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Not too much of a problem for the
well-crafted experience of engineers from BCP
Engineers (Pty) Ltd. "Township and infrastructure
development is one of our specialist areas, and we
were technologically well geared for this big
operation," says BCP director Meyer Cronje. It was
also another job for Knowledge Base's Civil Designer
engineering software.
It has taken about five years, but the R50-million
project to design and construct a sewerage
reticulation and storage system for a population of
about 100 000 people in the new Palm Ridge residential
development south of Kathlehong in Gauteng is
approaching completion.
The Gauteng province department of housing is the
funding body for the development in one of the
fastest-growing parts of the country, and has
identified it as one of its current 'Focus Area'
projects.
Palm Ridge was originally nothing much more than a
squatter camp - "informal settlement", in the common
jargon. Its conversion into a formal township began in
1998, with the installation of main and collector
sewers. Phase 2 in 2001 saw the completion of house
collection and reticulation lines to 2 500 erven,
while Phase 3 has this year seen the connection of
another 7 500 erven into the expanding services
network. That leaves just over 3 000 erven still to be
connected in the course of the final Phase 4, and,
according to Cronje, that is due for completion by
June 2004.
To design and draw the matrix of sewerage reticulation
lines, BCP Engineers employed specialist design
software - specifically, Civil Designer, a suite of
fully interactive design modules and one of the most
popular software packages currently in use by civil
engineers. The modules - among them Sewer, as used by
BCP - together form an integrated data-gathering,
drawing and surface-modeling and design system.
"We had a choice of three design packages, but opted
for Civil Designer, and we're glad we did," Cronje
says. "It is a fantastic tool. It redefines your whole
thinking about hands-on design and draughting. In
mapping the routes and optimizing levels & depths of
sewerage reticulation lines, it produces detailed
reticulation layouts, longitudinal sections and
schedules of quantities. It has enabled us to cut down
on design times dramatically. In fact I would guess we
have saved at least 60% design time." |
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MEYER CRONJE
BCP's Meyer Cronje is a bit of a mixture: Free
State-born, Pretoria University honours
engineering graduate, and now, at the peak of his
civil engineering career, "loyal, dedicated and
committed to the East Rand" (his words).
And as our story shows, he and his company are
playing no small part in the forward development
of that fast-growing area.
This where his career really began, with the then
Germiston City Council. After four years there, he
moved to the firm of Bradford Conning & Partners,
forerunner of today's BCP Engineers.
An eight-handicap golfer, Meyer regards the game
as the great leveler: "One day you think you've
finally got it beaten....the next you're just a
beginner." |
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Survey+Terrain, Roads, Stormwater and Map are among
the other models in the Civil Designer package, but
for the Palm Ridge project, BCP Engineers used Sewer
exclusively.
"When you have many kilometres of pipes fanning out in
all directions, where every pipe and manhole must lie
at a specifically calculated level, Civil Designer is
a great tool for assisting your thinking and
planning," Cronje says.
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