Construction World March 2015

PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS

FIRST GREEN TAXI RANK

South Africa’s leading building materials company, Lafarge South Africa, worked closely with Cape Town architects Stauch Vorster right from the design phase of South Africa’s first green taxi rank in Wallacedene, in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. For the construction of the building,

Lafarge supplied its innovative, market-leading product, Agilia™ self-consolidating concrete.

Lafarge Agilia TM concrete was used to construct South Africa’s first green taxi rank in Cape Town.

Agilia™ met the requirement that all materials used in the taxi rank had to be environmentally friendly and contribute to a low carbon footprint for the facility. As well as producing high strength, durable concrete, Agilia™ is popular with architects for extending the avenues of creative concrete expression. Lafarge South Africa is the local presence of the international Lafarge Group, the world leader in building materials. The Group is committed to creating solutions that help to build better cities that are more durable and desirable environments to accommodate the enormous global trend to urbanisation. Innovation is a core strength of Lafarge, which operates one of the largest building materials research and development centres in the world. The Lafarge Tygerberg Readymix plant supplied 133 m³ of Agilia™ concrete to construct the columns and beams of the taxi rank structure. The product’s exceptional fluidity enables it to fill all corners and areas in formwork or moulds without the need for vibration, while remaining >

homogeneous. It is also an ideal product for achieving smoother architectural concrete finishes with minimal need for remedial work. The Lafarge Readymix team from the company’s Cape Town branch provided technical advice and on-site support for the project. Durability is a key issue in this type of high traffic public facility. Costing approximately R25-million, the taxi rank is expected to serve around 5 000 commuters daily travelling in 50 minibuses. The challenging aspect of running cost has been exceptionally well addressed with the structure’s PV panels and battery backup almost eliminating Eskom power usage. Stormwater is captured and stored in underground tanks and recycled for washing vehicles. “This has been a fascinating project,” comments Herbert Groe- newald, building marketing manager – Lafarge South Africa. “Lafarge is proud to have provided the concrete solution for this taxi rank initiative and firmly believes it will be the model for future transport infrastructure development.”

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Skyriders was contracted by Sociètè des Mines Syama Sa, Mali to carry out routine inspection work on a PROJECT OFF THE GROUND IN MALI Skyriders continues to live up to its reputation as the leading provider of rope access-aided inspection, non-destructive testing and maintenance services to African industries, following the company’s second permanent appointment at Syama gold mine in Mali. >

standards of quality and efficiency, we worked with internationally renowned smokestack and industrial chimney specialist, Beaumont Specialist Consulting,” notes Zinn. Zinn admits that the work is physically demanding, with hot weather posing particular challenges. “The team wear backpacks that carry water and start work as early as possible in order to limit the time they work during the heat of the day. Despite these obstacles, Skyriders’ scope of the project has been highly successful to date, as the company has the best team in the business, which boasts string of successful industry results,” he concludes.

replacement smokestack that the company successfully helped to erect in 2013. Marketing manager Mike Zinn says: “In 2013 we assisted with the erection of the replacement stack, and recently our two-man team – including a Level III rope access technician and inspector – inspected the rebuilt stack.” The scope of their work includes inspecting the external and internal components of the structure – a task that takes four days to complete. During the inspection, the team conducts visual surveillance and, using ultra- sonic meters, tests wall thickness. Findings are then submitted to an external consultant for final reporting. “To ensure the highest

A routine inspection carried out by a rope access specialist at Syma gold mine.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD MARCH 2015