Over the years the prestigious Steel Awards, hosted annually by the Southern African Institute of Steel Construction (Saisc), has been an excellent barometer of the growth of the Light Steel Frame Building (LSFB) in Southern Africa. This year was no different.   Nineteen projects were entered into the LSFB category by seven leading Southern African Light […]

Challenges achieving the smooth surface required of a dramatically undulating chapel roof were successfully solved by a high performance fairing coat from Sika. The site was the 185-hectare, newly created Bosjes Resort in the picturesque Witzenberg district of the Western Cape where the dazzling Bosjes Chapel stands proudly at the foot of the Waaihoek Mountain.

STAG African has registered its Tygerberg 3 student housing development in Bellville, Cape Town, which is being developed to help address the student accommodation shortage at Stellenbosch University, for EDGE certification (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies).

Clotan Steel can supply all the light steel frame roof trusses, walls, panels and floors needed for your building project. The company offers an on-site production service.

Polyurethane and silicone sealants or adhesives deliver significant adhesion, good movement capability and durability. However, these high-performance products have some limitations. Through research and technological advancement in hybrid technology, Den Braven has now modified these and produced a range of new high performance sealants and adhesives.

Masonite Africa Limited, the South African market leader in hardboard and softboard for over 70 years, will be rebranded as Evowood from November. The rebranding marks a new beginning and reflects the rejuvenation and reinvigoration of a company that was acquired by the proudly South African consortium of Jacobs Capital and Black Bird Capital in August 2016.

The series of CPD-accredited training courses arranged by the Southern African Light Steel Frame Building Association (Sasfa) have made their mark in 2016. This is according to Sasfa director, John Barnard. “We are seeing a growing interest in these courses in line with the excellent growth in popularity of LSFB in South Africa,” Barnard says adding that the RSA market for LSFB is estimated to already be worth about R1 billion per annum.

Whether accepted, concealed, rejected, desired or compared with more modern materials, clay brick has played an active role within the culture of architecture throughout the ages.

Echo Durban’s prestressed slabs were integral to the fast-track and interference-free extension of a Stanger Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal. Echo Durban’s prestressed hollow-core slabs have been used for the construction of one of two additional storeys, each measuring 1 230m2, at StangerHospital in KwaZulu-Natal.

Two special a.b.e. Construction Chemicals coatings have been applied as protective lining of the floor and walls of a new large-scaled predator tank at the Two Oceans Aquarium at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. The new attraction also features a 10m long full walk-through tunnel.

The 21st Century has seen South African construction professionals making increasing use of precast hollow-core slabs for the construction of multi-storey buildings and for the extension of existing structures. The MTN Data Centre, Phase 2 project, which necessitated the addition of a second floor to MTN’s Data Centre in Louwlardia Centurion, using Echo prestressed slabs, is an example of the latter.

Good dolerite sources are being systematically depleted and quality aggregates produced from this igneous rock have become scarce. The result is often that quality materials have to be hauled over ever increasing distances adding to the overall cost of a project. In a proactive move that will see superior quality aggregates produced from a hard rock dolerite resource in the Mpumalanga coalfields regions, B&E International is establishing a larger quarry on the footprint of what was previously the Howard Quarry.

There is more to well-known Springbok Rugby player Dewald Potgieter than meets the eye. At 1.90m (6ft 3”), and 103kg he is big, strong, very fast and more than adept around the rugby fields of the world. But Potgieter is equally as adept at understanding what he wants from a home and, as his new house demonstrates, he has a remarkable sensitivity and understanding of design and construction.

It has taken some time for the South African architectural industry to accept that light steel frame building (LSFB) is a construction method suitable even for complex and creative design. Yet, in the recent past in South Africa, not only has this exciting building method become increasingly accepted in the main stream architectural and construction industries, it has also shown that an architect can design almost any building or structure and have it executed with LSFB.

One can find a City Lodge in practically every major centre throughout South Africa, they are renowned for providing affordable and comfortable accommodation while still supplying a quality offering. After a successful collaboration with Ocon Brick on the Waterfall City Lodge Hotel development at the Waterfall Park Office Complex near Midrand, Archstone Construction again chose Ocon Brick to supply clay stock bricks for the latest City Lodge in Newtown, Johannesburg.

Pretoria Master Builders, J.C. van der Linde & Venter Projects, have completed a major contract for the construction of a sustainable new office block at 273 Tram Street in Pretoria. The project entailed the building of a new four-storey commercial office block in Nieuw-Muckleneuk for developers, Duncharl Investments, a client for which J.C. van der Linde & Venter Projects had frequently worked for in the past. The Tram Street building provides floor space of about 1 200 square metres on a stand of 1 276 square metres – indicative of how densely built-up the precinct has become.

The new Multichoice headquarters, DStv City, in Randburg boasts four levels of basement parking covering some 52 900 sq. metres and 27 617 sq. metres of office space that were built using Ocon Brick.

Tower cranes are often the determinant factor when it comes to productivity on a construction site, and ongoing product development by Manitowoc is aimed specifically at enhancing the return on investment (ROI) for customers. David Semple, Manitowoc VP Sales Middle East & Africa, explains that there are a number of things which define the ROI on a tower crane and chief amongst these is the productivity of the machine.

Well-known fast food chain, KFC, recently chose Light Steel Frame building (LSFB) for its new outlet in Mthatha, joining both MacDonalds and Burger King in recognising the advantages of this modern building method. LSFB supports an energy efficient building, leaves a reduced carbon footprint, offers a fresh approach to creating the right environment for a restaurant while, at the same time, contributing towards a sustainable environment.

Hatch Goba builds maintenance airline hangar using tailor-made arched truss design Hatch Goba’s structural engineering expertise and ingenuity has been showcased through a project to construct a new maintenance hangar for Ethiopian Airlines at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that can accommodate a single Boeing 767, a 777, or two Boeing 737's.

Ocon Brick will supply approximately 400 000 clay stock bricks for the new Michelin Warehouse in Klipriver. The warehouse, currently under construction, will be used for the storage of tyres destined for import and export customers.

Container Agents rent containers within 350km of Pretoria with about 80% of its customer’s active in the construction industry. The containers are generally used for on-site storage of building materials or for standard or executive offices.

The development of the President Hyper chain of retail centres dates back some 50 years, when this family owned company opened their first branch in the small town of Fochville on the West Rand. Since then, these retail centres have expanded in numbers resulting in the new Vanderbijlpark President Hyper store opening in late 2014.

From an economic and safety viewpoint it makes sense to first determine the degree to which wood has been degraded during a plantation fire, before deciding what to do with it. While not all pine trees that have survived such wildfires should still be used to make roof trusses, they could be used to make furniture, flooring, fencing, pulp or as fire wood.