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PROJECT
The system control panels and pumps. The 45 000-litre indirectly heated hot water vessels
and heat pumps for the project.
of Afhco’s biggest current projects is the Jeppe Street Post
Office building, with adjoined Telkom building, located in the
Johannesburg CBD. The Jeppe Street Post Office is a heritage-
listed building that was constructed in 1935. Heritage-listed
buildings or sites are usually recognised by government for their
historical, cultural, religious, or natural significance to the country.
The 70 000m 2 redevelopment has a total value in excess of
R250-million. The project involves production of residential as well
as retail areas, specifically repurposing the upper floors into 563
one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, while retaining the 8 000m 2
ground floor for retail opportunities. Adjoining the heritage building
is the Telkom building, which is also being converted in the same
style and has a service servitude to the Post Office building. Supply and installation of the rainwater systems
Previously, the rainwater drained into light-wells located
on the first floor. Then, 150mm downpipes would connect
from these into the municipal stormwater drains. Because
the ground floor was converted into retail spaces, many of
the tenants didn’t want the downpipes there because they
either interfered with their shelving or their store layout,
so SSE had to remove the old downpipes throughout the
retail space and replace the old system with the Geberit
Pluvia system.
SCOPE OF PLUMBING WORKS
The wet services aspects of the project were awarded to
Sebenza Sanitary Engineers (SSE), who undertook the entire
plumbing on the project. Essentially, the building was gutted, the
ducts created, and all the rooms built from scratch. The scope of
work then included the following.
Design, supply and installation of new PVC and HDPE above
ground drainage.
Design, supply and installation of new water
reticulation system
Geberit’s Mepla system was used here primarily for the speed
of the installation, but also because this was specifically
requested by the client, whom SSE has worked with over an
extended period. Geberit offers a 50-year guarantee, which is
an appealing aspect of any product. However, the guarantee
is conditional: the installation team must be trained by Geberit
and Geberit will do site inspections as the product is installed
to ensure its correctness. The project work has been broken
down into five phases and currently, the fourth phase has
been wrapped up and the fifth phase has commenced. It is
estimated that in the region of 12 kilometres of piping has
already been installed.
Design, supply, and installation of hot and cold water
storage systems (including control panels)
For the hot water installation, SSE used the Thermocube tank
and heat pump system supplied by Sirac. This is an indirect
heating system and is sized at 45 000 litres. The choice of
this system could be attributed to Sirac being one of the
few companies that supply the indirect heating solution, and
also, is effective in legionella control — which is one less
thing to worry about when dealing with developments of this
magnitude. As the SSE team already knew the set-up of the
project (that is, how many residential units there are), it was
easy to establish how much hot water would be required and
how many people would need to be accommodated. One plant
room was set up for the entire development. The retail section
of the project has its own components.
As part of the water reticulation system, sump pumps,
booster pumps, and circulation pumps were also installed —
supplied by DAB Pumps. Forming part of the scope of work,
all the sanitaryware was installed by SSE, and Plumblink’s
Plumbline brand was selected to be installed. The choice
on this was influenced by the fact that this line is affordably
priced for this type of development, has good guarantees,
meets all the required SABS standards, and stock availability
is never a problem.
Smart meters were installed for each of the units.
Continued on page 41 >>
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
March 2019 Volume 25 I Number 1