CONVERSION UNDER WAY Cape Town-based concrete cutting, coring and drilling company started work on the uninhabitable building in early 2014
A historic Cape Town building is set to be transformed into a museum and shopping centre by late 2016, with the help of concrete cutting, coring and drilling company Concrete Worm.
The Cape Town-based company started work on the uninhabitable building in early 2014 and is using Diamond Products’ 800 mm Wall Saw blades to make the required alterations.
Concrete Worm MD Peter Fink says: “The building is not suitable for people to occupy, owing to the lack of ventilation. As a result, we are cutting the inside walls to allow for windows and doors to be fitted. The work includes drilling 500 holes in the walls and 1 500 m of saw cutting. We started in early 2014 and expect to finish in late 2016.”
The company has completed other high-profile projects using Diamond Products equipment, such as its highly-complex scope of work with regard to extending the entrance at the Simon’s Town Stillwater harbour by 11 m in 2012. This involved cutting away sections of large concrete walls – known as caissons – using 135 m of Diamond Products’ orange razor wire.
The 11 mm closed-loop wire contains 40 dia-mond beads every metre and rotates at 28 m/s, using a 37 kW, 380 V machine. A 360° swivelling head allows for the wire to cut horizontally and vertically through thick concrete structures.
Fink notes that the razor wire exceeded all expectations. “The razor wire proved to be far more efficient than we had anticipated, [and] enabled us to cut at an average rate of 3.3 m2/h, as opposed to the industry standard of about 2 m2/h.”
Additionally, the company recently completed another project in East London where it used the same razor wire supplied by Diamond Products to cut a 39-m-high concrete tower building.
“Concrete cutting is a highly-specialised field . . . Over the years, Diamond Products has supplied us with core barrels, diamond wire, and saw blades that assist us in completing our projects to the highest standards,” comments Fink.
Diamond Products director Darryl Gray notes: “Diamond Products is the only company in the local industry that offers free customer training as part of its after-sales service, there- by providing our customers with a compre-hensive solutions package.
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