Refurbished Cape Town community residential unit shines at Govan Mbeki Awards

30th October 2015

By: David Oliveira

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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The community residential unit (CRU) refurbishment project in Kewtown, Cape Town, took first place in the Best Community Residential Unit project category at the Govan Mbeki Awards, which were held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in August.

The Govan Mbeki Awards, first held in 2006, honour South African politician and anti-apartheid activist Govan Mbeki and his vision of ensuring and preserving human dignity for all.

Specialist technical, management and engineering consultancy Aurecon acted as the implementing principal, as well as the health and safety agent, on the Kewtown project, which is one of the City of Cape Town’s 11 upgrade projects forming part of a R1.5-billion major refurbishment programme involving 7 500 housing units.

Aurecon Cape Town land infrastructure services manager and housing service line leader Johan Keuler tells Engineering News that work on the project started in January 2010 and the revamp of each of the 320 building units was completed by November 2011. Work included maintenance work, such as repairing leaking pipes, painting and glazing.

Particular attention was paid to renovations that would add value to the lives of the residents, including waterproof floors, compliant electrical and plumbing work, improving interior furnishing, such as stairs, balustrades and windowsills, as well as renewing floor coverings.

“External communal areas were also revamped with vegetable gardens, play equipment, netball courts, trees and benches, which is a vast improvement on the concrete courtyards that were once part of the Kewtown area,” Keuler states.

A significant amount of local labour was used throughout the project with 154 locals receiving employment during the project.

Keuler explains that a project steering committee, comprising one tenant representative from each block, a representative from Cape Town, the local ward councillor and the community liaison officer, was formed to ensure all project developments were effectively discussed and communicated to the community.

He points out that the steering committee facilitated a partnership between all the stakeholders, which resulted in improved service delivery by “ensuring tenant needs were effectively communicated to the contractors and consultants”.

The project team also launched a tenant education programme to constructively influence community dynamics, with 320 tenants having received training. Keuler explains that the training was carried out by professional training provider Skills Pinnacle, which covered topics including understanding lease agreements between tenants and the City of Cape Town, the roles and responsibilities of tenants, as well as responsible water and electricity use.

Sixteen temporary containers, which were manufactured by local portable building manufacturing company Spazatainer, were converted into accommodation units to house displaced families, while construction work was under way.

“The temporary accommodation was of a high standard with doors, windows, partitions, hot and cold water, insulation, as well as free electricity,” Keuler points out.

The containers are currently being used at the Ottery CRU project, in Cape Town.

One of the major challenges of the project included the tight building programme and strict deadlines, resulting in the project team needing to ensure open communication channels and ongoing collaboration to complete the project on time and within the budget.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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