Construction World September 2019

Mitigating risk M&D Construction Group is also batching its own concrete requirements. The about 6 000 m³ of concrete that is being produced for the project comprises a CEM4 cement with a percentage of fly ash to reduce shrinkage and cracking, while also improving the workability of the material. This high quality cement is being supplied from Lafarge South Africa’s depot in the province. Certainly, the Building Division’s impressive track record in the design and application of concrete technologies was among the many reasons for it also being awarded the contract to construct the service road. De Meyer says, “We also applied extensive value engineering in this aspect of the works programme. M&D Construction Group proposed a 200 mm-thick roller-compacted concrete (RCC) surface as an economic and long-term road-surfacing solution. A further benefit of RCC is its ability to significantly accelerate road construction projects. Meanwhile, the about 15 000 m³ of aggregate required for the various layer works are being sourced from the large excavation for the 9 Mℓ retention dam in another innovative approach that has saved time and costs.” The project will peak in August this year providing additional employment opportunities for about 100 more members of surrounding poor local communities and select black-owned small businesses. This is over-and-above the black-owned subcontractors and just under 60 skilled locals, including carpenters and bricklayers, that are already working alongside the Building Division’s team. They have also benefited from M&D Construction Group’s mentorship and training programmes, including, among others, working at heights, as well as HIV/Aids awareness. Certainly, the Five Star Grading that the Building Division received from the Master Builders Association following an audit of the construction site earlier this year attests to the high quality of the company’s health and safety programmes. It also showcases the group’s unwavering focus on a fundamental value, namely ‘Be Safe’. By July, the Building Division was already preparing to install the sewer and water-reticulation services. This is in addition to the fire-protection system, an extensive undertaking that includes the installation of two 431 kℓ tanks, 2 km of fire ring mains and 2 500 sprinkler heads. Rukesh Raghubir, Chief Executive Officer of M&D Construction Group, says that he is proud of the Building Division’s stellar work in delivering a high specification product in such a remote area of Mpumalanga. “The FX Group and its international investment partner also have to be lauded for the confidence that they have demonstrated in South Africa. Lothair is a notoriously poor area of the country that is in dire need of investment to stimulate development. FX Group’s state-of-the-art factory will provide numerous sustainable employment opportunities over-and- above the many jobs that this project has already created during the construction phase,” Raghubir concludes. 

main factory and up to 6,5 m deep, have to accurately align over the 180 m length of the entire structure. Sophisticated laser total station technology is being deployed by the contracting team to achieve the necessary high levels of precision for this aspect of the works programme. “M&D Construction Group continues to embrace advanced technology on all of its projects. This supports our core value, which is to ‘Do it Right’. The use of the laser total station technology has completely eliminated errors and ensured that we are able to keep the construction programme on schedule. Importantly, it has also avoided wastage and the need to dispose of building rubble at the closest Enviroserv facility in Middleburg, almost a two hours’ drive from Lothair,” Clark says. Mobile procurement apps are yet another example of the cutting- edge technology deployed by the Building Division to accelerate production. They have significantly reduced the cycle times of placing orders – a major boon while working in an extremely remote location and where the closest urban node, namely Ermelo, has limited construction supplies. The Building Division has also mitigated this risk by relying extensively on its own resources, including the extensive formwork and scaffolding requirements for this project and, in so doing, minimising the need to rent critical equipment.

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD SEPTEMBER 2019