Timber iQ October - November 2017 // Issue: 34 | Page 27

PROJECTS
The lapa was smack bang
on an international heritage
site surrounded by Sci-Bono,
Museum Africa and South
African Breweries (SAB).
GETTING THEIR HANDS DIRTY
The structure had to be temporary and was dismantled after the festival.
Workers on site putting up the structure.
The space they were given to erect the lapa
was smack bang on an international heritage
site surrounded by Sci-Bono, Museum Africa
and South African Breweries (SAB).
Van der Berg says that it was very
challenging to work in and around the site. “I
wasn’t allowed to use any concrete on it. So, I
had to engineer the structure without it. I
had to plant the chromated copper arsenate
(CCA) poles without concrete. Normally what
we do with a lapa, we anchor it using beams
because it is an integrated structure,” he
says. It would be unsafe for public use if the
structure wasn’t anchored properly so he
used a special drill to stabilise the lapa.
He says that the client called 10 thatching
companies and Build Up was the only
company that was willing to do it in nine
days. “I had to give them a surety to
construct within the timeframe,” he says. The
lapa had catering and bar sections as well as
a boma-fire. “The fire was enclosed. The
entire structure had to be constructed with
fire exits and all the thatch and poles had to
be fire treated,” Van der Berg adds.
“A structure this size with a staff
complement of about 45 guys, normally,
you’d look at completing it in about a
month.” About 40 tons of natural material
was used to construct the lapa.
“It’s the first time a structure this size was
used for a temporary structure. People don’t
usually build a structure this size and use it
for three days. Nobody in the lapa industry
has built this,” he states.
THE TAKEAWAY
Guests and clients were very happy with what Build Up delivered.
The client, as well the jazz guests, were
enthralled by the lapa in central
Johannesburg. “The mandate was achieved
and the guests were also happy,” he
expresses. The real African feel of the
festival was captured as the festival was
hosted on a heritage site, under a lapa built
from natural material while guests watched
African jazz musicians.
// OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017 25