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After a two year hiatus, the Hot Dip Galvanizers Association of Southern Africa hosted the eleventh Hot Dip Galvanizing Awards Evening on Friday 26 August in The Ballroom of Montecasino.  Thank you to this year’s sponsors – (in alphabetical order) Armco Galvanizers, Bulldog Projects, ChemSystems Metal Chemicals, Exxaro – Zincor Ltd, Macsteel Tube & Pipe, Metsep (Pty) Ltd, Robor Galvanizers and the SA Institute of Steel Construction.

The Waterfall Hills Estate was a clear winner in that it illustrates how hot dip galvanizing can be used by architects to integrate with other construction materials, producing an exceptional and aesthetically appealing result, in keeping with the upmarket estate.

The winners of the 2011 Hot Dip Galvanizing Awards are as follows (listed according to categories):

Winner of the Walter Barnett Trophy (Overall Winner) & Infrastructural and Community Development Category:

Project Name: Waterfall Hills Estate

Project Partners:

Developer / Owner: Century Property Developments
Architect: Century Property Development Architect
Consulting Engineer: C-Plan Civil Engineers
Steel Fabricator: Goivota
Hot Dip Galvanizer: Armco Galvanizers

Project Detail

Situated in Sunninghill lies one of the largest estates to be developed within the South African property market with Waterfalls Hills Mature Lifestyle Community forming an integral part of the Waterfall City development.  The extensive and wide spread use of hot dip galvanized steel has been integrated to form part of all the architectural features and aesthetics of the estate structures.

The developer aims to encourage the use of materials in their natural state, thereby creating a unifying element to all the homes, as diverse as they hope they will be.  The materials that are expressed in their natural form on the estate are stone, brick, plaster, wood, steel, glass and green materials.  According to their guidelines, “steel allows spaces to become light and airy, especially when used in conjunction with glass.  It makes it possible to span large openings and create spaces that are open and free.  Steel is a modern material that can be used to create dramatic effects.  It may be hot dip galvanized or painted grey.”  The judges agreed that the comprehensive use of hot dip galvanized steel has been integrated to form part of the overall architectural features and aesthetics of the estate structures.

Duplex Coating Systems Category

Project Name: Ambotovy Nickel Mine – Madagascar

Project Partners:

Developer / Owner: SNC Lavalin / Sherrit
Specifier: SNC Lavalin
Main Contractor:  B&W
Hot Dip Galvanizer: Armco Galvanizers
Powder Coater: O-line Coatings (Pty) Ltd

Project Detail

The use of a duplex coating system using powder coating on cable ladders and support products in a Nickel Mine in Madagascar.

The duplex coated cable ladders represent an excellent example of the success that can be achieved with a duplex coating system.  This was particularly commendable in that powder coating has been used as the top coating over hot dip galvanizing as unfortunately, through no fault of O-line, but rather due to a combination of misinformation, lack of knowledge and bad experience, duplex coated products (with powder coating as the paint system) fell out of favour with local consultants, specifiers and contractors, who opted for stainless steel rather than duplex coated products.

O-line has innovatively shown the way forward with the use of both hot dip galvanizing and powder coating for effective corrosion control.

Infrastructural Development Category

Project Name: Lula Pipe Cable Lock™

Project Partners:

Owner:  EPNS Engineering
Project Manager:  Exxaro and Simmer & Jack
Hot Dip Galvanizer:  Macsteel Tube & Pipe

Project Detail

Lula™ Pipe is a socketed hot dip galvanized steel pipe system that has been designed to be compatible and interchangeable with standard sizes of PVC pipe in common use in the water reticulation industry.  The Cable Lock™ makes use of a socket and spigot system, where the socket, complete with an integral seal is formed on one end of the pipe and the other end forms the spigot.

Two entries, Lula Pipes and Cable Lock, were combined as it was seen by the adjudicators that the Cable Lock was a logical extension of the Lula Pipe System.  The two systems use hot dip galvanizing to support the lightweight, easy to assemble system.  Hot dip galvanizing extends the service life of the system.  This entry is a fine example of two independent organizations working together to achieve an outstanding, adaptable and user friendly product.

Mining and Industrial Category

Project Name: Medupi Chimneys, North & South – Internal Flue Support Steelwork

Project Partners:

Developer / Owner:  Eskom
Project Manager:  Karrena / Concor JV
Main Contractor:  Karrena / Concor JV
Hot Dip Galvanizer:  Robor (Pty) Ltd – Galvanizers
Steelwork Fabricator:  Aveng Grinaker LTA Mechanical & Electrical DSE Fabrication
Shot Blasting:  Bulldog Projects

Project Detail

The hot dip galvanizing and zinc thermal spray of the flues contained in the two concrete chimneys at Medupi Power Station.

This submission used both hot dip galvanizing and zinc thermal spray for corrosion control.  It further illustrates how zinc can be applied even though some of the project components were too large to fit into any known hot dip galvanizing bath.  The corrosion control characteristics of zinc were appreciated  and exploited irrespective of the component size.

Community Development Category

Project Name: Zwelitsha Pedestrian Bridge

Project Partners:

Developer / Owner:  Buffalo City Municipality
Specifier / Engineer:  Vela VKE Consulting Engineer
Project Manager:  Vela VKE Consulting Engineer
Main Contractor:  Robert Brothers JV
Steel Fabricator:  Industrial Service Group
Hot Dip Galvanizer:  Robor (Pty) Ltd – Galvanizers (main structure) and Morhot (Pty) Ltd (handrailing)

Project Detail

The duplex coating of a pedestrian bridge in the Eastern Cape.

The design brief was for an inexpensive and functional bridge that would cross the Buffalo River above the 1:50 year flood level.  It was also requested that the construction method be kept simple in order to encourage smaller local contractors to tender for the construction work, ultimately uplifting the local community through job creation and skill development.

The use of hot dip galvanizing and a top paint system (duplex coating system) for corrosion control will ensure that the bridge requires minimal future maintenance.  This project shows that through well planned and innovative design, an attractive rural steel bridge can be developed at an affordable cost.

The Association would like to use this opportunity to thank the sponsors for supporting this event and to congratulate the winners of the various categories.  Thanks should also be extended to the members of the Association, without whom events such as the Awards Evening would not be possible.