Industry updates from Cape Construction Expo

The Department of Human Settlements, Western Cape Government, reported that R10 billion will be spent on housing opportunities over the next 4 years. In excess of 100 000 housing opportunities will be provided by 2022.

A number of tenders will be published during October 2018, for work to commence by February 2019. Support for SMMEs is a priority, especially those including youth and women.

All contractors to the Department of Human Settlements must commit to using alternative water sources for all construction activities. Potable municipal water is restricted to drinking, hand washing and food preparation. The Transport and Urban Development Authority, City of Cape Town has committed to spending R7.2 billion on public transport development and housing over the next three financial years.

Construction 

*Cape Town, eThekwini (Durban), Johannesburg and Tshwane (Pretoria) are all part of the C40 cities network. As such the cities have committed that all new buildings will be Net Zero Carbon by 2030. The City of Cape Town will release a guiding framework and policy for realising this goal in 2020. Although driven through an energy perspective, the programme also includes sustainable materials management, food systems, water efficiency and transportation guidelines.

Water in Construction

The South African Readymix Association (SARMA) is coordinating testing of treated effluent as mixing water for readymix in Cape Town. The results will be made known on completion of testing. 

Treated effluent is not sewerage water, but the discharged water from wastewater treatment works that has been through thorough treatment processes.  A positive result will improve resilience of the industry in our “new normal” of decreasing water availability. Should any readymix company wish to join in the testing, contact Johan van Wyk at SARMA on johan@sarma.co.za.

Construction Materials

The Department of Environmental Affairs’ (DEA) project on construction and demolition waste, aimed at guiding policy on the diversion of material from landfill, and further handling of the material is almost complete.

This information will be used to inform DEA’s Phakisa project on construction and demolition waste, which is focussed on implementation of pilot projects in the processing and application of such recovered material.

The Construction Industry Development Board (cidb), as an agency of the National Department of Public Works, will soon appoint a contractor to detail handling of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) on construction, as well as best practice in the recovery and processing of such material as secondary construction materials. The aim of the project is to form the foundation for a quality management system for the recovery and processing of C&DW, to be governed by the cidb.

Case study: The business case for recovered aggregate (from builders’ rubble) can be downloaded from: www.greencape.co.za/content/case-study-reuse-of-builders-rubble-saves-company-millions/

More information from Kirsten Barnes, Tel: +27(0)21 811 0250 / www.greencape.co.za