PROJECT 23
The building of padel court facilities in Waterfall City, Midrand
By
Megan O’ Connor, with technical input from AJC Plumbing
A Padel Court centre launched in Waterfall City late last year, with AJC Plumbing assigned to do the plumbing work for the centre.
The state-of-the-art Padel centre includes a kitchen, bathrooms and change rooms, and back-up water supply systems. The plumbing work presented a mammoth task – from first ground break to handover, which took just under a year to complete.
The brief from the client The client wanted to create a centre for padel courts as part of their housing development, in the hopes of creating a space to bring the community together through healthy activity, with all of the required conveniences in the same area – all of which being in close proximity to the residents’ homes.
In order to achieve this, the client required reliable hot- and coldwater systems, efficient drainage of sewage and storm water, as well as the installation of sanitary fixtures, including toilets, basins, showers, kitchen sinks and a back-up water solution to provide water during outages.
The process In order to successfully complete all of the plumbing work required by the client before the handover deadline, AJC Plumbing completed and followed five phases of work – Initial planning and site preparation, underground drainage and water services processes, internal plumbing, fixtures and fittings, as well as before-handover checks.
Phase one: Initial planning and site preparation Before any physical work started, the plumbing contractor started the process of the project by:
• Reviewing architectural and mechanical drawings.
• Confirming the plumbing layout and fixture locations.
• Checking building regulations and local codes.
• Ordering materials and planning labour.
• Carrying out a site inspection and risk assessment.
All images by © Plumbing Africa
The back-up water system for the changing rooms.
Part of this phase of work included co-ordinating with other trades – such as groundworkers, electricians and builders – to ensure that the plumbing installation would fit into the overall construction schedule.
Phase two: Underground drainage and water services processes Phase two, focusing on underground drainage and water services processes, included:
• Marking out drainage runs according to the drawings supplied.
• Excavating trenches to the correct depth and gradient.
• Laying sewer and storm drainage pipes.
• Installing inspection chambers / manholes.
June 2026 Volume 32 I Number 04 www. plumbingafrica. co. za