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July 2015
Cement & Concrete
T
he Master Builders member,
Gauteng Piling, used aWilliams
LDHH digger and a Soilmec
hydraulic drilling rig on tracks for the
piling foundations and according to
Managing Director, Hennie Bester,
the northern part of the 4 800 m² site
unexpectedly produced solid rock.
“But the rocky strata was for-
tunately confined to a relatively
small part of the terrain and not as
widespread, nor as formidable, as
we had to contend with when pro-
viding 11 metre deep piles for the
foundations for The Summit, a new
15-storey office block in Pretoria,”
says Bester.
The Hub
Gauteng Piling has provided 153 auger piles
for the foundations of The Hub, a one and two
bedroom apartment block in Bryanston. The
Muswell Road residential development is being
developed by Renprop.
According to Gauteng Piling SiteMan-
ager, Keoatlaretse Lekutu, Vlaming
Construction tasked Gauteng Piling
to provide The Hub with 153 auger
piles in various lengths between three
to 7,3 metres and in diameters of
350 mm to 1 metre, in three weeks.
Auger piles are deep foundation
elements that are cast-in-place us-
ing flights of various diameters. The
process is carried out by auger drills
that excavate the piling holes into
the soil to pre-designed depths. After
reaching the required depths, the
auger hole is cleaned, and concrete
is placed into the hole from a ready
mix truck. Reinforcing steel cages are
then lowered into the wet concrete.
“The steel reinforcement cages
inserted into the piles for The Hub
ranged from 200 mm to 950 mm in
diameter. The pile bearing capacity
ranged from 400 kN for the smallest
diameter pile to 4400 kN for the big-
gest,” says Lekutu.
■
M
aster Builders Association
North has enthusiastically
described the Department of
Public Works’ draft Prompt Payment
regulations as a ‘lifeline for survival’
He has urged all players in the
construction industry to immediately
register support for the proposed
amendment to current legislation.
Interested parties have until July
28, 2015 to comment on the amend-
ment to the Construction Industry
Development Board (CIDB) Act 2000,
published in the Government Gazette
in May.
The CIDB Prompt Payment Regu-
lations and Adjudication Standard
proposes changes that would en-
able a ‘fair and speedy’ resolution of
payment disputes. This will provide
contractors with unprecedented
legal recourse to demand payments
timeously for completed work.
A CIDB survey found that 43% of
payments to contractors were made
over 30 days after invoicing.
The new proposed Security of
Payment regulations will prohibit
the policy of withholding of pay-
ment, and allow for the contractors
suspending construction activities
because of non-payment. It also
entitles a contractor to charge inter-
est on late payments, and insist on
regular payments within a defined
time frame, or strictly within 30 days
of being invoiced.
Charl Venter, current president of
MBA North and director of the Pre-
toria contracting firm, J.C. Van der
Linde & Venter Projects, commented:
“The proposed new legislation is a
lifeline for survival, something MBA
North has been seeking for almost
16 years.”
If legislated, the new rulings will
have a huge impact on the construc-
tion industry in which it has almost
become the norm for a contractor to
finance projects in the public as well
as private sector.
■
No payment delays