Construction World November 2016

PROJECT PROFILE

EASTGATE PHASE II redevelopment wins 2016 Steel Awards

The highlight of the structural steel industry calendar, the 35 th Annual Steel Awards hosted by the Southern African Institute of Steel Construction in partnership with BSi Steel, took place on 15 September 2016 in Johannesburg, Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal concurrently. Attended by over 1 000 people the event showcased projects completed in the previous year that demonstrated excellence in the use of structural steel.

and seasoned Steel Awards judge convener remarked: “I’ve sent students there. I’ve seen the drawings. I just think that what they’ve achieved in a working shop- ping centre, that’s absolutely changed the mall totally, is really a fantastic piece of engineering work.” What makes this entry special? What is special about this project goes hand in hand with why steelwork was chosen as the main structural component in its design. Building a major 5 000 m 2 structure such as this one on a suspended concrete carpark slab over two levels of retail space and keeping the entire shopping centre operational in the process is no mean feat both from a design and a construction point of view. Underpinning of the foundations was undertaken by mining under the existing lower level suspended slabs firstly by excavating using remote controlled Bobcats with their hoods cut off and then installing mini precast piles. Special consideration had to be given to access to the workface for the installation of most of the steel- work. The loading limitation on the rooftop carpark slab was only 2 kPa with the maximum vehicle weight limited to 5 000 kg. The tower crane that was installed by the main contractor on the site covered only 60% of the rooftop cinema complex area and had limited load capacity at radius. A number of the internal structures were designed with plate web girders spanning in excess of fifteen metres which had to be manhandled into position and hoisted by scaffold tower and chain blocks. Loads of up to 3,5 ton and lengths of over 18 metres had to be trolleyed/man handled through and around the cinema structure to then be hoisted to final level by building high scaffold towers over them and pulling them up with suitable capacity chain blocks. an extremely time consuming and expensive means of erection. Connection design, particularly between the numerous beams throughout the lower levels of the cinema complex and all the Bond-Dek slab support beams was a major cost saving item from a fabrication

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he event culminated in the announce- ment of the overall winner for 2016, the Eastgate Phase II Redevelopment, submitted by Tass Engineering – Steelwork Contractors and project

team members. In addition to being the overall winner, this project also won the Commercial Archi- tectural Category. The Eastgate Phase II Redevelopment encom- passes a number of new structures to give the centre a major facelift. The primary change is the relocation of the lower level cinema complex onto a section of the roof-level car park, enabling more retail space at the lower level plus incorporating substantial addi- tional retail space within the new cinema complex at roof level. When asked about Eastgate Redevelopment Phase II project, Spencer Erling, retired SAISC Director

CONSTRUCTION WORLD NOVEMBER 2016