CMA MEMBERS DONATE BUILDING MATERIALS TO TOWNSHIP YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CENTRE:

The YDC is being built by MaAfrika Tikkun, an NGO which cares for and nurtures vulnerable children in South Africa. The Orange Farm YDC will add a much-needed additional dimension to an existing community centre, Are Kopaneng (Let Us Come Together), which includes an early childhood development centre for children up to the age of six years and a job creation centre in an adjacent building.

The new building will be used to provide after-school support for 350 children from seven upwards and teenagers up to the age of eighteen. On-site services will include a daily meal, homework support, sports activities, recreation, life skills, arts and culture and counselling. In addition to the new building a running track, paved with concrete block pavers (CBP) supplied the CMA, will be laid around the new building.

Construction of the 1 772m² single-storey YDC began in October last year and is due for completion in May. The building will comprise a multi-media room where computer skills will be taught, a library, a sports hall, kitchen and pantries, counsellors’ accommodation and administrative offices. It will be staffed by Orange Farm residents and will include a youth coordinator, a librarian, a computer trainer and seven youth interns, all of whom have completed their NQF4 certificate in child and youth care.

In addition, eight community care workers will be based in the building. They will visit Orange Farm families on a daily basis and provide medical and psycho/social care where needed.
 
Approximately 40 000 masonry blocks are being supplied by CMA producer member, Watson Concrete, in three styles, a 190mm 6Flute Biscuit block, a Crete (Rock Face) block in 190mm and 90mm, and a grey Fairface block in 190mm and 90mm formats.

CMA director, John Cairns, says that where possible the project is being used to provide jobs and teach skills to formerly unemployed Orange Farm residents.

“For example, the masonry work is a case in point, and Watson Concrete undertook the training of 10 raw recruits on block laying technique. This was an extremely successful enterprise as the pictures which accompany this article testify. Moreover, these block layers have acquired a skill which they will now be able to sell on the open market.

“Contrary to conventional wisdom, good masonry block layers are hard to come by as block laying requires a different set of skills to brick laying. It is worth noting that CETA (Construction Education and Training Authority) approved training in masonry block laying only took root last year. The course material was specifically developed for laying modular masonry blocks and the training was developed by the CMA in collaboration with a senior block-laying instructor,” says Cairns.

Good block laying is critical at Are Kopaneng as both the internal and external wall surfaces won’t, be plastered. Besides cost savings, this makes for walls which are maintenance free and aesthetically appealing.

The Are Kopaneng YDC was designed by Harold Lipschitz of The Cook Lipschitz Partnership. The remainder of the professional team comprises: structural engineer, Erik Stern of EJ Stern and Associates; and quantity surveyor, Russell Irons of Russell Irons and Associates. All offered their services at discounted rates. The main contractors are GT Homebuild and Building Solutions SA Joint Venture.

MaAfrika Tikkun manages six other community centres countrywide including the Child and Youth Community Centre in Diepsloot, which was built in 2008 with donations of concrete blocks and other precast concrete materials from the CMA. MaAfrika Tikkun will manage the ongoing financial support needed to run Are Kopaneng which is being sourced through funds donated by the business community, various foundations, and the national lottery.
 

This wall forms part of the new youth development centre at Are Kopaneng community centre in Orange Farm. It was built with Watson Concrete’s 6Flute Biscuit blocks which provide an attractive maintenance-free finish.

Watson Concrete’s 6Flute Biscuit blocks being expertly laid in the construction of the new youth development centre at Are Kopaneng by formerly unemployed Orange Farm residents.

A site meeting during which members of the professional team are seen here with CMA director, John Cairns and Morris Mizrahi, Are Kopaneng’s project manager.  They are from left: quantity surveyor, Russell Irons of Russell Irons & Associates; Joe Tshabangu, a BEE partner with the main contractors, GT Homebuild & Building Solutions SA Joint Venture; structural engineer, Erik Stern of Erik Stern & Associates; architect Harold Lipschitz of The Cook Lipschitz Partnership; John Cairns; Morris Mizrahi; Willem Knoetze, Annette van Rensburg and Stoffel van Rensburg, all three of GT Homebuild and Building Solutions SA Joint Venture; and Menzi Kubheka of MaAfrika Tikkun.

DATE :  February, 2010
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