ON SITE
Atterbury Property Developments
Render of completed Deloitte Africa headquarters .
Located north , along the N1 highway , is Waterfall City , prime area for development , as evidenced by the spectacular twisting building of PwC and the immense Mall of Africa . Soon to join these iconic buildings will be Deloitte Africa ’ s new head office . The development is being done by a joint venture between Atterbury and Attacq , with Atterbury responsible for development management . The development is 42 500m 2 of gross leasable area ( GLA ) and will serve as the consolidation of Deloitte ’ s Johannesburg and Pretoria offices into one facility in Waterfall City — a business hub between the two metropoles . The location has easy access to the major highway and is well positioned to service the spread-out client base within both cities ’ borders . “ Its central location and easy access to highways enable Deloitte to effectively service their client base in the whole of Gauteng ,” says Arno du Plessis , development manager at Atterbury . Bamboo Rock Construction commenced with the bulk earthworks on 4 October 2017 and is scheduled to be completed by 15 February 2018 .
16 - CEC March 2018
Atterbury and Attacq appointed Group 5 as the principal building contractor , with site handover scheduled for early March 2018 . Jan-Willem Pelser , operations manager at Bamboo Rock Construction , describes the bulk earthworks being undertaken by the contractor : “ Total excavation entails 85 000m 3 of earth moving ,” he says and adds that the square meterage of the basement is approximately 17 000m 2 , with roughly 3 200m 2 of lateral support . “ Depending on the geotechnical conditions of the soil , the walls are of varying thicknesses ,” he explains . Nic Chapman , MD of Bamboo Rock Construction , adds , “ Of the 85 000m 3 of earthworks , 50 % is rock , which poses its own challenges , requiring multiple blasting on site and removal .” “ A geotechnical investigation was conducted by civil and structural engineering company Dekker & Gelderblom Consulting Engineers , prior to commencement of the earthworks , upon which all the designs were based ,” Pelser confirms . The terrain slopes substantially , according to Karien Coetzee at Aevitas Group and Empowered
Spaces Architects JV ( a JV as both principal agent and project architect ). “ Depending on from where you measure the structure , the highest point will be 7.5 storeys above natural ground level , and the lowest point of the site will be 10 storeys , including basements .” Du Plessis clarifies , “ It will be four levels of basement , and seven levels of office space when completed .” The development manager also describes a unique design feature that will accommodate expansion during the 12-year lease , if so required . “ Other than location and price , one of the main features is that the building has been designed with massive 6 000m ² footplates , giving the tenant maximum flexibility to grow and move within the structure with limited churn costs . It ’ s designed with longevity in mind ,” he adds . When Deloitte takes occupation of the building , there will be a staff complement of 3 440 , with space for expansion to about 4 900 people .
Project challenges
Coetzee explains that in the early stages of the project , during the request for proposals ( RFP ) stage , there were