Uncategorized – Page 2 – Technicrete Pty Ltd

The magnificent 44,690 square meter, two level Mall of Thembisa, situated in Clayville, near Thembisa, Gauteng, opened in late 2020 and boasts over 140 retail stores, food courts, entertainment centre, promotional courts and a gym. The Mall offers dedicated public transportation areas and sufficient customer parking and entrances to meet the high-volume of expected foot and vehicle traffic. Technicrete supplied the majority of the precast concrete kerbing for the access roads, building perimeters and the parking areas.

Loftie Eaton, Site Manager at Labucon, the main contractor for services and earth works on the Mall of Thembisa project commented that the good quality of the Technicrete kerb product and their closeness to site were factors in their favourable selection to contribute to the project. “Labucon have worked with Technicrete before, so we know the quality of their products. With a project of this size and the high level of vehicles and people expected to visit the Mall, it was essential that kerbing be not only aesthetically pleasing and to blend in with the design of the Mall, but also offer a long life-span. The fact that they are also a local company with manufacturing facilities close by was a major advantage for this large project” said Eaton.

Technicrete supplied 10,000 meters of their Fig7 1000mm kerbs, 10,000 meters of Fig 7 330mm kerbs, 500 metres of their Fig 8C 1000mm kerbs and 1100 metres of their Fig 10 1000 meter kerbs all of which are precast concrete. 1,700 meters of grey Garden kerbs 500x150x75 mm and 12012 m²of grey Double Zig Zag 60 mm grey paving blocks were used for edge restraint on the pathways.

The Fig 8C kerb is a heavy load duty kerb which is particularly suited for commercial developments whilst the Fig 7 kerb has a ‘Splayed’ profile which is preferred for developments where vehicles may need to ‘bump up’ onto a verge in an emergency. The Fig 10 kerb is a light to medium duty bull-nosed edge restraint normally applied around islands in parking areas.

The Double Zig Zag interlocking pavers are ideally suited to shopping centre pavement foot traffic as they offer a continuous, hard wearing surface overlay, which makes them an economical and aesthetically appealing choice.

Arno Smuts, Sales Consultant for Technicrete commented that the Technicrete products selected for the Thembisa Mall are manufactured locally to the highest specified standard, hence the ability of the products to offer a superior longevity to a project that will have an enormous amount of vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

Rock bolts are used to stabilise rock excavations in mining, tunneling and civil engineering operations such as concrete dam reinforcements, road cuts and bridge abutments. A critical element to excavations of this kind is the surface stabilisation between rock bolts to hold unstable or fractured rock masses together. It is this required stability that is achieved by using Technicrete TSL (Thin Skin Liner), a modified polymer based fibre reinforced thin sprayed liner.

Technicrete TSL is supplied in easy-to-use kits consisting of a special liquid, which is a blend of powder chemicals and graded silica sand with polypropylene fibres.

The contents of the kit are simply emptied into a suitable mixer or pump which have a positive displacement type pump arrangement, then sprayed on to the cleaned rock face and into open joints and fissures covering all surfaces needing to be supported. Maximum penetration is obtained by spraying directly into any open joints. Compressed air is added at the nozzle to spray the fresh mix, whilst a seven metre delivery hose will deliver the best effect.

The bonding properties of Technicrete TSL bind the rock faces inside the fissures to provide a more stabilised rock surface and minimises the unravelling of rock mass. The tensile properties of Technicrete TSL spanning across joints and cracks resist shear and direct tensile movement adding to back pressure in the rock mass for added stabilisation.

In low stress environments the bonding and tensile strengths assist in preventing block movements, whilst keeping the rock ‘beam’ intact.

Benefits

Technicrete TSL can be:

Rapidly deployed in underground environments as equipment is easy to handle in confined areas
The sprayed-on support is quick to mix and hardens quickly
Used as rock support for areal stabilisation of rock surfaces

Stabilises friable ground
Seals sensitive rock type such as smectite, shale, soft shales against water and humidity
Prevents unravelling of fractured ground by holding key blocks in place
Seals dams, sumps and drains
A temporary areal support – prior to overcoating with shotcrete, which has a strong adhesion to Technicrete TSL
Safely applied to damp substrates (but not onto surfaces covered in running water)

TSL EFNARC Specifications

Technicrete TSL has a shear strength of >0.25 MPa after 24 hours, a tensile strength of >2 MPa after seven days, an ultimate bond of shear 1.0 MPa and a bond strength of 1.0 Mpa. After the completed application simply flush the equipment thoroughly with water for cleaning. This process minimises pump and hose blockages.

With water shortages and the longer-term security of water supply being a serious concern for South Africans, one would think that every business, school and home would have a rainwater harvesting system. Justin Kretzmar, Sales Engineer at Rocla and Technicrete, explains why this is sometimes not the case.

“When constructing new commercial, residential and public buildings, a rainwater harvesting system is one of the last elements to install. At this stage, many projects are either over budget or have run out of money completely, and so the idea is often abandoned or a cheaper, shorter life span option adopted.

“Another reason is that rainwater harvesting systems are still being underquoted in South Africa at tender phase. If the requirement is for 50,000 litres of harvesting, we often note at a later stage that 10 of 5,000 litre plastic, above ground, storage tanks have been used as the pricing guideline. Consideration might not have been given to the site plans and hence an understanding as to where the engineers envisaged these tanks to be placed. On sites where the tanks are designed to be placed below ground, due to durability, overall size and/or space requirements, the plastic guideline pricing can be out by a factor of 10 or even 20 once you include below ground installation work.

Kretzmar maintains that rainwater harvesting is also sometimes viewed as a nice-to-have as opposed to a necessity and hence gets dropped at the final stages due to updated overall cost implications.

“There is little financial incentive, and no legislation that forbids the use of potable water when non potable water could be used. However, with parts of our country either suffering from drought, or experiencing water shortages and restrictions, there has been an increased interest in residential rainwater harvesting. Unfortunately, many people only consider rainwater harvesting in times of drought, which of course, is too late. There has to be rain to fill the tanks and we hence, need to embrace a longer-term philosophy.” says Kretzmar.

Product offering

Technicrete and Rocla, part of the Infrastructure Specialist Group, both offer different water harvesting friendly options that can be used independently or combined for an holistic solution. These include permeable paving solutions to capture surface water and below ground concrete collection tank systems for roof water capture.

Rocla offers two concrete rainwater harvesting solutions that are both installed underground:

A (smaller) modular system, made up of 6,000 litre units that can accommodate storage requirements from about 24KL up to hundreds of thousands of litres.
A (larger) modular made up of 60KL rectangular tanks. These are more cost effective than the smaller modular option but installations must be increments of 60,000 litres.

Below ground concrete tanks are considerably more hygienic when compared to above ground plastic alternatives due to the naturally cool and dark environment where most micro-organisms cannot survive. Being underground and out of site, vandalism is reduced and as they are not exposed to sunlight, problems associated with UV reducing overall lifespan are alleviated.

Technicrete’s Aqua range of permeable paving products subscribe to a methodology whereby vertical ‘slots’ between adjacent pavers provide drainage channels allowing storm water to flow from surface, through the paving and bedding layers, into suitably designed stone layer works below. This stone layer becomes the storage ‘tank’ with the captured water replacing air cavities between adjacent stones. It is interesting to note that these air cavities can be up to 40% of the overall volume of this layer, or 40 litres of water stored per square meter in every 100mm thick stone layer. Whilst permeable paving is most frequently used as a water attenuation facility, it can also be used for rainwater harvesting, by placing an impervious membrane at the base of the layer works, capturing the water instead of infiltrating it. This water would typically be used for reuse in greywater and irrigation systems.

Potential problems

“While permeable paving technology has been around for well over 40 years (locally for over 20 years), some engineers are still hesitant to make use of this option. Permeable paving can and does fail when it has been designed or installed incorrectly or has been placed in unsuitable locations,” says Kretzmar.

For instance, one should probably not use permeable paving in places where there is a lot of fine dust and pollution that can be expected to blow over an area on a regular basis. As such, there is justifiable concern about the long-term clogging of permeable paving. With the finest material at the top, grading to larger stones at the bottom, clogging occurs when tiny particles being transported by storm water get caught by the smaller gravel at the top of the pavement layers and hence reduce the filtration capacity through the paving layer. This reduces the filtration capacity through the paving layer and the functionality of permeable paving.

Other causes of failure include design and installation shortcomings where the permeable layer must contend with more surface water than it can physically process. One should ensure there is a limit to a ratio of 2:1 ratio of impermeable to permeable layering. Furthermore, contractors often do not follow correct installation instructions with regards to contamination and compaction.

“Maintenance and cleaning of permeable paving is therefore very important. Maintenance should include annual sweeping of the paved area, prior to the rainy season as this will remove most of the silt that has settled onto the area over the dry season – therefore avoiding contamination at the top grit layer. Typical cleaning regimens should be carried out every five to ten years or as and when as system is no longer functioning as required. A high pressure spray will loosen the upper 25mm of clogged, polluted gravel/grit, followed by a high strength vacuum to remove this material. The fine grit layer between pavers must then be reinstated with new, clean and washed material.” adds Kretzmar.

Kretzmar concludes that rainwater harvesting tanks and permeable paving have been used very successfully internationally and moderately so in South Africa, “However, both systems have been very successful in other countries, especially where the requirement has been driven by local legislation and municipalities.”

Source: Water & Sanitation Africa Mar/April 2021

Don’t you just wish, when driving along a bumpy sand road, that there could be some form of tracking to make the journey easier? Or even when driving up your own driveway, that there is an attractive greened track that blends in with your already established landscaping? A simple yet highly engineered hardlawn paving from Technicrete, Amorflex HLP, is probably the best solution for a stable grounding.

Easy to maintain by using traditional lawn maintenance techniques, Amorflex HLP paving blocks allow the natural greening of paved surfaces to form hard wearing grassed driveways, roadways, parking areas and embankments. They can also be used on embankments for light duty erosion protection as well as a light stormwater run-off.

Once earthworks have been designed to suit the application loading, the preparation for the laying of the Amorflex HLP blocks includes creating a surface of layer works to standard specifications 1200MJ (max 10mm in 3m), and putting down a river sand bedding (with a recommended thickness of between 10mm and 15mm).

The blocks are then hand-compacted into the bedding sand using a rubber mallet.

The top openings in the Armorflex HLP blocks are filled with topsoil and grassed prior to trafficking. The blocks allow natural or planted vegetation to grow through their openings providing the natural aesthetically pleasing finish once installed. Keeping the soil intact is helped by the roots of the plant growth.

The Amorflex HLP blocks are available in 340mm x 294 mm with a 90mm thickness, primarily in grey but other colours are available upon request.

The demand for land for housing and business development in South Africa is a demand that never slows down. Recently when a local municipality at Ikageng in the North West Province set aside stands for development, they realised they had to reduce the 100-year flood line and take preventative measures to reduce the possibility of stormwater or flood damage to this marked area. Technicrete’s Armorflex proved to be the most effective and sustainable option to meet their requirements.

“The project was initiated after it became apparent that some residential stands were set out within the 1:50 year flood line. The formalisation of the trapezoidal channel to contain the 1:100-year flood meant these stands would be available for development. The construction of the lined channel could increase the capacity with a smaller cross-sectional area” said Dries Joubert, Design Engineer from FHP Consulting Engineers on the Ikageng project.

Technicrete’s internationally licensed Armorflex 180 was recommended as the best option for the Ikageng project from the range of Armorflex products Technicrete manufactures and supplies. The 180 is an open block suitable for stormwater and drainage channels, erosion control, roadside drains, striproads and access roads.

“We originally thought that a combined concrete and concrete filled geo cells type lined canal would serve the purpose, but due to poor soil conditions which required substantial earthworks Armorflex was a preferred option and offered a reduced construction period mainly because of the interlocking pattern which offered flexibility should settlement occur” added Joubert.

The channel had a natural alignment, and the Armorflex improved the natural flow characteristics of the channel during flood conditions, hence its gently curved installation which eliminates the small radius bends that could have created overtopping.

Armorflex 180 blocks are tied to adjacent blocks with galvanized wire to form long mats. As and where required, Armorflex can also be anchored into in-situ soil to further assist with stabilisation of the blocks and mat in general. The Armorflex 180 blocks provide a loose but sophisticated interlocking design allowing the surface to remain flexible to movement without the cracking and spalling issues that occur with insitu cast concrete when exposed to regular stormwater or flooding incidents.

The Armorflex 180 blocks offer a perfect lining for drainage channels. At aprons at pipe inlets and outlets, Armorflex eliminates pipe undercutting that can lead to severe problems such as surrounding bank failure and hence additional siltation downstream.

Joubert added “We always try to utilise local labour where possible, and the Armorflex product lends itself to this objective, enabling us to upskill at site and create employment opportunities down the line”.

One of the challenges on site at Ikageng was ground water seepage which impacted upon the delivery of project products, Anton Muller, Managing Director of Born Free Civils, a contractor at the Ikageng project commented “Due to water seeping from underground at the project site, resulting in a majorly wet and muddy surface, we built a temporary roadway so that Technicrete could deliver the daily quantity of 1000 m2 Amorflex blocks that was required”.

In order to beat the summer rainfall, approx 40,000m2 of Armorflex was placed in only 3 months. The channel profile had been prepared previously such that the installation team needed to finalise and smooth out levels, place geofabric and Armorflex, wire up the system and backfill. This was a mammoth task in scale, to achieve in such a short period of time but it proves the versatility of Armorflex.

The new multi-million-rand Olifantsfontein Fire Station that commenced construction in late 2019, has a most impressive forecourt paved by Technicrete Double Zig Zag (DZZ) pavers and Fig3 kerbs. The fire station, which is being built by the City of Ekurhuleni, will replace the old fire station that was built in the 1940s.

Fire station forecourts need durable paving due to the heavy load of fire engine and emergency vehicle traffic. The new Olifantsfontein Fire Station will have housing and forecourt space for five fire trucks, three ambulances and a helipad, making the choice of paver for the station an important factor.

Technicrete sales consultant, Luan Van Der Berg, said “Our DZZ pavers are particularly suitable for forecourts and industrial areas that will have regular usage by heavy load vehicles travelling upon them, such as the Olifantsfontein Fire Station and their large heavy-laden fire trucks. It is an economical paver, but still gives the project an impressive forecourt appearance and our Fig 3 kerbs added the finishing touch”.

Pmash Project Management’s site agent, Zikhona Lukani commented “We wanted a manufacturer and supplier of pavers for this project that would not only offer a reliable delivery of the pavers, but who had solid experience in assisting in the choice of paver for this distinctive application. The pavers we required needed to be able to withstand the harsh and frequent traffic load that a fire station has. We found these elements with Technicrete, who always met delivery scheduling and offered sound technical assistance”.

Between February and March 2020 Technicrete supplied 4400 m² of grey 80mm DZZ, 1807 m²of grey 60mm DZZ and 1000 mm of Fig 3 kerbs to the Olifantsfontein Fire Station project. “One of the perks of being nearby and having a manufacturing plant that always meets orders, is what enabled us to meet the deadlines required by Pmash Project Management” said Van Der Berg.

Technicrete’s DZZ pavers are available in a variety of colour tones and sizes Apart from fire station forecourts they are ideally suited, due to their durability and longevity to domestic driveways, municipal parking areas, pedestrian pavements, pathways and commercial developments. Petrol station forecourts, industrial and factory roads, suburban streets, heavy duty loading bays, platforms and industrial areas used by forklifts and other yellow metal equipment.

Technicrete is a certificated member of the Concrete Manufacturers Association and has been involved in a variety of local government infrastructure projects as well as private and commercial developments.

The Infrastructure Specialist Group (ISG), which comprises Technicrete and Rocla has donated a 12 metre fully insulated containerised open plan office unit as well as paving to the Sifunindlela Primary School, based at Kabokweni in Mpumalanga Province. The office unit will be used by the school’s principal, Mr Ndhlovu and some of the school’s administration staff.

The 1 x 12.22 m x 2.44 m x 2.59 m container is fully insulated with 40mm polystyrene, has four aluminium sliding windows (900 mm x 1200 mm) – complete with fitted burglar bars – and a steel panel entrance door with a lock set.

Principal Ndhlovu explained “Sifunindlela Primary School has never had offices for staff, staff have in the past, met for meetings in passages or under the Lapa. Now, with the donation of this containerised office unit we have privacy for meetings with staff and visitors. It enables us to house school records and confidential correspondence properly. We are very grateful to Rocla and Technicrete for these donations. It creates a proper working environment for myself and members of my team, making a difference to how we work and giving us all a sense of pride in the school we are managing”.

“In 2019 ISG donated 16 sanitation units manufactured by Rocla to the Sifunindlela Primary School, because we believe that proper sanitation in schools provides human dignity. It was during this project that we became aware of the fact that Principal Ndhlovu had no dedicated office space not only for himself but also for some of his administrative staff “commented ISG Group Marketing and Communications Manager, Malebusa Sebatane.

“ISG decided to donate this fully insulated open plan office space to the school to assist in providing a secure and stable office environment for Principal Ndhlovu to carry out his duties” said Sebatane, adding

“Technicrete has also donated 2,574 m²of our Double Zig Zag 60 mm grey paving and financed a local contractor to clear the ground work and install the paving around the school and new office”

“In the past the primary school children have been subjected to high levels of dust from the dirt tracks around the premises, which the Technicrete paving will help reduce if not eliminate completely. Installation is from the entrance to the primary school, around the art class and around the netball fields. The paving will improve the health and wellbeing of these young children in a big way in addition to creating safer and more durable walkways” concluded Principal Ndhlovu.

The containerised open plan office space is fitted with a 220V Distribution Board, 4 x 4 ft vapor proof lights, 4 x double switch plugs, a single light switch, 1 x 1800 BTU type air conditioner. The unit has rubberised flooring with black pigmentation. The exterior of the unit has been wire brushed, primed and painted in A/D white enamel.

“Education in South Africa is of paramount importance, if ISG, in some way, can make a difference by providing a suitable environment for educators to perform their duties in and safe and hygienic sanitation units for learners like those we have met at Sifunindlela Primary School, then we believe we have a played a part in the general upliftment of their environment” concluded Sebatane.

Whether it is a residential estate or a commercial park, style conformity plays an important role in the success of such developments. The choice of paving plays a role, not only for appearance purposes, but also for future maintenance planning. These were the key factors when the owner of a house in a small residential complex in Herbert Baker Street, Groenkloof, Pretoria, decided to demolish and revamp their home after 15 years.

Maxi Pave, the contractors for the owner’s house rebuild, contracted Technicrete to supply 1500m2 of Conleaf Autumn 60mm pavers and 150m2 of Bond Brick Autumn 55mm pavers for the parking and driveway areas of the refurbished property. Managing Director of Maxi Pave, Leon Veldsman said “Technicrete’s Conleaf and Bond Brick pavers are aesthetically very pleasing and the longevity of the products make them ideal for this residence. Technicrete supplied the original paving to this small complex many years ago, but after seeing the Conleaf design and colour installed at one of the residence, the owners decided to re-pave the driveways and entrances in the same manner of the other three units as well”.

The Conleaf paver introduces gentle curves into paving, creating attractive patterns, pleasing lines and durability. This block is available in all standard colours such as Autumn, Terracotta, Grey, Plum, Slate and Tan and is suitable for domestic driveways, municipal parking areas, pedestrian pavements, pathways and commercial developments. The larger 80mm thickness can be installed at petrol station forecourts, industrial and factory roads and suburban streets.

Technicrete’s Bond Brick is a traditional paver that is not only economical but durable. It is also available in various colours and thicknesses and is mainly applied to parking areas, pathways, commercial and domestic surfaces.