Construction World Septemer 2017

LEFT: Cutting slabs. RIGHT: The V&A Waterfront parking area.

return on investment was within one month of operation”. Heyns highlighted the fact that the new extruder enables them to manufacture 250 mm thick slabs, whereas before they could only manufacture 160 mm and 200 mm thick slabs. The 160 mm slabs are mostly utilised in residential housing. “Our experience on the V & A Waterfront parking project using our thickest sized slab highlighted the potential for greater applications for our precast concrete products. The thicker the slab the longer you can span, therefore making it suitable for use in high-rise building developments in Cape Town, as well as parkades and office blocks. The Elematic Extruder offers us extra capability and flexibility, which in turn enables us to look at these opportunities in addition to servicing the social housing sector” she said. Portland Hollowcore’s investment into more advanced machinery enables them to manufacture concrete panels throughout the day, leaving the panels to cure overnight, and be ready for cutting and delivery all within a 24 hour window. “There is a better quality product being manufactured now that new processes have settled down. We hold weekly quality meetings and conduct quality tests in a controlled environment. In our line of work there is no room for error with our product, the consequences could be catastrophic. We are an extremely

another of their projects, into the 2016 CMA Awards. The DF Malan High-School Multi- Purpose Centre project was a 2013 Fulton Awards Nominee. More recently the company installed 200 mm precast concrete panels to the brand new Reddam House School in Durbanville. Nico said, “It was an honour to be part of the construction of such an amazing building which is situated right on our doorstep. This school is a state of the art development with the latest finishes and “Using precast concrete slabs definitely offers substantial savings in time. It is less labour intensive for the contractor and offers up to 30 days less standing time on one simple deck. When we install the panels, the client only has to fill the joints and put a screed on top – that takes one day. So while the cost of prefabrication is not necessarily cheaper, the trickle down on-site activities such as transportation, labour and time are all either eliminated or substantially reduced,” says Heyns. Portland Hollowcore has two Elematic Extruders and an efficient Elematic saw assisting them to increase their production of precast concrete panels. “Due to a rising order book for our precast product, we chose to airfreight the new Elematic Extruder to South Africa. We needed more capacity and quickly. While the costs to do this were higher than sea freight, our facilities throughout”. Future potential

Hollow core slab production.

Portland Hollowcore. Their factories have a well-planned layout that will allow them to expand their production when needed. Our warehouse in Dubai ensures that we are able to assist our South African customer base quickly and efficiently,” says Curt Lindroth, Area Sales Director for Elematic, Finland. “We hope to expand our production facility shortly. We do intend to stay with Elematic, their machinery is high quality and their support and service is their key differentiator,” Heyns concludes. 

quality confident outfit,” said Heyns. “We have a strong relationship with

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD SEPTEMBER 2017