Construction World April 2015

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

PROUD HISTORY Leading geotechnical contractor and solutions provider, Franki Africa (Franki), now part of the Keller Group, has been contracted to implement a range of geotechnical work on the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) East Expansion project.

Franki Africa has been contracted to implement a range of geotechnical work on the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) East Expansion project.

high-rise Metropolitan building, The Cullinan and Southern Sun hotels together with the neighbouring office developments and the Icon building. Franki has also been very busy with the residential developments along the canal to the V & A Waterfront. Recently Franki provided the lateral support for the deep basement of the tallest building in Cape Town, the Portside, on the edge of the Foreshore and has just completed the piling and the lateral support works for the new Netcare Hospital next to the CTICC East site. With Franki’s recent incorporation into the Keller worldwide group of companies, new products and technology have become avail- able for use from within the group and Franki look forward to seeing evenmore cost effective solutions for deeper parking basements in the Foreshore area where a high water table in the reclaimed fill makes for difficult conditions for basement construction. Franki Africa MD Roy McLintock adds that being part of the Keller Group is a tremendous boon all-round. “The Keller Group is the world’s largest inde- pendent geotechnical engineering contractor giving Franki access to a wide range of inno- vative technologies, finance for future growth and, of course, a wealth of geotechnical intel- lectual property and experience. This, with Franki’s vast experience in working in Southern Africa and on the African continent, augurs well for the future,” he says. In awarding Honorary Life Membership to Nico Maas, MBA North executive director, Mohau Mphomela said Maas had always been ready and willing to contribute and serve the Construction Industry to the fullest.“He always finds the time wherever possible to fight for the betterment and upliftment of all those who have come across his path, to benefit the future of the Building Industry,” Mphomela stated. Maas, in his acceptance speech, made a strong plea for the building industry to continue to deliver quality at all costs. “If the industry can uphold top quality standards, it will survive despite major current challenges such as late payments, delays in implementation of budgeted governmental infrastructural projects, and the new BB-BEE Codes which, from May this year, will create one of the most difficult situations the industry has yet faced.” and he also received a Merit Award and Medal for Outstanding Service to the University of Pretoria in 1974.

years ago, in the late 1940s, which is the time when the Foreshore reclamation, where the CTICC is now situated, was completed and the land was made ready for development. Since then Franki has been involved in the development of many of the structures now standing on the Foreshore, providing the design and construction of piled foundations and lateral support for basement construc- tion. These structures include, amongst many others, the contentious elevated Foreshore Freeways, the huge Civic Centre, Artscape, the

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Franki’s association with the CTICC started back in 2001 when Franki did the piling work there, together with the

foundations and deep basement, by diaphragm wall technique, for the then Arabella Grand Hotel, now The Westin. Franki Cape Town says they are proud to have been associated with the original CTICC development and now again with the CTICC East Expansion Project. In fact, Franki has a long and proud history in the Cape where it started business some 68

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Construction in Namibia. While at the Depart- ment of Water Affairs, Maas co-authored the book,“Sediments in Dams of South Africa”, with Professor Albert Rooseboom of the University of Stellenbosch. Maas subsequently worked for Grinaker’s piling division for 20 years and was a director of the company Dura Piling from 1988 – 1996. In 1985, he graduated with a B.Eng Honours in Construction Management from the Univer- sity of Pretoria and continued with his Master’s degree which he completed in 1998 with the dissertation “Low Utilisation and its influence on Plant Management”. He also completed a Construction Management Programme at the University of Cape Town in 1982. In 1996, Maas with his wife, Hettie, estab- lished one of South Africa’s foremost piling companies, Gauteng Piling, serving as MD and co-owner. After handing over the MD reins of Gauteng Piling to Hennie Bester, (who has served as president of MBA North for a total of three

years), in November 2010, Maas became Chairman of Gauteng Piling. Among the many top offices Maas has occupied in the SA building industry are President of Master Builders SA, President of Gauteng Master Builders Association (the forerunner to MBA North), Chairman of the Construction Industry Confederation, and Chairman of Federated Employers Mutual (FEM) Assurance. He has also served on the Steering Committee of the Construction Trans- formation Charter Group, and on the boards of the BIFSA Pension Fund, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), and is a Fellow of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers (SAICE). A keen social golfer, Maas founded the QACCS Gauteng Golf Club, which consists of members of the quantity surveying, architec- tural, consulting engineering, contractors and suppliers sections of the construction industry. In 2013, MBA North honoured Maas for Exceptional Service to the Building Industry,

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD APRIL 2015