Completed in 1993 and owned by Eris Property Group, the 28-storey premier grade Metlife Centre is one of the tallest buildings in Cape Town; its roof spire soaring to a height of 120m above the city’s Foreshore District. Sika’s high performance repair products were chosen for its recent renovation.
When a project was approved to weather-seal the building’s precast concrete façade, LH Consulting Engineers needed no persuasion in specifying Sikaflex AT-Façade, a high performance elastic joint sealant that ticked all the right boxes for the most effective protection. With over a decade’s experience in high rise building refurbishments, Skysite was awarded the contract which necessitated rope access for the entire project.
Sikaflex AT-Façade is a one-part, moisture-curing sealant based on silane terminated polymers. Offering excellent workability characteristics as well as low stress to the substrate, it is solvent-free and silicone-free and although primerless adhesion on many substrates is possible with Sikaflex AT-Facade, the extreme weather exposure of the Metlife Centre necessitated the specification of a primer.
The precast concrete facade panels were initially primed with Sika Primer-3N (24 units) specifically designed for application on porous substrates. This one-component, epoxy-polyurethane solvent-based product is easy to apply and provides good wetting out properties.
Upon completion of the project in September 2015, 2000 cartridges of Sikaflex AT-Facade had been applied. The main factors leading to the specification of this top class Sika product included outstanding adhesion, a movement capability of 25%, plus exceptional weatherability with the highest possible UV resistance.
Thanks to Sika, Cape Town’s Metlife Centre, a modernism-style office tower, has a new lease of life.
For more information on Sika products and systems, visit www.sika.co.za