PROJECT
39
Law firm gets
Jazzed up
Jazzman Plumbing’s Leon Tobias tells Plumbing
Africa about the project that it completed in
the new Hogan Lovells building in Sandton,
Johannesburg.
By Tristan Wiggill, with supporting information supplied by
Zenprop Property Holdings and PJ Carew Consulting
Located at 140 West Street and
developed by Zenprop Property Holdings,
the structure comprises an iconic
27 000m 2 office property in two linked
towers. There is a 10-storey north tower
and a 14-storey south tower.
While the south tower is numbered to 14, it
actually comprises thirteen floors although
there is no 13th floor. There are eight
basement levels and the entrance to the
international law firm’s building is within
325m of Sandton City.
Jazzman Plumbing was on the site in August
2015 and complet ed its work in October
2017, just weeks before tenants began to
move in.
While a strike in the construction industry
caused some late concern, Tobias says that
everything was completed on schedule.
“Practical completion was reached by the
target date; that is, when the building was in
a liveable state,” he says.
He explains that the Hogan Lovells building
is ‘green’, although it is not a Green Building
Council of South Africa (GBCSA) rated
building. However, the base build is Green
Star-rated.
“All the materials used are green; that is,
the HTPE, copper, and certain sections are
constructed using galvanised steel.”
IN GOOD TIME
Tobias says that a big challenge during the
project was time management. “We had
a set 18 months to complete our work.
Changes had to be made and, as plumbers,
we had to wait for certain supplies. In this
industry we are always chasing time.”
He adds that another stumbling block was
site access. “The lifts were not working,
for example. If we had easier access to the
floors we could have saved time. Moving
around the building was also challenging
as we had to pass by pipes and manoeuvre
through scaffolding.”
Products used by Jazzman included
high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which
were electro welded and heat fused. HDPE
complies with green efficiencies and lasts
longer as there are no joints.
Hot water is generated from heat pumps,
which saves electricity. And all the pipework
is lagged (cladded) to keep heat in and
save electricity.
The only real challenges faced by the
wet services engineers came from some
of the drainage, which is done through
a sump. There is a lifting station for
this, while the other stuff is gravity fed.
From a design perspective, it was a bit
challenging tying up the services and
getting everything coordinated.
Continued on page 40 >>
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
January 2018 Volume 23 I Number 11