African project
Mall of Africa – South Africa
offices, homes, hotels, a hospital, light industry and the all-important lifestyle and leisure
components. The precinct master plan’s urban design seeks to promote an integrated
live-work-play environment. The developer undertook major roads upgrades around the
development to make it easy for shoppers to arrive at Mall of Africa’s 26 entrances.
Challenges
Construction began in October 2012, providing a construction period of just 42 months
for this development, which included 12 months for bulk earthworks. The sheer
magnitude of the project and the limited construction period for completion posed an
interesting challenge. The structural engineer and the architects needed to stay ahead of
the contractor with design and construction documentation. There were various teams on
site pouring concrete slabs at a rate of up to 40 000m2 per month.
“Meticulous planning, innovative design solutions and ongoing collaboration between
all stakeholders enabled us to keep meeting deadlines and resolving challenges to reach
the key milestones of the programme. There was a phenomenal team of professionals
working together, which allowed us to meet the deadline,” explains Kanakakis.“ Another
challenge was remaining focused on creating the retail and design vision within
commercial constraints for almost four years,” she adds.