SA’S MOST EXPERIENCED CONCRETE TRAINING SCHOOL FORGES AHEAD

Time and experience have placed The
Concrete Institute’s School of Concrete Technology –

 which is this year celebrating more than 45
years of operations – as the preferred concrete technology training provider in
South Africa, says John Roxburgh, senior lecturer at the School, which has just
published its Education Programme for 2020.

Roxburgh says the wide variety of
courses to be offered next year is the result of nearly half-a-century of
experience of the type of training the construction and concrete industries
require. “The selection of courses have been developed over these years to meet
the educational needs of those working with concrete or in concrete-related
industries,” Roxburgh states. 

He says the concept of concrete training
was informally started in the early 1950s with the then Portland Cement
Institute (PCI), based in relatively small premises in Richmond in Auckland
Park, presenting lectures and organising several symposia.  “But it was only in 1974 that the PCI
established a formal training school, the School of Concrete Technology, with
courses initially mainly for foremen. 
Due to the success of these courses more were introduced in 1975 for
engineers and technicians, and special one-day advanced modules covering
pumping, repairs and admixtures, added later. 
In those years, a cross-section of the whole construction and civil
engineering industries – from foremen to sales representatives – attended the
SCT courses.  The popularity of the
courses, and growing number of students, soon placed a severe strain on the PCI
laboratory in which the training was then offered.”  

In June 1980, the SCT moved into to a
Fulton Award-winning new home adjacent to the PCI head offices at Portland Park
in Halfway House.  “Here the School
thrived in a state-of-the-art facility with fully equipped laboratory, lecture
rooms and a much-envied lecture theatre and glass-walled function hall, where the
courses were formalised into what is now offered. During the 1980s, the City
and Guilds courses, which SCT now offers as the SCT41 and SCT42 courses on
behalf of the Institute of Concrete Technology in London, were introduced.  The Advanced Concrete Technology course was
first run in 1990 with the graduates receiving their diplomas in 1991.”

The SCT moved to The Concrete
Institute’s premises at Waterfall Park office park in Midrand in 2006 where it
today offers 16 different courses to be repeated next year.  “These courses are continually updated to keep
pace with all the rapid changes in the world of concrete technology. The
education provided by the SCT will open many doors for those wishing to establish
and advance their careers in the concrete industry. The School is
well-established, and years of experience have placed it at the forefront of
concrete training,” Roxburgh adds.

For more information
about the SCT 2020 Training Programme, phone 011 315 0300, or email sct@theconcreteinstitute.org.za or visit www.theconcreteinstitute.org.za