The Civil Engineering Contractor May 2019 | Page 26

FEATURE: PILING AND LATERAL SUPPORT
Changing
of the guard
By Eamonn Ryan
South Africa is renowned
for developing piling
technology, boasting
some of the best-known
geotechnical engineers
in the world who have
developed a reputation for
their knowledge of and
expertise in piling and
lateral support, both here
and abroad.
24 | CEC May 2019
R
ecently, Franki Africa
celebrated 70 years of piling
in South Africa. As Franki
is probably the longest-established
South African piling contractor and
when one considers that 70 years
is an average single lifespan, it
demonstrates that our local piling
industry is actually quite young in
global terms.
Most of our piling contractors
today are owned or have senior
directors who stem from a handful
of companies of origin: Frankipile,
GEL (Ground Engineering Limited),
McLaren & Eger (which ceased trading
in 1988), Murray & Roberts Piling
(which stopped trading in the 1990s),
Dura Soletanche Bachy (which ceased
piling operations in 2017), Esor, and
a few others. The understanding of
piling and foundation is difficult to
obtain from textbooks or classrooms
and therefore, a lot of training is
derived from the early pioneers
of piling in South Africa, whether
as rig operators, crane operators,
tradespeople, or workshop managers.
These are the technical people that
keep the industry going. However,
like so many aspects of contracting,
many of these people are generally
older people who started young in
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