SA Affordable Housing November - December 2018 // Issue: 73 | Page 10

NEWS
Injecting new life into concrete
retaining block market
Pretoria-based concrete block paving and precast concrete kerb
producer, MVA Bricks, has taken the concrete retaining block (CRB)
wall market by the scruff of the neck.
The 3 700m² CRB wall at the new Cummins Southern Africa Regional Distribution Centre site at Waterfall Park, Midrand, MVA Brick’s
first major CRB project.
S
ince launching two block types, the MVA-7 and the
MVA-13, MVA Bricks has won at least half a dozen major
CRB wall projects in Gauteng and Mpumalanga. It has
also supplied numerous smaller projects.
“Production began in June last year,” says MVA general
manager, Brennan Small, “and our first major order followed
shortly thereafter when we supplied the new Cummins
MVA Bricks general manager, Brennan Small, next to one of the
CRB walls at the site of the new Cummins Southern Africa
Regional Distribution Centre.
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NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2018
Southern Africa Regional Distribution Centre and Filtration
Plant development in Waterfall Park, Midrand, with 26  000
MVA-7 blocks. These were used in the construction of a CRB
fill-wall facing on a large building platform.
“Since then we have delivered MVA-7 blocks to several
other major retaining wall projects including the Courier
Guys Phase 2 distribution centre development in Kya Sands
(24  000); a new Builders Warehouse in Midrand (19 000); a
new industrial park on the R21 near Oliver Tambo
International Airport (12  000); a new industrial park in
Nelspruit (8 000); and Thulamahashe Plaza, some 200km
from Nelspruit (3  400).”
Small says the MVA-7 has a flat face and is designed for
economical open-faced wall construction. As its name
suggests, it is generally used on the basis of seven blocks per
square metre, although this can be increased to a 10-block
configuration when required.
“The MVA-13 is quite different. It has a rounded half-moon
face and is designed for upmarket commercial walls in
closed-faced designs. A heavier block, it has a much greater
load-bearing capacity and can be deployed in walls with wall
face angles which vary between 60˚ and 90˚.
“The MVA-7 has a locking mechanism which restricts its usage
to wall faces of between 60˚ and 75˚. However, it can be
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