Piling contractor Gauteng Piling has provided 118 auger cast in situ piles for the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit building project, as part of the extensive upgrade of the Midrand circuit following its acquisition by Porsche South Africa CEO Toby Venter last year.

The complete refurbishment of the Kyalami building was announced on July 24 last year with Gothic Construction appointed the main contractor for this aspect of the project. The new building is scheduled for completion this year and will house motorsport pits, conferencing and exhibition facilities, as well as new ablution and kitchen areas.

Subcontracted by construction company Gothic Construction, Gauteng Piling provided 118 piles to a depth of about 6 m for the foundations. Auger piles are deep foundation elements that are cast in place using flights of various diameters.

The process is carried out using auger drills that excavate the piling holes into the soil to pre-designed depths. After reaching the requi- red depths, the auger hole is cleaned and concrete is placed into the hole from a ready mix truck. Reinforcing steel cages are then lowered into the wet concrete.

Gauteng Piling contract manager Kobus Geyer says the company had to provide 46 piles of 450 mm diameter, 23 of 600 mm, 19 of 400 mm, 16 of 650 mm and 14 of 750 mm for the project.

The rebar steel cages inserted into the piles consequently also varied in diameter, from 250 mm to 600 mm.

Pile bearing capacities ranged between forces measuring 300 kN to 750 kN and a Williams MF8 digger and Soilmech hydraulic drilling rig were used for the piling excavations.

The architect for the building is Empo- wered Space Architects, the quantity surveyor is BTK Pretoria and the structural engineer is Lines, Smolka & Associates.

Gauteng Piling, established by Master Builders South Africa and MBA North personality Nico Maas, who is also the company’s current chairperson, will celebrate its twentieth anniversary this year. The company has since 1996 completed over 1 500 projects and is now one of the major players in the piling industry in Gauteng, with a fleet of 20 auger drilling machines, two bore rigs, two cranes, four Grundo hammers and two lateral support machines.