Cape Griffon, was listed in 2015 as a regionally endangered species. Measures included paying careful attention to blasting operations to limit disturbance to the colony, particularly in the breeding season.” Paul believes the attention to environmental concerns displayed on the Msikaba Bridge project will become a benchmark for the civil engineering industry. “The engineering that’s going into the bridge is amazing but the project is also a landmark in terms of the environmental care that is accompanying construction activities. It shows that construction can be carried out very successfully and with low impact in even the most sensitive of environments,” he concludes. 

Mountain Renosterveld, which is home to unique species such as Brunsvigia Josephinae and other red data species. The design footprint of the project mapped the localities and accommodated them. Where this was not feasible, search and rescue exercises were conducted and retrieved plants were relocated elsewhere on the property.” Protecting and translocating protected species was also to the fore on the Loeriesfontein, Khobab and De Aar Wind Farms in the Northern Cape and the Jeffrey’s Bay Wind Farm in the Eastern Cape, among others. An interesting feature of the Khobab project was the use of specially designed concrete mixes which reduced the site’s construction carbon footprint from approximately 300 kg of CO 2 per cubic metre to just 90,7 kg of CO 2 per cubic metre, dropping the project’s overall carbon footprint by 31%. Many high-profile bridge and road projects have also provided platforms for Concor to display its skills in environmental care. It was the main contractor, for example, on the Mtunzini N2 road upgrade, which was opened in 2019. This involved the construction of a new highway crossing the uMhlathuze and the uMlalazi rivers and traversing 22 wetland systems. All wetland aspects affected such as unique plants and soils were either temporarily sealed off from the works and removed for later reinstatement. Finally, no mention of Concor’s skills in the environmental field would be complete without reference to one of its most

Left: Once completed, the Ikusasa building at the Oxford Parks precinct achieved a 6 star Green Star in terms of the GBCSA Green Star rating. Right: Viewed from inside the 16 on Bree site during construction, the specialised steel bracing used to preserve the 200-year-old façade wall for heritage is visible.

Aerial view of uMlalazi river bridge during construction.

21 CONSTRUCTION WORLD JULY 2022