Construction World March 2015

CONSTRUCTION WORLD

MARCH

2015

“The Stand 47 website is a great example of our approach to technology

and innovation. We innovate to deliver tangible benefits to consumers.

In this case, our digital innovation enables practically any consumer to

visit our home and experience aspects of its benefits with the greatest

of ease. The new design aims to attract more viewers, to demystify

concerns and perceptions about contemporary building methods and

to inform those interested to build their own Abode of Awesome,” says

Evan Lockhart-Barker, head of marketing at Saint-Gobain South Africa

Says Gavin Rooke, founder of The New Order: “We

believe design is the interface between information and

understanding. Everything we do is aimed at enabling

consumers to understand the benefits of the brands we

build. We believe this website achieves exactly that”.

PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS

Stand 47 is an award-winning concept house co-developed by

Saint-Gobain, the world’s leading producer of contemporary

building technology. The home was built to physically demon-

strate the considerable benefits of building with state of the art building

materials and systems, rather than with more traditional materials like

bricks and mortar.

While the public are invited to personally visit and experience the home

(situated in Monaghan Farm in northern Johannesburg), this potentially

excludes a broader, national audience who are based further afield.

Accordingly, the

www.stand47.co.za

website features an interactive

filmed Virtual Tour that gives viewers direct visual exposure to the inside

and outside of the house. The tour allows the user to easily move through

the home at their own pace and examine information that explains the

features and benefits in different parts of the home. Importantly, this ‘first-

person view’ is accessible to anybody using any smart device connected

to the Internet, without the need for any application download.

The site also offers useful insight on how to build a home that is more

efficient, comfortable, safer and healthier to live in.

The website was produced by The New Order, a design-led multi-

disciplinary agency directly involved in developing and building the

concept house.

To add to all these facilities, a new

hospital was constructed on Midstream

Hill by main contractor Basil Read.

Jodan Construction undertook the earth-

works including the installation of the Sub-soil

drainage systems.

The site for this new Mediclinic Hospital in

Midrand Estates has undergone extreme exca-

vation operations to accommodate basement

parking. With the natural flow of ground water

having been altered, resulting in a high water

table being exposed in the cuttings, it was

imperative that an effective drainage system

be installed. This is when Endecon Ubuntu

Consulting Engineers proposed that a specific

Kaytech geotextile would be the most suitable

product for the problem faced. The difficulty in

this area is the vast amount of different in-situ

soils, ranging from sandy material to black

clay and, of most concern at the hospital site,

the presence of residual granites and ferric-

retes. These sub-soil conditions could result

in clogging of drains by means of ferric oxide

build-up on conventional woven and nonwoven

continuous filament geotextiles, thus a drainage

product with larger openings was a necessity.

The engineers specified Kaytech’s Geomesh,

a dimensioned, PVC-coated, multi-filament

woven polyester, designed for soil reinforcement

and as a high modulus separator in composite

drains. The conventional method of drainage

would be to utilise washed river sand dimen-

sioned as backfill over slotted pipes. However

this sandmay also potentially clog over time and

the engineers proposed that a select, suitable

geotextile would be the most practical solution

for the problem at hand since its installation is

similar to that of a conventional sub-soil drain

which is more familiar to the site labour.

Other factors in this decision were the cost

implications of importing washed river sand and

that the structure of Geomesh is very similar

to the retention characteristics of a medium

to coarse-grained river sand. The final product

consisted of the installation of a conventional

shaped drain: 300 mm x 300 mmwith a 110 mm

slotted pipe and 19 mm stone all of which was

wrapped with 2 500 m

of Geomesh.

Although it is expected that some fine

material will wash through the Geomesh, it will

eventually create a natural reverse filter at the

interface. The larger openings in Geomesh are

known to retain grain sizes of 0,4 – 2 mmwhich

will definitely assist to prevent the system from

becoming blinded or clogged by the extremely

varied sub-soils.

It is debatable whether any other upmarket

estate in Gauteng can compete with everything

that Midrand Estates has to offer the discerning

investor and buyer making Kaytech a proud

participant in this unique development.

VIRTUAL GUIDED TOUR

A novel website allows visitors to take a step-by-

step guided tour through a physical home using

only a cell phone, tablet or desktop computer.

Scan and view the innovative virtual

guided tour.

Geomesh has larger openings than woven

tape to provide non-clogging drainage.

SOLVING DRAINAGE PROBLEM

The vast Midrand Estates in Gauteng, which comprises Midstream,

Midfield, Midlands and Midstream Hill Estates, boasts not only

upmarket residential properties, but also private schools, shopping

centres, sports and recreational facilities, fuel stations and churches.

Various in-situ soil types posed a challenge

for effective drainage.