Housing in Southern Africa May 2015

Cement & Concrete

Concrete technology

T he Concrete Institute’s School of Concrete Technology (SCT) will be presenting seven Con- crete Practice and five Concrete Technology courses in the secondhalf of this year. John Roxburgh, lecturer at SCT says that the four-day SCT20 Concrete Practice course (four CPD points) covers aspects such as the properties of concrete, materials and mix proportions, concrete produc- tion, placing, transporting, protection and curing, formwork, defects and repairs, and concrete pavements. “The course has a relatively low ad- mission requirement –English literacy and basic arithmetic – and provides initial training for construction indus- try staff, who hold a supervising or marketing role in their company and would like to concentrate on concrete technology,” said Roxburgh. SCT20 Concrete Practice will be presented at The Concrete Institute’s premises in Midrand from June 8 to 11, July 27 to 30, August 24 to 27, Sep- tember 28 to October 1, and Novem- ber 2 to 5. It will also be presented in

Durban fromSeptember 15 to 18; and in Cape Town from October 13 to 16. SCT30 (five CPD points) is a more intensive course which has proved extremely popular with employees of the construction sector. It is also suitable for experienced technicians and technologists and an excellent medium for gaining detailed knowl- edge of how cement and concrete works. It is also recommended as a follow-on course for those who have completed the SCT20 training. The SCT30 syllabus covers basi- cally the same subjects as SCT20 but in much more depth, to build on the knowledge gained in SCT20. This popular concrete technology course will be presented in Midrand from August 17 to 21, and also from November 23 to 27. The Durban date is October 26 to 30, and Cape Town, November 9 to 13. Both courses include sessions in the laboratory. For further information, contact 011 315 0300 or email: rennishas@ theconcreteinstitute.org.za ■

concrete. The biggest challenge was to maintain accurate measurements on each floor and to keep the building square,” says Pimentel. The fact that ESA’s slabs are manufactured at its factory off site and are produced to exact tolerances, meant that there was little room for error on site. Despite these challenges, work progressed as planned and six months of construction time was shaved off the original expected completion date. “By using ESA’s products we had substantial time savings and the quality of the prod- uct is excellent.” says Pimentel. This is the second project that Boutel Projects has completedwith ESA and the working relationship has proved mutually beneficial. CraigWebber, Director at ESA, says that his company’s intention right from the outset has been to deliver a top-quality product and service to clients and to develop long-term working relationships. “We are proud to be able to take on a project of this magnitude and deliver benefits for our clients. We look forward to working on more projects with Bou- tel,” he says. Elematic South Africa manufactures precast hollow core concrete slabs for the South African

and experience. Elematic SouthAfrica supplies the latest available technol- ogy in precast concrete products. Its state-of-the-art production facility on Gauteng’s East Rand is ISO 9001 certified and all its products carry the SABS mark of quality. For further information contact Elematic South Africa on 011 423 2700 or visit www.elematic.co.za ■

market and is a well-established international brand. The company was established in Finland in 1959 and has since set up precast produc- tion plants inmore than 70 countries worldwide. As part of the Consolis Group, which focuses on research and development in cement and precast concrete products, Elematic is backed by extensive knowledge

May 2015