CMA RE-ISSUES CONCRETE BLOCK PAVING (CBP) MANUAL:
Article Date: 20 May 2009
 The Concrete Manufacturers Association (CMA) has re-published Book One of its series of concrete block paving (CBP) manuals. Aimed at landscape architects, engineers and paving contractors, the manual illustrates the versatility of segmented concrete paving as a continuous hard-wearing and aesthetically appealing surface.
The manual makes extensive use of photographs and shows examples of how concrete paving has been successfully deployed on roads, commercial projects, industrial areas, domestic paving, and used in specialised applications, such as the cladding of vertical surfaces, storm water channels, embankment protection and roof decks.
The construction of roads using CBP satisfies many Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) objectives and the manual covers this aspect in some detail.
It also includes a section entitled “Patterns in Concrete Block Paving” which illustrates the range of available paver shapes as well as depicting them in various layouts such as herringbone, stretcher bond and basket weave.
Another section compares CBP with other types of paving, especially asphalt and rigid concrete. CMA paving producer members, associate members and contractor members are all listed at the end of the manual.
Thanks primarily to research conducted by Professor Shackel in the late 1970s and early 1980s at the CSIR, South Africa is recognised as a world leader on concrete block paving, laying on average 12 000 000m˛ per annum. By comparison the figure for the USA and United Kingdom is
similar whereas Germany, the world’s largest user, lays on average 100 000 000m˛ a year.
The use of the segmental block paving can be traced as far back as 4 000 BC when it was used as surface material in Assyria. In the guise of concrete blocks its emergence is relatively recent, having first been used by the Dutch after the Second World War, when clay blocks were in short supply.
During Shackel’s tenure at the CSIR a hierarchy of block shapes was developed, and the role of bedding, jointing sands and various sub-base materials were investigated in earnest.
CMA director, John Cairns, says over the past three decades CBP has become a feature of South Africa’s towns and cities and is to be found in residential areas, malls, roads, parking areas, bus stops and domestic paving.
“It has also been successfully used for embankment walls, slope protection and erosion control. During this period further and extensive research has been carried out on the engineering characteristics and structural performance of segmental block paving,” observes Cairns.
Existing pavements which are subjected to heavy bus traffic and industrial loads have been monitored and their service life shown to be satisfactory. The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has published specifications relating to the quality of CBP and the attendant standards of construction. In addition, the Committee of Urban Transport authorities has published a catalogue of designs for segmental block pavements.
Cairns says the engineering and specification aspects of segmental block paving have been satisfactorily solved and the system has a proven performance and service record.
“However, the aesthetic use of segmental paving and the contribution it can make to improve our urban environment is only beginning to be appreciated.”
The manual is available at no charge from the CMA. Contact Pam on 011 805 6742 or via email on main.cma@gmail.com .
Date: May, 2009
Issued by: David Beer Communication Consultants
For: Concrete Manufacturers Association
Enquiries: John Cairns (011) 805 6742
David Beer (011) 478 0239 or 082 880 6726. Email: bigsky@ibi.co.za
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