Lakeside Exxaro Building - Growthpoint Properties

The iconic new 19500m2 Lakeside office Building for Exxarro is situated opposite the Gautrain Station in Centurion, Tshwane, South Africa. The construction started during February 2017 and was completed in March 2019 with a total of 25 months by the Property Developers; Growthpoint Properties. This process has been ongoing for the past 5 years and signifies the beginning of an urban transformation along the boundary of the commercial edge of Centurion. The signature building comprises five storeys of offices atop four levels of structured basement parking with 732 parking bays.

The building is in tune with top commercial buildings in the world’s most prominent urban centres. It reflects the quality, efficient, high-performance workplaces that are becoming typical of Growthpoint’s office portfolio. As a prominent feature of the development, organic dolomite was chosen to inspire several building design elements. Its forms are subtly expressed in acoustic wall panels, bollards and other thoughtful features. The building’s innovative safe foundations are brought to life with a special glass covered manhole, which provides a view underground to a dolomitic pinnacle beneath the site’s parking area periphery. “This is just one of many ways that this singular building tells its story, creates touchpoints, and encourages users to engage with it,” says Growthpoint Development Manager, Michiel Gerber.

A major challenge in the building’s construction is the site’s dolomitic bedrock. Over 100 boreholes were drilled to create a three-dimensional model of the bedrock. High-lying dolomite pinnacles were blasted and drilled down, upper layers of soil were compacted and a 2.25m thick steel-reinforced concrete ‘raft’ foundation, complete with sensor monitoring, was laid.

Quick Facts:

  • 2.25m thick raft construction
  • Highly variable rock profile, 45m heigh difference over 3m horizontally
  • 14 200m3 dolomite blasted
  • 17 770m3 ground removed from site
  • 23 000m3 ground excavated and re-compacted into place
  • 14.5t pounder dropped from 18m, 4 600 times during compaction process
  • 13 200m3 concrete in raft alone,      (2.25m thick x 86m long x 68m wide)
  • 1 500 000kg of reinforcement steel in the raft alone
  • Temperature measured inside concrete when setting = 65oC
  • Installed a Urine Harvesting plant for green innovation points – urine is collected and used in the manufacturing of fertilizer
  • Waterless female urinal installed/introduced as pilot for commercial buildings – Reduce waiting time, more hygienic and saves water

CREDITS:

Produced by: TimeLapse SA
Directed by: Joe Louw / Jonelle Louw
DP: Joe Louw
Offline editing & grading: Jonelle Louw
Online editing & Graphics: Handmade Media - Handmade Media