Fort Hare’s East London campus get R56-million injection

The University of Fort Hare was extending its East London Campus, with what was hailed an “undoubtedly twenty-first century initiative”, which would focus on green building design and sustainability.

Grinaker-LTA has been awarded the R56-million building contract, and Grinaker-LTA Building Cape director Greg Bradford explained that that the new building design incorporates features to conserve energy, the use of alternative energy sources and rainwater harvesting.

To monitor the success of all the design employed to make the building sustainable and environmentally appropriate, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has been commissioned to carry out Computer Fluid Dynamic (CFD) modelling. 

“A weather station has already been installed at the site to perform ongoing monitoring of the building during and after construction. This data will then be analysed to ascertain the building’s performance relative to the theoretical model,” said Bradford.

The professional team on the project included: architects Ngonyama Okpanum Associates and Native Architecture; quantity surveyors Pulana Baxter & Associates; civil and structural engineer HSC Consulting; and electrical and mechanical engineer Carifro Consulting.

Grinaker-LTA's contract included the construction of a double volume parking area, double-storey lecture theatre blocks and a four-storey teaching block.

In order to reduce reliance on traditional electrical supply, provision has been made in the design for wind-driven turbines to supplement grid supply, said Bradford, but budget constraints prevented the implementation of the costly solution at this stage.

Another sustainable element of the building was that all rainwater collected in tanks on site would be filtered and pumped to a header tank in the roof space of the building. This would then be gravity-fed to bathrooms, kitchens and irrigation for the vertically-planted façade.

“The building is to be naturally ventilated, eliminating the need for any air-conditioning system. This is being achieved by using both solar energy and wind energy. The north façades of the building will be ventilated façades, using hollow 'trombe wall' sections. As the sun heats these sections, the rising air within will pull cooler air behind it, leading to displacement ventilation,” explained Bradford.

He further added that the roof structure also assisted the ventilation by pulling warm air up through the sections owing to its aerodynamically-designed shape, as well as a purpose-made wing structure attached above.

Cool air would be drawn into the building through a vertically planted façade on the southern side. The air would enter the specially designed pre-cast concrete ventilated access floor. Air enters the room through floor-mounted diffusers. As the air is then heated in the room and rises, it is drawn out through a continuous horizontal slot on the north façade, Bradford explained.

The designers have also specified laminated saligna for all joinery works, which is to come from renewable sources.

The flooring in the project was said to be a building industry first, and the first time that the Wintec pre-cast floor system would be used on this scale and in a multi-storey framed structure.

“This system is essentially a modular, pre-cast concrete construction system that we are using to create the ventilated access flooring, with a completely flat soffit throughout. Normally a thick reinforced concrete floor slab would be used to achieve the required span, with an expensive access flooring system on top of that, which does not permit ventilation through the floor void," noted Bradford.

The ventilated access floor system would reduce the amount of concrete used by 47%, which Bradford said, would make the building “demountable and accessible”.

“This means that at the end of the building’s life, when it is to be demolished, it can be pulled apart element by element, much of which can be used in new structures. This fits in with the 'cradle to grave' principles of sustainability that are a priority for the university in this project,” he stated.

Grinaker-LTA noted that getting to grips with the innovative, modular Wintec flooring system would be challenging. “There are about 11 000 concrete ceiling tiles and 10 000 floor tiles weighing 30 kg and 45 kg respectively, not to mention the kilometres of pre-cast primary and secondary beams,” Bradford highlighted.

These would need to be lifted, handled and placed to millimetre tolerances to deliver the final product to specification.

“The site is also located in the East London CBD [central business district], which will add to the challenges. Safety will, as always, be our top priority, and hoardings to secure the site and keep the public safe will be of the greatest importance,” emphasised Bradford.