Concor Buildings delivering fast track student accommodation project

Concor Buildings is synonymous with delivering fast track projects to the desired quality, on time and most importantly within budget.

Martin Muller, contracts manager at Concor Buildings, ascribes says this is one reason why the company secured the contract to construct the new student housing accommodation in Streatley Avenue, Auckland Park.

Being developed by Century Property Developments, The Campus, when completed at the end of 2018, will provide accommodation for 800 students predominantly from Wits and UJ. This will mitigate some of the shortages being experienced with student accommodation close to the tertiary education institutions.

Construction work started in January this year and practical completion is targeted for November 2018. This will allow the finishing trades access to ready the apartments for occupation in early 2019.

Designed with an industrial look and feel, The Campus is a four and six storey building with two basement levels. The multi-storey structure will house several communal areas including study rooms, computer labs, conference rooms, a games room and a gym facility.

Significantly, The Campus will be pursuing an EDGE Sustainability Certificate through the Green Building Council of South Africa. This international rating system looks at three key areas being energy, water and materials.

Describing the construction methodologies being used, Muller says that an in-situ cast concrete base structure was cast up to the ground floor transfer slab and that everything above this level is a combination of load bearing brickwork with precast slab elements and various steel finishes.

The sections above the transfer slab vary from four-storey to six-storey structures with eight apartment blocks. The design features a central core area housing the access lifts, a pool and gym, a canteen and other services. The basement area will accommodate parking and storage facilities for the students. All apartments will be fully furnished making it an easy rental for students.

An interesting challenge for the contractor is that the construction site is taking place within a residential area which is rich in heritage and care has to be taken at all times to adhere to the local bylaws and residents’ requests.

There are additional logistical challenges as the site itself is spread over 235 metres with an extremely narrow roadway making access to site challenging.