News & Media
September 2008
CONCOR BUILDING HANDS OVER FOUR-STAR SANDTON HOLIDAY INN
Two years after starting the contract, Concor Building completed the new four-star Sandton Holiday Inn, adjacent to the Village Walk. While this is the first Holiday Inn facility built by Concor Building, it is the fifth hotel built by the company for this particular developer.
Concor Building moved onto site in August 2006 after the commercial building on the site was demolished and bulk earthworks piling and lateral support had been completed.
The building, comprising a 301 room hotel, including two levels of basement parking, ground floor reception, bar and restaurant, first floor conference centre and offices, guest rooms from floors 2 to 8, ninth floor supper club, bar, gym and pool deck, is built on 12 levels totalling approximately
16 000 m2.
Brad Wantenaar, managing director of Concor Building, says that the project presented a number of challenges to the company. “Probably the most difficult aspect of this contract was the extremely constricted site on which we had to work. The footprint of the entire building (including basement parking) is 2 500 m2 with the hotel having a footprint of 1 600 m2, so room to manoeuvre was at a premium, especially once we had erected our site offices and storage facility.”
Wantenaar explains that this issue was addressed by incorporating a stringent planning system. “We finitely planned and expedited all deliveries in such a way that as the material was delivered to site it was, where possible, immediately allocated to the area where required. This meant that there was a bare minimum of stored material, and hence minimal congestion.”
Other challenges faced included the sourcing of suitably qualified people. “This extended from our own team to the appointment of able and competent sub contractors,” Wantenaar says.
In addition to the on-site logistical issues, the hotel is situated on a very busy road so external traffic was affected by the delivery of materials. “We addressed this by temporary lane closures; the placement of full time pointsmen to control the traffic flow and the ingress of delivery vehicles; and the introduction of a ‘traffic-slowing’ zone,” Wantenaar says.
“An interesting aspect of the actual building work was the installation of a specified drywall system for the hotel’s internal walls (rooms and bathrooms),” Wantenaar says. “Although drywall systems are commonly used in the US, we generally veer towards brick and mortar in South Africa.”
Wantenaar says that the challenge posed here was the coordination of the installation of all services (electrical and plumbing) concurrently. “With drywalling it is necessary to build half the wall, install the services, conduct testing to ensure all the services are working properly, then complete the second half of the wall. There was no room for error and sequencing and workflow had to be spot-on.”
Wantenaar explains that by its nature, drywalling does not have the same sound insulation properties as brick and mortar, so it was necessary to install soundproofing during the erection phase.
“While drywalling is marginally more expensive than the brick and mortar alternative, the cost savings achieved on speed of erection make it an attractive option. Added to this is the fact that there is less mess, a reduced cranage requirement and the floor slab design is optimised. This latter is because of the reduced load of the lighter wall structure,” Wantenaar adds.
The hotel was handed over to its operator on 22 August 2008 and the doors opened for business in mid September.
Professional team:
Architect: Dane Strydom Architects
Structural engineer: Knutton Consulting
Electrical engineer: Esksteen Le Roux
Mechanical consultants: WSP
Wet services: DSB
The new four-star Sandton Holiday Inn.