Timber iQ April - May 2018 // Issue: 37 | Page 25

PROJECTS The roofs provide a cooler shading, opposed to conventional roofs. covering at 180mm thickness. The client requested structural timber elements to be used as much as possible throughout the project. Eucalyptus grandis from Mpumalanga was selected for the project as it is the strongest material with the best availability in the market given the quantity and bigger dimensions required within the tight timeline provided by the client. All the timber is treated with Tanalith-E (a water-based preservative) in Riversdale, Cape Town, so that it has the longest possible life span with minimal maintenance while reaching both our and the client’s needs of using environmentally- friendly treatments. Thatch bundles ready for installation by the Cape Reed Team. The park is home to many wildlife species. GETTING IT DONE You must keep in mind that the area on which the p ark stands today, once used to be a landfill. This posed several challenges, all of which were successfully overcome. Dubai Safari Park is to date the largest commercial project completed by Cape Reed. The extensive thatched roofs (some of them covering more than 1 000m²) had some challenges during construction, especially with the integration of different building materials (timber, steel and concrete), but the Cape Reed team managed to face and tackle these challenges with great success. Aesthetically, our thatched roofs are a perfect fit with the overall theme of the park, but apart from this, these roofs are also highly versatile, durable and // APRIL / MAY 2018 23