Construction World August 2015

PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS

BRICKS FOR PRESTIGIOUS 90 RIVONIA ROAD PROJECT Ocon Brick, one of South Africa’s leading manufacturers of clay stock bricks, was appointed

Group Five site agent, Khaya Mpetha says,“We chose Ocon Brick not only because of the quality of their product, but also due to their clay stock bricks offering an environmentally friendly low carbon footprint to the project, which is becoming an increasingly important factor when new projects are being planned”. “Construction on this project started in November 2013, and will be completed in September 2015. To date (May 2015) some 2 053 clay stock bricks have been delivered by Ocon Brick, who have proved to be excep- tionally reliable in terms of delivery and assistance,” says Mpetha. “We are pleased to be of service to Group Five, who are a long standing client of ours. We tendered on this project and believe our ability to deliver the quantity of clay stock bricks required, and at a competitive pricing, is what enabled us to secure this contract. The total amount of bricks we will be supplying is 2,1 million clay stock bricks. A major challenge to us is the limited delivery space and the heavy traffic flow through Rivonia Road, but so far, we have managed to circumvent these issues” said Lucas Steyn, sales representative for Ocon Brick. Ocon Brick clay stock bricks offer many advantages and benefits over alternative brick products. They are naturally fire resistant; offer greater longevity, durability and strength. In addition to their low carbon footprint advantage, they also offer low water absorption and good acoustic prop- erties and a superior thermal insulation benefit. to supply the bricks for the 90 Rivonia Road development in Sandton, Johannesburg. This prestigious development is the new home for a leading law firm. >

Mariana Lamont, Ocon Brick’s regional sales manager comments: “In January this year, we manufactured on average some 876 000 bricks per day. All Oconbrick clay stock bricks are subjected to stringent quality testing. Oconbrick have their own on-site laboratory to test for: size, efflorescence, water absorption, shrinkage and compressive strength. The carbon content of the bricks gets tested on an hourly basis with a carbon determinator. Random selections of clay stock bricks are sent to an external laboratory for SANS 227 compliance testing on a monthly basis”. Ocon Brick were recently awarded their seventh PMR Gold Arrow Award for excellence in product range and quality; reputation management, pricing; environmentally friendly solutions and sustainable development practices as well as reliable delivery and customer service.

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8 000 kN flat-jacks on top of the temporary columns. De-propping of the Megatruss The de-propping of the Megatruss was carried out success- fully in the second week of April 2015, with the final measured deflection of 15 mm correlating well with the calculated theoretical short-term elastic deflec- tion of 14 mm. No tension cracking was observed during the process. “The successful de-propping of the mega-truss was a major milestone during the project and is worth cele- brating,” commented Aurecon’s Jaco de Villiers, profes- sional engineer on the project.

Elevation on the Megatruss with the temporary concrete columns being demolished.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD AUGUST 2015