Housing in Southern Africa July 2015

Cement & Concrete The Hub

Gauteng Piling has provided 153 auger piles for the foundations of The Hub, a one and two bedroom apartment block in Bryanston. The Muswell Road residential development is being developed by Renprop.

According to Gauteng Piling SiteMan- ager, Keoatlaretse Lekutu, Vlaming Construction tasked Gauteng Piling to provide The Hub with 153 auger piles in various lengths between three to 7,3 metres and in diameters of 350 mm to 1 metre, in three weeks. Auger piles are deep foundation elements that are cast-in-place us- ing flights of various diameters. The process is carried out by auger drills that excavate the piling holes into the soil to pre-designed depths. After reaching the required depths, the auger hole is cleaned, and concrete is placed into the hole from a ready mix truck. Reinforcing steel cages are then lowered into the wet concrete. “The steel reinforcement cages inserted into the piles for The Hub ranged from 200 mm to 950 mm in diameter. The pile bearing capacity ranged from 400 kN for the smallest diameter pile to 4400 kN for the big- gest,” says Lekutu. ■ regular payments within a defined time frame, or strictly within 30 days of being invoiced. Charl Venter, current president of MBA North and director of the Pre- toria contracting firm, J.C. Van der Linde & Venter Projects, commented: “The proposed new legislation is a lifeline for survival, something MBA North has been seeking for almost 16 years.” If legislated, the new rulings will have a huge impact on the construc- tion industry in which it has almost become the norm for a contractor to finance projects in the public as well as private sector. ■

T he Master Builders member, Gauteng Piling, used aWilliams LDHH digger and a Soilmec hydraulic drilling rig on tracks for the piling foundations and according to Managing Director, Hennie Bester, the northern part of the 4 800 m² site unexpectedly produced solid rock. “But the rocky strata was for- tunately confined to a relatively small part of the terrain and not as widespread, nor as formidable, as we had to contend with when pro- viding 11 metre deep piles for the foundations for The Summit, a new 15-storey office block in Pretoria,” says Bester. proposes changes that would en- able a ‘fair and speedy’ resolution of payment disputes. This will provide contractors with unprecedented legal recourse to demand payments timeously for completed work. A CIDB survey found that 43% of payments to contractors were made over 30 days after invoicing. The new proposed Security of Payment regulations will prohibit the policy of withholding of pay- ment, and allow for the contractors suspending construction activities because of non-payment. It also entitles a contractor to charge inter- est on late payments, and insist on

No payment delays

M aster Builders Association North has enthusiastically described the Department of Public Works’ draft Prompt Payment regulations as a ‘lifeline for survival’ He has urged all players in the construction industry to immediately register support for the proposed amendment to current legislation. Interested parties have until July 28, 2015 to comment on the amend- ment to the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Act 2000, published in the Government Gazette in May. The CIDB Prompt Payment Regu- lations and Adjudication Standard

July 2015