Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa November/December 2014 | Page 53

Steel Awards 2014

S

teel Awards 2014 convenor, Spencer Erling, says that each year the ability of South African architects and engineers to build
aesthetic steel structures becomes increasingly apparent. “The quality of the entries improves each year and 2014 was no
different. I congratulate the winners and all those who entered,” says Erling.
Steel Awards 2014, which took place in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban on 18th September 2014, were hosted by

the Southern African Institute of Steel Construction (SAISC) and the sponsors were: Aveng Steel (Main Sponsor),Macsteel Service
Centres SA(Table Décor Sponsor), Cadex Systems SA (Photo Competition), Association of Steel Tube and Pipe Manufacturers of
South Africa (Tubular Category Sponsor), B&T Steel (Factory and Warehouse Sponsor); and Genrec Engineering , NJR Steel Holdings,
Peddinghaus, Tubular Holdings and Retecon/ Ficep (Partner Sponsors).

OVERALL WINNER & TUBULAR WINNER
Malapa Fossil Excavation Site, Cradle of Humankind
Such was the quality of the steel
structure at the Malapa Fossil excavation
site that Steel Awards convenor, Spencer
Erling, was prompted to say: “It is surely
the first time since I have been managing
the Steel Awards process (this year is
number 13) that the overall winner has
ticked so many boxes as to why this project
represents excellence in the use of steel!”
In 2008, Professor Lee Berger of
the University of Witwatersrand (Wits)
was using Google Earth to look for
possible fossil deposits in the Cradle of
Humankind. What caught his eye was a
near circular ring of trees, something that
would indicate a possible cave entrance
or potential fossil deposit. The rest is
paleontological history.
The brief was to build a removable
structure over the dig site to protect the
site and the exposed fossils from the
extremes of the weather and to allow for
as much ‘dig time’ as possible.
The structure must, in addition, have a
tourist viewing platform, a crawl hoisting
structure to lift out rocks of mass up to
1 ton and impart maximum natural light
into the covered area. The access walkway
to the viewing platform must be like a
blanket over a baby and must not hinder
the movement of the natural wildlife - so
no handrails or the like.
The final shape when viewed from
above is like a beetle with eight legs. How
on earth do you design a structure when
you do not know where the foundations
will be? Enter Peter Fellows the engineer.
It was decided that during construction,
once positio ns were chosen, rods would
be drilled into rocks around the site onto
which would be welded base plates. That
of course requires that the eight columns
Steel Awards

be adjustable to suit the positions
once identified.
The roof was to be ‘rondavel-like’ in
shape but not necessarily round, from
which would hang the viewing platform
and hoisting structure.
The detailing and fabrication of a
tubular structure extraordinaire like this
take a special team. Enter the Spiral
Engineering team, surely one of the few
teams with the skill and dedication to
build such a complicated structure.
Taking into account the site location,
the 7.5km farm track road, which runs partly
through a river bed and that this is 4 x 4
country, how on earth did they erect this?
Special trucks with limited capacity were
used on the farm. After four unsuccessful
tries, finally a 30 ton all-terrain crane made
it to site and had a long enough radius and
capacity to reach without damaging the
trees and the bush.

The judges concluded that the
determination of the of the whole team,
the quality of their work, the fact that
when you visit the site the roof is not
visible from just a few metres away, that
the construction team has left the site
virtually as they found it, except for the
structure, there is no doubt that this
project represents excellence in the use
of steel for every possible reason.
Developer/Owner: The University of the
Witwatersrand School of Geosciences
Architect: Krynauw Nel Associates
Structural Engineer: Peter Fellows
Quantity Surveyor: Crane QS
Project Manager: Craig Harrison PM
Main Contractor: Omni Struct Nkosi
Steelwork Contractor: Spiral Engineering
Detailers/ Detailing Company:
KRU Detailing
Cladding: Cupric Tectonics

53