The Civil Engineering Contractor May 2019 | Page 19

ON SITE: PROJECT 1 Paul Maitre, a director of the project’s consulting civil and structural engineering firm, ADA Consulting Engineers. the weather, your concrete type, saw cutting at the correct time (if you don’t do that you will get cracking), depth and spacing of saw cuts; that’s all defined. This was all agreed upfront with each role player, so we were all on the same page. The result is that on our roads, what’s been cast to date is of a really high quality. “Concrete roads are forever. It’s well documented in the US where roads built over 100 years ago are still around — and the technology of those days was a lot more crude than today’s, but they’re still in good nick.” Conclusion Maitre says, contrary to the general state of the civil engineering business, his firm is extremely busy. “Last year was the busiest in the history of the company,” something he attributes to the fact that, unlike contracting firms that are wedded to the state of infrastructure roll-out by government, a consulting engineering firm can diversify. nn Professional team Client: Central Edible Oil (CEOCO) Main contractor: Iguana Projects Structural steel engineers: Distinctive Trading Quantity surveyor: ProAfrica Property Services Project management: P  roAfrica Property Services Consulting engineers:  ADA Consulting Engineers Ready-mix cement provider: AfriSam CEC May 2019 | 17