Housing in Southern Africa April 2015

Industry Buzz, Events & Products

Foundations for Houghton block

I llovo-basedM/Architects designed the building, which will feature 2 900m² m of office space, says van Schlapobersky from M/Archi- tects. The former residential property was demolished and great care was taken topreserve existing trees on the periphery of the site. Kobus Geyer, Site Manager for Gauteng Piling, says the foundations for the 4-storey office block (with double parking basement levels) on over 1 000m² required 77 auger cast in-situ piles, varying between 14 m to 18 m in depth. The diameter of the piles varied: 27 x 500 mm in diam- eter, 11 x 600 mm, 19 x 750 mm, and 4 x 1 100 mm in diameter. Auger cast in-situ piles are formed by drilling holes into the ground, plac- ing steel reinforcement into the holes, then filling the holes with concrete. In built-up residential areas, such as Houghton, auger cast piles cause minimal disturbance and are gener- ally favoured for environmentally sensitive sites. Steel reinforcement employed for the piles consisted of seven high tensile strength steel bars (7Y32), 32 mm in diameter; and spirals of mild steel, 8 mm in diameter with a 200 mm pitch. The rebar cages in- serted into the piles were 950 mm in diameter and 4,33 m in length. Gauteng Piling provided piles for lateral support for a retaining wall against the site’s northern boundary. Gauteng Piling was entrusted with the provision of foundation piling for a luxury office block development in Eighth Street, Houghton, being built and developed by the Barrow Group.

Gauteng Piling. The company was established in 1996 by former MBSA and MBA North President, Nico Maas (current chairman of GP), and is now run by MD, Hennie Bester, who has served as president of MBA North for an unprecedented three-year spell from 2011 to 2013. The company has a fleet of 20 auger drilling machines, two cranes, two bore rigs, four Grundo hammers, and two lateral support machines. ■

M aster Builders South Africa (MBSA) has announced that Executive Director, Tumi Dlamini’s three-year contract ended in February. Shewill shortly depart for the USA. Dlamini has enrolled at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to study for a Master in Public Adminis- tration degree. MBSA President, Neil Cloete, said that Dlamini played a significant role in raising the profile of MBSA and Women in Construction, opening dialogue with government and other public institutions. Cloete advisedMBSA stakeholders that MBSAOperations Director, Pierre Fourie would manage the affairs of Geyer added, “The piles will eventu- ally form part of a retaining wall, sprayed with Gunite - a mixture of cement, sand, and water - through a pressure hose to produce the strong ‘lining’ of the retaining wall. Gauteng Piling employed two rigs for the piling project a Williams LDH digger with 5,5t-m torque, and a Soil- mec hydraulic drilling rig. Two prominent Gauteng Master Builders are closely linked with

Dlamini heads for Harvard

Tumi Dlamini

the organisation until a new Execu- tive Director has been appointed. ■

April 2015