VITAL TRAINING” TO ENSURE ECONOMICAL AND SOUND CONCRETE PRACTICE

By Jan de Beer on behalf of Cement & Concrete SA’s School of Concrete Technology

Cement & Concrete SA’s School of Concrete Technology’s is gearing to present live classes of one of its most important training courses in Durban, Cape Town, and Midrand in the second half of this year. The popular “SCT20 – Concrete Practice” course is a vital training tool to ensure best practice and economical concrete works on site, says John Roxburgh, senior lecturer at the School.

Roxburgh feels the pandemic has led to rampant cost-cutting in the building industry. “This often leads to neglecting sound site practice which determines concrete performance and infrastructural safety and durability. Saving costs is commendable -but not by sacrificing site expertise. Only contractors with a full grasp of concrete technology will be able to balance pricing and maintaining their company’s credibility,” he feels.

“A trained concrete practitioner is needed to assess the quality of the concrete supplied. The concreting team must know how the concrete is transported on site, which placement and compaction methods to adopt, and ensure that the curing system and staff are fully equipped.

“Sound concrete site practice can only be achieved by ‘concrete wisdom’. A trained concrete team will know how to prevent segregation in the concrete both through mix design and handling, and how to prevent crack formation and achieve quality finishing and curing of the concrete. Property-owners whose structures fail prematurely are not likely to entrust more work to under-performing contractors. The cost implications are too important for developers and, for the contractors concerned, such failures could mean the end of their business.  

“That is why the School of Concrete Technology’s ‘SCT20 – Concrete Practice’ course is such a vital training tool to ensure the best site practice for concrete works. It provides trainees with essential concrete technology concepts and theoretical background to implement trustworthy and proven methods of dealing with concrete on site,” Roxburgh states.

The SCT20 course is recommended for foremen, clerks-of-work, technicians, supervisors, sales and technical staff. Among the topics covered are:     

• Properties of fresh concrete at various stages
• Mix proportion and quantities     
• Concrete production and transport
• Placing, compacting, protecting and curing of concrete
• Formwork and reinforcement
• Concreting in cold and hot weather
• Defects and repairs
• Low-density and prestressed concrete
• Off-shutter and architectural finishes, and
• Precast concrete

The four-day course will be presented live in Durban from July 25 to 28, in Cape Town from September 5 to 8, and at Midrand from June 20 to 23, August 29 to September 1, and also from October 17 to 20.

For more information, contact the School of Concrete Technology at 011 315 0300 or email sct@cemcon-sa.org.za or visit www.cemcon-sa.org.za.