26 / 40
March 2015
S
asani Studios has produced a
number of local soapies and
major reality shows, including
Egoli, Scandal, Rhythm City and Big
Brother Africa amongst others. Sasani
management appointed Gauteng Pil-
ing to oversee the foundations for the
new double storey studio complex
being built by the main contractor,
Chakita Construction.
Keo Lekutu, Gauteng Piling’s Site
Manager for the project, says that the
new studio complex will be used for
the filming of a high-profile TV reality
show and will accommodate change
rooms, wardrobe area, stages and
control rooms.
Gauteng Piling provided 91 auger-
cast piles in a period of two and a half
weeks. The depth of the piles ranged
from 7 m to 12 m, and from 450 mm
to 950 mm in diameter.
From previous experience on the
site the company knew what to ex-
pect from the soil conditions on site.
The soil quality was generally good
but there were old foundations on
part of the site. The heavy summer
rains also flooded the site’s lower
platform and the main contractor
had to import and compact material
Joburg’s
‘soapie’
studios
M
oorcrofts, awet cast concrete
specialist, is the latest Ter-
raforce licensee in Clarens,
in the Free State.
Tim Moorcroft from Moorcroofts
signed a deal with Terraforce to pro-
duce hard-lawn pavers with durable
mould boxes made of UV stabilised
LLDPE (polyethylene). Moorcroft felt
that the blocks and the method of
manufacture would fit in perfectly
with his existing business model.
The deal was signed last Octo-
ber and production commenced in
December. Since then Moorcrofts
have supplied and installed 1 000
Terracrete blocks to local businesses.
The Clarens company also pro-
vided 2 000 Terracrete blocks and
reinforcing for the driveway of a local
guest house. With tight timelines and
stock challenges over the traditional
holiday period for the construction
sector, Moorcrofts met the deadlines.
Situated in the Drakensberg foothills,
the village of Clarens boasts a perma-
nent population of 750 to 800 people
and at weekends this escalates to
2 500 people.
The bottom line is that the sup-
plier’s enthusiasmand that little bit of
extra effort has paidoff andnow there
is a lot of interest from local residents
and businesses.
■
Terraforce’s new licensee
tomake the sitemoreworkable,” says
Lekutu. Two Williams rigs, a Williams
LDHdigger with 5.5t-mtorque - which
has for long been the benchmark for
auger cast machines in the piling in-
dustry - and aWilliams LLDHmachine
with 8.8t-m torque were used on site.
An auger cast pile is formed by
drilling a hole into the ground, plac-
ing steel reinforcement and then
filling with concrete. Auger cast piles
cause minimal disturbance and are
often used for noise and environmen-
tally sensitive sites.
The company has completed
over 1 500 projects and its current
fleet consists of 20 auger drilling
machines, two cranes, two bore rigs,
four Grundo hammers and two lateral
support machines.
■
Leading piling company, Gauteng
Piling, recently completed the
sinking of 91 augercast piles to
form the foundations for the
Sasani Studios soapie complex.
Construction Equipment & Transport