controlled lighting has the additional benefit of reducing light pollution . During the day there is little need for artificial lighting in the mall .
Lahaye says that all surplus material was reintegrated into the building . “ Stone was crushed on site and reused in the building process and over 200 aloes were stored off site and then replanted ,” he says .
Challenges Extremely hard rock on site created difficulty with the installation of services . Since the building is on two levels , it required a cut of about 6m , which meant that the earthworks took longer than expected . The contractor overblasted the rock to a metre deeper than slab level , crushed blast material and refilled to slab level so that services could be installed in the crush . The sloping site was addressed by creating a terrace .
After a 22 month construction period , the newly opened Mall of the North will likely be spoken of as a building that tips its hat to its beautiful surroundings whilst offering a world-class shopping experience to Limpopo shoppers .
Mall of the North 307