The Civil Engineering Contractor October 2018 | Page 38

THOUGHT LEADERS
The Concrete Conference
turns two
By Eamonn Ryan
The Concrete Conference 2018, along with an exhibition,
took place at the Birchwood Conference Centre in Boksburg
from Wednesday, 1 August to Thursday, 2 August.
T
giving participating teams a chance
to learn about concrete in a relaxed
and fun way. The Concrete Society of
Southern Africa (CSSA) board team
won the night, beating out the team
from PPC by two points.
The conference was opened by
programme chairman Van Wyk,
followed by an optimistic future
view of the construction industry
and materials suppliers, related by
economist Dr Roelof Botha. He said
the latest statistics of building plans
and building material sales suggested
that a new seven-year golden era was
already under way — one that could
match the pre-Zuma construction
boom.
A panel discussion chaired by The
Concrete Institute (TCI) MD, Bryan
Perrie, updated attendees on the
he conference offered
attendees unique perspectives
of the cement and concrete
industries, as well as construction
and supplier insights into the story
of shaping the future of Africa’s
cement, concrete, and construction
industries’ value chain.
“We had incredible feedback
from attendees and exhibitors,”
commented Johan van Wyk, director
of the Southern Africa Ready-mix
Association (Sarma), after the event.
The conference boasted international
speakers and representatives of each of
the concrete and cement associations
in South Africa, as well as many of
the country’s leading cement- and
concrete-related companies.
The conference was preceded
by The Concrete Quiz on 31 July,
Sarma members were wined and dined on the evening of the first day.
36 - CEC October 2018
current state of discussion around
the consolidation of the five concrete
associations — TCICSSA; CSSA;
Sarma; the Concrete Manufacturers
Association (CMA); and the
Association of Cementitious Materials
Producers (ACMP) — to enable the
industry to henceforth speak with
a single voice and provide a more
efficient service to the industry.
The morning was interspersed
with brain specialist Leon van der
Westerhuizen discussing “Brain
training”, and motivational speaker
Max Moyo, with “Leading into the
future”.
The afternoon programme was
officiated by Henry Cockcroft,
marketing manager of CMA, and
richly filled with relevant case studies
relating to projects at Fourways Mall,
as described by Monique Eggebeen
of Echo Prestress; slipform paving by
Allesandro Bernacchia of Wirtgen’s
Germany office; a discussion on
practical aspects of using macro, steel
and micro fibres by Low and Bonar’s
Mark Mitchell; followed by a review
of various projects by AfriSam’s Amit
Dawneerangen, particularly the Zeitz
MOCAA project.
The evening was accompanied
by entertainment by Gino Fabbri,
and was highlighted by Sarma’s
presentation of Best Plant awards:
• First place: Cretepro, Vryburg
(plant operator, Louis Visser)
• Second
place:
AfriSam
Rustenburg
• Third place: AfriSam Middelburg
• Special commendation: Erick
Makathi of Cretepro, Vryburg
• Best Fleet: AKR Mixed Concrete.
Day Two’s morning session was
chaired by Cockcroft and offered