2016 CON FINAL LOW

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but also as quietly as possible and with as little dust as possible. Once
again the teamwork was exemplary,” Alves says.
In a job of this nature, time is always one of the biggest considera-
tions and there were lots in this regard working against Franki. Firstly,
the work day was curtailed to strictly between 7:00 and 18:00. Secondly,
time pressure came from the ‘unbelievable’ volume of ground water
present on the site, which resulted in the constant collapsing of the
soldier-piled side walls, which necessitated the temporary casing of all
the piles. Thirdly, the ‘maze’ of underground services, which had to be
avoided or moved and about which there was almost no information,
slowed things down significantly. An anchor did in fact strike an under-
ground sewerage pipe in a position that made it very difficult to repair.
A significant challenge as far as time was concerned was the
3 000 m³ of contaminated soil that was discovered, which was detected
by a strong petrol odour. “We believe this may have been caused by an
old petrol station on the site which had leaked petrol over many years,”
Alves says. “We got Envirowaste to isolate the contaminated area and
of course it had to be excavated with great care. This unforeseen chal-
lenge took its toll on time and delayed the programme somewhat along
the Maude Street face.”
Alves explains: “The contaminated area was situated precisely
where the first handover portion was. The building contractor was
scheduled to take over the Phase I of the site at the end of October
2015 and the full extent of the contaminated area could not be deter-
mined at the time.
“Moreover, the contaminated soil was hard up against the lateral
support face hence restricting the progress of this critical-path oper-
ation. However, with some creative lateral thinking we were able to
make up the time lost and the building contractor was able to establish
by the required date.”
Alves says this was technically the most challenging project he has
ever been involved in. “It’s difficult to tell the whole story in an article
of this nature. This was truly an incredible, unforgettable contract,
which, more than anything, displayed the power of teamwork,”
concluded Alves.
Lateral support being concluded on the western face below the
Balalaika Hotel.
• 185 no. 600 mm diameter soldier piles ranging in depth
from 12 m – 28 m
• 13 no. 900 mm diameter cantilever piles to support 8m-high
soil face and 29 no. 125 mm diameter cantilever micropiles
to support a 3,5 m-high face with the emergency walkway
immediately behind these.
• 249 no. four-strand anchors to support existing basement walls
• 954 no. strand anchors varying in capacity between 600 and
900 KN to regain the unique soil faces bordering the Maude Str.,
Balalaika, Protea and Holiday Inn Hotels
• 633 no. hollow bars/rock bolts
• 10 800 m² of gunite face
• 265 000 m³ soil excavation
• About 60 000 m³ of rock blasting (bulk and hand blasting)