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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
JULY
2015
C NS RUCTI N
RLD
MA
PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS
After acquiring Government House in 2010 to house their
regional campus, UNISA contracted a team of experts to
restore and renovate this beautiful national monument
which had fallen into a state of disrepair.
Leading heritage and conservation architect Robert J W Brusse
was appointed to the project in 2004 to oversee the restoration of the
building and there then followed eight years of planning, investigation,
research and detailing work discussions. Only once all the groundwork
and preparation had been done did Brusse, in 2012, approach Corobrik
to assist in the replacement of 1 775 bricks which had to be especially
manufactured for the project.
History
The historic building, which began its life in 1848 as a
five-roomed thatched cottage owned by William Stanger,
the first surveyor general in the Colony of Natal, was
bought by Sir Benjamin Pine on behalf of the colonial
government. All subsequent governors lived there till the
formation of the Union of South Africa. During this period,
the building was regularly extended and altered, so that
it came to reflect a sequence of architectural styles and
building technologies.
In 1900 a new brick wing was added to accommodate
the Duke and Duchess of York who came out for a Royal
Visit. In 1911 several more wings were constructed in
Maritzburg salmon pink brick to accommodate a Teach-
er’s Training College.
“As with so many other restorations of heritage build-
ings, there was a need to replace weathered brickwork,”
says Brusse. “While standard bricks were replaced with
bricks salvaged from parts of the buildings that had to be
demolished, there were a number of decorative, special
bricks which could not be sourced from the demolitions
or from Amafa's warehouse.”
Custom-made bricks
Faced with these challenges, Brusse approached Corobrik
as the principal manufacturer of clay bricks in the prov-
ince to help find a solution.
Managing director, Dirk Meyer embraced the project
enthusiastically and a team was put together to oversee
the job with the responsibility of liaising with all parties,
including the Corobrik factories, the architect and the
site management falling to Corobrik manager, Pat Moon.
“This was an incredibly complex job,” he says, “and we
were pleased to come up with an authentic manufac-
turing solution.”
A large number of handmade salmon pink bricks
typical of the 1900 period had been used in the orig-
inal historical buildings. Working with a set of detailed
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
A collaboration of passion and expertise
resulted in the successful R20-million
restoration of the 167-year-old
Government House in Pietermaritzburg.
Pat Moon inspects the various types of specials and holding the concave/
convex stretcher and corner brick.
>
Government House after restoration.
drawings of the required bricks, supplied by Brusse, clay from the
Corobrik Avoca factory in Durban, which would provide the best colour
match, was road freighted to the Midrand Factory where the bricks were
formed by hand. Once manufactured, they were before brought back
to the Avoca Factory kilns to be fired at a particular temperature to
achieve a specific vitrification and colour.
Many of the 29 special shapes that were produced for the restora-
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