The Civil Engineering Contractor May 2018 | Page 19

ON SITE
Construction started in September
2016 and the development is set to
become Rosebank skyline’s newest
icon upon completion, which is due
for October 2018.
While the cost of the project has
not been disclosed, construction
and project tracking group Leads
2 Business estimated it to be over
R1-billion.
The design
The building balances a shallow
basement below a transitional
pedestrian thoroughfare from Oxford
Road to The Zone/Rosebank Mall,
which has its own retail offering.
Designed as an open and green space,
it is surrounded by an organic and
geometric cladding that serves both a
functional and aestheti c purpose. The
multipurpose design masks a five-
storey car park that services the eight
storeys of commercial offices above,
while central to the design of the
building, is a multistorey enclosed,
north-facing atrium designed to
allow natural light to refract and
Dawid Joubert, quantity surveyor
at WBHO Construction, says:
“WBHO’s scope of works includes the
construction of two basement levels,
one ground floor retail level, four
parkade levels, and nine office levels,
totalling 44 500m² construction area.”
The earthworks entailed excavating
one-and-a-half basements and
installing piling to retain the
existing walls of adjacent sites’
buildings. “A total of 119 piles were
installed, ranging in diameter from
600 to 1 500mm, and driven to
depths from 6 250 to 14 000mm,
until they reached rock,” Joubert
adds. Asked to comment on the
underfoot conditions, Joubert says:
“I cannot really comment on the
ground conditions seeing that we
only took site after the platform
was completed. We however did not
encounter any problems relating to
groundwater or hard rock where we
had to excavate footings or bases.”
Towering 15 storeys above ground,
the building consists of nine storeys
of offices above a podium level, two
basement parking levels, a ground
floor public and retail level, and five
parkade levels.
Total rentable area (TRA) comprises
18 744m 2 of office area and 1 553m 2 of
ground floor retail area.
Artist’s rendering of the finished development.
A multistorey enclosed, north-facing atrium captures the
sunlight filtering down into a unique fluid underbelly.
CEC May 2018 - 17