Housing in Southern Africa August 2015

Infrastructure & Mixed Use

conference centre, the ground floor houses conference halls, front and back of house areas and a coffee shop. On the first floor, adjacent to conference meeting rooms and pre assembly areas, is a 500 m² office suitewhile the second to fourth floors offer 3 300m² office space. The focal point of Century City Square is the Apex Building, an 8-storey structure with dramatically curved glass façades. The ground floor restaurants, bistros and cof- fee shops open out onto the public square. This tree-lined public square features fountains andwater features and will serve as a venue for outdoor events. The 125 bed Century City Hotel will cater mainly for conference delegates. Linked to this is the L- shaped Matrix Building consisting of showrooms, offices and apartments. The Matrix Building incorporates quare

60 sub-contractors on-site at Century City Square, with a further thirty at the adjacent Bridge Park office de- velopment. Added to the project management complexity is the fact that the various components of Century City Square have different completion dates. “Tying all these disparate elements together is a feat of logistics and coor- dination. It is a clear indication of our well-proven capability to undertake mega projects.” Construction of Century City Square commenced in May 2014, with overall project completion due in January 2016. In order to facilitate all of its projects at Century City, Murray & Roberts Western Cape has, in conjunction with Ciolli Readymix, established an on-site concrete batch plant with a discharge rate of 65 m³/ hour to cope with the 55 000 m of concrete that is required. “A key factor is material supply and the short hauls involved, bearing in mind that while we can load the material, it has to have completed a mixing cycle before it can be dis- charged. This is one of the many considerations that have to be taken into account,” Fugard says. ■

traditional or ‘retro’ finishes, in direct contrast to the more modern look of the Apex Building. There will beman- made canals on two sides of Century City Square. The overall canal system will ultimately link to the Ratanga Junction Theme Park. A road system rings the entire development and interfaces with the canal system. “Our scope of work includes road construction, realignment and extension,” Fugard says. “Part of our brief for Century City Square is that certain material excavated will be reused as road-fill material. This is an excellent example of the proactive approach to environ- mental issues, ensuring maximum benefits for our clients,” Fugard says. Another feature of the company’s project management capability is its interface with multiple consultants. “Effectively the entire development is divided into sections, each with its own professional team. The only common consultant throughout is Vivid Architects of Cape Town. One of our major achievements is the seamless integration in ensuring we are all on the same page andworking towards the same goals,” he says. At peak times there will be in excess of

August 2015