NEWSWORTHY
RAUBEX COMPLETES QUALITY RDP MULTI-STOREYS
Raubex Building has notched up another successful RDP housing project in Gauteng , completing 480 units at Riverside View south of Diepsloot in the Fourways area . The company ’ s work on the R75 million Riverside View RDP Multi Storey project – developed by Valumax – began in June 2016 and ran through to October 2017 . The client ’ s requirement was for 15 four-storey buildings to be constructed at Riverside View , with 32 units per building . These were the first four-storey buildings erected for RDP housing in Johannesburg , making it a flagship initiative for future multistorey RDP units that are planned . Quality control was an important aspect of this project , with quality and finishes being inspected regularly by engineers , the NHBRC , the City of Johannesburg , building inspectors and Valumax ’ s own quality control team . Each Riverside View unit consists of two bedrooms and an open plan kitchen , with a living room and one bathroom . The walls were skimmed and painted inside and a bath , toilet and basin installed . Raubex Building ’ s completion of the 480 units is helping to put a serious dent in the housing backlog in the Johannesburg area , and the company is looking to complete over 400 more units there early in 2018 – with hopefully many more to come . Valumax ’ s ‘ mega-project ’ at Riverside View will see a total of over 9,600 residential units in that development , a real contribution to meeting the country ’ s evergrowing housing needs . www . raubex . com
AFRISAM COLLABORATES WITH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Through its technical services arm – the Centre for Product Excellence – construction materials leader AfriSam has been showing what is possible when business collaborates with bright young minds at universities .
Partnering with the University of Johannesburg ( UJ ) in recent years , AfriSam has made its specialists and its laboratory facilities available to UJ for its students – both for practical learning as well as to conduct research .
Earlier this year , that partnership led to two research papers being presented at the International Conference on Advances in Sustainable Construction Materials & Civil Engineering Systems , held at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates . Research for the papers was carried out at the Centre of Product Excellence by UJ Civil Engineering Science student Broadley Miller , and written up by Miller in conjunction with the department ’ s technical lecturer Johannes Bester and senior lecturer Deon Kruger .
The one paper – on the use of a concrete additive to eliminate returned concrete waste volumes – was particularly well received by the conference delegates , according to Bester , who presented on behalf of the authors . The research investigates the effects of a recently developed twocomponent powdered product in separating returned fresh ready-mix concrete into fine and coarse aggregates . The product is made from polymers and inorganic compounds , and is mechanically mixed into returned concrete to achieve this result .
“ This allows for the reuse of the returned concrete as aggregates in the manufacturing of new concrete ,” says Bester . “ The returned concrete waste can therefore be eliminated , thus reducing virgin aggregate usage , as well as reducing the environmental impact of returned concrete .”
In their second paper , the authors explored the use of recycled aggregates as a replacement for virgin materials in the manufacture of concrete . They found that fine recycled aggregates have a much greater negative impact than the use of coarse recycled aggregates .
Above : Johannes Bester is the Technical Lecturer at the UJ Civil
Engineering Science faculty
“ The presoaking procedure used was problematic when used with fine aggregates and caused a large amount of excess water to be added to the concrete mix as a result ,” says Bester . “ This study highlights the importance of planning the demolition process of a structure to ensure that the best possible quality of recycled concrete aggregate can be extracted .
10 News Watch