Construction World December 2017

Special Mention

Category A2: Building Contractors

LEBOWAKGOMO SHOPPING CENTRE

PROJECT INFORMATION

When the site was handed over on 29 March 2016 it contained an existing strip mall called Metlife centre, owned by Resilient.

• Company entering: Belo & Kies Construction • Client: Fortress Income • Contract value: R70 934 350 (including VAT) • Start date: 29 March 2016 • End date: 28 November 2016 • Main contractor: Belo & Kies • Architect: Tempel & Associates • Principal agent: Tempel & Associates • Quantity surveyor: Endecon All the local workers that were employed received free medical assessments and was taught how to look after their own health in terms of blood pressure, cholesterol, safe sex and healthy diets. Belo & Kies averaged above 95% with all client safety audits and had no LTIs. serious community issues. It managed to put together a project steering committee with weekly meetings to keep the community up to date with everything the contractor did and kept a register of all the money spent in the community. This project was completed in a rural area. The contactor was warned about

In front of the strip mall there were local hawkers who traded from temporary kiosk structures. The project consisted of relocating all the hawkers and building a new 5 500 m 2 section in front of the existing mall and then joining the two with a closed roof to create a mall area which is now called Lebowakgomo Shopping Centre. A large section, 3 820 m 2 of the new area has a roof slab with 125 parking bays on the top of this roof. The main challenge of this project was time, as the client requested this project be fast-tracked. Due to the existing tenants and possible disruption caused by their relocation, the contractor was forced to accelerate the project from the start. A mobile crane with a concrete bucket was used to accelerate the casting of the concrete columns. The contractor also had to replace all the existing tenants’ shopfronts, without disrupting them. Temporary drywall hoardings were installed with a lockable door inside the shops, which allowed night shifts. Belo & Kies normally uses a core team

in rural areas and then appoints local labours to complete its team. It employed 85 local contractors. Due to the time constraints, the contractor did not have time to do waterproofing and paving on the roof slab, so with the help of the consulting structural engineer, made use of Penetron in the concrete. This is a waterproofing admixture and has been successful. There is a strict QA system to follow with Penetron, taking into account that below the slab there are tenants and therefore no room for error with this method. Belo & Kies’ biggest challenge was dust control. It had two permanent water trucks spraying water as often as possible and erected sheeting hoardings to protect the people shopping. Taking into account that the existing mall was still trading, the protection of the people was important. The contractor had two permanent safety officers on site with additional safety representatives to ensure it protected the public at all times.

Construction WORLD

2 17 BEST PR O JECTS

34