The Granger Building, Cape Town
249 tonnes of reinforcing steel fixed for the biggest pour WBHO Cape has ever done.
Three pours in one, and eleven days instead of fifteen
On The Granger Building in Green Point, next to the stadium, main contractor WBHO set out to complete the biggest concrete pour WBHO Cape has ever done: 1,312 m³ of concrete, placed in a single 13-hour pour over 249 tonnes of reinforcing steel. Three planned pours were consolidated into one.
RMS Cape Town cut, bent, delivered and fixed the reinforcement as WBHO’s steel fixing subcontractor. WBHO’s usual cycle for a slab like this is 12 to 15 days. The programme on The Granger called for 11, which gave the RMS steel fixing team a compressed window to place 24,451 bars, in four to six layers, across 2,160 m².
The challenge
A slab of this size and this programme leaves no room for steel that arrives late, in the wrong shape or in the wrong order. Final preparation ran through Sunday 13 September and the early hours of Monday, in wet weather, ahead of a 07:00 start.
What RMS did
RMS Cape Town cut and bent the reinforcement to the bending schedules at its Blackheath facility, delivered it in step with the fixing programme, and fixed it with its own steel fixing team under RMS site supervision. When the programme looked out of reach, the branch drew on experience from across the RMS group to plan and resource the work. Production, delivery and fixing from one company gave WBHO a single point of contact while the dates were tight.
Green Point, Cape Town
Supplied and fixed from the RMS Cape Town branch in Blackheath, about 27 km from site. Nine RMS branches cover South Africa, so projects are served from the nearest yard.
From the Blackheath yard to the last bar on the slab
Production, delivery and fixing from one company, so the people who bent the steel and the people fixing it were on the same phone call.
Cut and bend
Fabricated to the bending schedules at the Blackheath facility, with material certificates to SANS 920.
Delivery
Bundles delivered in the sequence the fixing team needed them, lifted straight onto the slab.
Steel fixing
The RMS team placing and tying 249 tonnes in four to six layers, under RMS site supervision.
The pour
1,312 m³ placed in a single 13-hour pour, from 217 trucks, over steel that had been checked bar by bar.
The last sixteen hours
- Sunday 13 September
Pre-pour planning meeting with WBHO and the site teams.
- Sunday 13 September
RMS fixers still on the slab, finishing the last mats and checks.
- Monday 14 September
Night crews on the slab, three hours before the first pump.
- Monday 14 September
Concrete starts. Boom pumps running across the full 2,160 m².
- Monday 14 September
Pour complete. 1,312 m³, 217 trucks, 13 hours.
They are committed to the job, they have got strong people, their supervision is very good, they understand their planning, their resourcing, and they are always willing to come to the party and help WBHO meet their dates.WBHO site management, The Granger Building
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Planning a large pour in the Western Cape?
Send RMS Cape Town your drawings and bending schedules early. The earlier the cut and bend is planned, the more certain the delivery and the fixing programme.
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