Construction World September 2019

Prominent projects Franki Africa was involved in several phases of the later development of Sandton City from 1990 to 1992, including blasting, excavating and installing lateral support to create a new cinema complex beneath the shopping centre. Other prominent projects during the 1990s include the Nedbank Group headquarters development that spanned an area from Maude to Fredman Drive and is still one of the biggest projects of its kind in Sandton to date; the Hilton Hotel; the Johannesburg Stock Exchange; Deutsche Bank; Sandown Village; phases of Investec headquarters; Sandton Square; various international embassies; the Michelangelo Towers – the tallest building in Sandton; completed projects that include the Sandton Gautrain Station; the Radisson Blu Gautrain Hotel; Alexander Forbes headquarters; the Ernst & Young headquarters; Phases 1 and 2 of the Standard Bank development in Alice Lane; Morningside Clinic; Old Mutual; as well as new headquarters for Webber Wentzel, Werksmans Attorneys, Sasol and Discovery. Tight programmes Today developments being rolled out with ever tighter timelines and requests for partial site handovers are becoming the norm. Franki Africa understands how to design and manage these solutions to navigate a critical path for the project. “The 100 Grayston project is extremely challenging,” says Paulo Alves, Senior Contracts Manager at Franki Africa. “The site is located in one of the busiest areas in Sandton with numerous services (known and unknown) along Rivonia Road and Grayston Drive, which needs to be taken into account in the design. With the assistance of a strongly experienced site team, continuous design development on the lateral support can be undertaken to accommodate the on-going challenges.” In addition to the tight construction programme, new developments require deeper basements to accommodate parking requirements. Excavations in excess of 20 m are now commonly required, and as deep as 34 m was carried out for the Discovery headquarters. This often requires blasting and support during the construction phase and Franki Africa has developed technology and products to do all the necessary geotechnical support. Market leader Franki Africa is the largest, oldest and most established specialist geotechnical contractor in sub-Saharan Africa, offering a comprehensive range of services which ensure that its customers benefit from the most cost-effective solutions for their geotechnical requirements. Franki operates in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands and, together with Keller, has the experience, capability and capacity to undertake projects of all sizes. The comprehensive product range at Franki is further enhanced by its in-house geotechnical design capability. Being part of Keller (www.kellerholding.com) also widens the company’s product range, capacity and capability. Franki offers a comprehensive range of geotechnical and marine engineering services, including both design and construction for the general construction, civil engineering and mining industries. Franki is certified in accordance with ISO standards for Health & Safety.  and the Rand Merchant Bank headquarters. More recently, Franki Africa has successfully

Photos: Google

Franki has been involved in the geotechnical works at several high-profile projects in the Sandton CBD.

17

CONSTRUCTION WORLD SEPTEMBER 2019