PROJECT
The hotel was part of a R4.6-billion Time Square
development by Sun International, which included
the building of a casino and the state-of-the-art
Sun Arena.
1
33
2
For this project, MPW was responsible for all the
plumbing and drainage, as well as the rainwater
management system on the hotel, which consists
of 238 rooms and suites. In addition, plumbing
installations were required for public facilities at the
hotel reception and for the 13 conference rooms.
The plumbing company started working on the project
around July 2016 and left site at the beginning of
April 2018 — making the total time spent on the
project one year and eight months.
SYSTEM DETAILS
The water for the hotel is stored in three concrete
tanks in the basement of the hotel. From the
basement, the water is boosted up to the rest of
the building up to level 17. According to Jonathan
Destombes, contracts manager at MPW, the system
was very straightforward and had a simple design that
was easy to follow. Also included in the system was
hot water generation boilers, which are off the same
pump set as the concrete tanks. Similar to the water
from the concrete tanks, hot water generated from the
boilers is also pumped throughout the entire hotel.
The system boosts water from basement-3 of the
hotel up to the 17th floor. Water pressure to the lower
floors was reduced due to above-normal pressures
experienced at the lower levels. “After the tenth floor
there is no pressure reduction, due to the natural loss
of pressure at the lower levels,” explains Destombes.
SUSTAINABILITY OF THE INSTALLATION
The system has a smart energy-saving feature
whereby the casino’s air-conditioning plant has a
heat recovery component. The heat rejection from
the casino is used to heat up the water at the
central hot water plant — this is referred to as the
primary heating. The secondary heating also has a
sustainability factor where the heat from the heat
pumps is used to heat the water. The heat pumps
save on energy costs.
For the cold water, the variable speed drives —
which supply the hotel with pressure and the required
flow — save between 20% and 30% of energy. The
installation has a low-flow flushing system to save
water, as well as taps fitted with aerators. The rooms
have eco taps installed, which have two settings:
a low flow or high flow.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
The main challenge with a project of this magnitude
is its tight schedule — which, in this case, can
be attributed to the fact that the Time Square
development was being built from scratch. T o keep
to the tight programme, MPW used prefabricated
frames in all the duct services for WC cisterns, basins,
and everything else that went inside the walls. “What
happened on this project was that each level was
prefabricated off site and then mounted on a frame
and installed per level,” explains Lesley Padayachee,
managing director at Green Planet Engineering
Services, the wet services consultant on the project.
Destombes explains that the prefabricated frames
were installed before any brickwork was done. It was
only after the installation of the prefabricated frames
that builders built around them. “Prefabrication helped
a lot. We didn’t have to chase the walls or chop the
walls, which reduced our labour component and sped
up installation on site, reduced wastage from chasing,
and reduced patching of the chase itself — which
was welcomed by the main contractor.
1. Main drainage reticulation.
2. T
he hotel’s main domestic
supply and filters.
Continued on page 35 >>
May 2018 Volume 24 I Number 3