Construction World April 2015

CONSTRUCTION WORLD

APRIL

2015

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

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

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

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.

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,

and he also received a Merit Award and Medal

for Outstanding Service to the University of

Pretoria in 1974.

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.”