14 PROJECT
Supplied by Mekan Group
R11-million plumbing works at University of Johannesburg
By
Megan O’ Connor, with technical input by Mark Setaro( Mekan Group), Charles Murray( Plumbou Plumbers) and Eckart Sunkel( SPU)
The University of Johannesburg( UJ) recently underwent an R11-million plumbing project, which included upgrading existing resident blocks, as well as building new blocks for the upmarket student residence.
The client approached Mekan Group with a gigantic task – they wanted to upgrade the plumbing infrastructure in several existing student residences while also delivering complete plumbing installations for newly refurbished residence blocks. The R11-million project covered Blocks A to H, accommodating approximately 260 postgraduate and undergraduate students, including ten accessible rooms on the ground floor.
The existing plumbing system was made up of old cast-iron pipes and no longer complied with SANS 10252 requirements. Further, the sewers were leaking in the shafts and had to be removed.
The design stage“ We ended up recommending and designing a brand new sewer system from HDPE( Geberit) and we utilised PPR piping for the hot- and cold-water lines.” The decision to use PPR( Polypropylene Random Copolymer) piping for all of the droppers from the roof down in lieu of copper piping was made by taking theft of copper into consideration.“ Obviously, the hot water was insulated, and we also had a hot-water return system,” explains Setaro.
This resulted in each of the eight blocks effectively having its own hot water reticulation system.“ And we ended up making them typical throughout the building at 2 000l per block, which meets the SANS requirements in terms of the student numbers and water availability,” says Setaro. The tanks were also oversized slightly in terms of their total demand to allow for two-days worth of storage.
“ Another key aspect was that when we replaced all the plumbing, we made sure that the lines were nice and compact down the slopes, so that our hot water return is properly balanced using curve valves. So essentially once you put the tap on in any building or any floor, hot water reaches the outlet within five to seven seconds,” says Setaro.
Reviewing the PPR decision The decision to use PPR piping on the roof was reviewed early during the design phase.“ It felt impractical to put PPR on the roof and then have to insulate the cold water line – it just didn’ t make sense to me,” explains Setaro.
So, two alternative options were evaluated: 1. Galvanised steel piping( the cost-effective option, but not the best in terms of longevity). 2. SPU stainless-steel piping system( well-priced, with a long service life), which is a crimped network system.
After consulting with the client, it was agreed that SPU would be the piping solution, and Novopress crimping tools would be used to crimp the network of pipes.
The installation The construction of the project was started in September 2025 and completed in July 2026, totalling ten months – a high-pressure time frame for the works.
Setaro explains the work that was carried out throughout the ten months:“ There ' s a 90mm ring main that envelopes the entire site from Blocks A through to H, so we had to run in the ground in some areas, and we changed materials.
www. plumbingafrica. co. za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline October 2026 Volume 32 I Number 08