Dec 19

Dec 19 Khayelitsha, Cape Town | An innovative office space

Cobute and Geoplast SA were approached by Sibabalwe Sustainable Property Solutions to take care of a commercial structure of their recent project, a two-storey office block in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. This project offered the perfect setting for integration between the precast elements manufactured by Cobute and the innovative formwork manufactured by Geoplast.

At foundation level, the Cobute precast beams were used as ring beams, with the added time and cost saving of no shuttering required, along Modulo permanent formwork for ventilated raft foundations (150 square metre).

After casting the foundation, columns were installed and poured. Both Cobute squared columns and Geoplast round columns (GEOTUB) were used, as per the Architect's plan. The Cobute square columns were used from ground beams to first and from first to second floor.

GEOPANEL, the reusable formwork system in ABS technopolymer for walls by Geoplast, was used to shutter reinforced the concrete sheer wall, for a total of 24 square meters on two floors on a stiffener wall, 9 mt high and 8 mt wide in total. Such wall was designed to give stability to the structure besides being a feature of the building. GEOPANEL was chosen for its low weight (11 kg at most), which allows easy maneuvering on site, without the use of cranes.

Lastly, the Cobute precast beams and decking were used for first and second floor for a total of 100 linear and 244 square metres.

Cobute and Geoplast SA trained the efficient workforce on site, to best use the elements for real cost and time savings. The structure made use of the innovative technologies from the foundations upward and is a living proof that our integrated systems deliver long-lasting results without stretching your budget.