Housing in Southern Africa December 2015

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273 Tram Street

T he project entailed building a new four-storey commercial office block in Nieuw-Muck- leneuk for developers, Duncharl Investments. The Tram Street build- ing provides floor space of about 1 200m² on a stand of 1 276m² in the built up precinct. JC van der Linde & Venter Projects Contracts Director, Stefan van Wyk, says that the main challenge was the restricted access to the Tram Street site. “Access was so limited that we made use of a self-erecting tower crane, which folds into sections when being prepared for transport, and then erected on site for construction work.” Other challenges included poor soil conditions, which required piles at an average depth of 7 m to provide suitable foundation for the column footings. Jeremie Malan Architects had specified state-of-the-art Agrob Buchtal Plural Plus stoneware tiles, which had to be imported from Ger- many. This meant that importation schedules had to accurately match construction requirements to avoid disruptions in building work. Van Wyk adds: “Our construction programme was co-ordinated to allow for the installation of a lift in the four-storey structure. As the new office block is adjacent a residential area, noisy construction activities were prohibited after 5pm.” A total of 720 cubic metres of concrete at a strength of 30MPa was usedwith Class 1 formwork to ensure superior surface finishes. The compact plan included verti- cal extension up to the limit of height restrictions. The main building mass is elevated off ground level by col- umns, to create space for parking underneath the building without the need for a basement. The concrete columns are expressed as vertical fins on the elevations with a fair-face Pretoria Master Builders, JC van der Linde & Venter Projects, have completed a major contract for the construction of a sustainable new office block at 273 Tram Street in Pretoria.

finish. The design features include a vertically emphasised glazed stair- case and concrete lift shaft which forms the services core of the build- ing. The vertical core effectively links the ground floor parking level with three storeys of offices and roof space for informal events. “Each floor has lettable office space on either side of the core. This configuration allows for tenant flexibility, as the two office ar- eas per floor can function separately or as one unit. The layout allows for open plan or dry walling to suit ten- ants’ requirements,” says Malan. The custom designed irrigated planter boxes have been spaced over the north and south elevations. Malan says the in-situ concrete columns and flat floor slabs inside the office ceiling voids leave opti- mum space for services reticulation. Galvanised steel members span between the concrete fins to sup- port window shading panels and planter boxes. “To minimise the cost and

helped to speed up construction and avoided the complications of wet trades at heights,” says Malan. The bulk of office windows are orientated north or south and are sheltered by expansive aluminium filigree shading panels. Openings on east or west façades are minimal and fully protected by the aluminium filigree panels over their full aperture. The use of fair face concrete, face brick, galvanised steel and pre- coloured sheetingmakes for durable, low-maintenance external finishes. External plaster and paint is limited to a feature wall at ground level. ■

sizeof the structural concrete elements, a lightweight ex- ternal walling system was employed. It consists of pre-coloured steel sheet- ing to the outside, insula- tion in the middle and drywall boards on the in- side: all fixed to lightweight steel studs fixed between the floor slabs. Window opening widths of over 5 m have been achieved without heavy concrete or steel lintels. Flashing details around windows and joints are meticulously detailed. The drywalling system

December 2015