CMA AWARDS RESULTS – BENCHMARK FOR SA

South Africa’s top precast concrete producers are equal to the world’s best; a bold statement but true. The evidence for this observation can be seen in the much anticipated results of the Concrete Manufacturers Association’s Digital Awards for Excellence 2024 Competition, which are readily to hand in the winners book.

Open to all CMA members, this year’s competition attracted 34 entries including two international projects, and such was the overall quality of the submissions that each of the competition’s 15 entry categories attracted a winner.

“It’s not often that there is a winner in all entry categories,” said CMA general manager, Henry Cockcroft. “We have always operated on the basis of only conferring awards on merit, and if none of the entries in a particular category meet a standard worthy of an award, then no award is made.”

The competition is judged on the basis of product and application excellence in two groups, Aesthetic Excellence and Engineering Excellence; there are seven categories in the former and eight in the latter. Awards certificates are presented to all category winners and the four best category winners are awarded a much coveted CMA Awards for Excellence trophy.

This year nine, as opposed to seven, Aesthetic Excellence certificates were awarded. The reason for this is there were two winners in the Cladding/Large Panels category and two in Beauty for Life category.

Similarly, eight Engineering Excellence awards were made, again because there were two winners in one of the Product Innovation categories.

“The fact that there were two winners in three of the entry categories, further serves to highlight the high standard of this year’s entries,” said Cockcroft.

The judging, which was based on video productions of all the entry projects, was an all-day affair held at the beautiful Catello di Monte Hotel in Pretoria. The judges included media specialist, Andrew Meyer, precast concrete specialist, Louis Orffer, and CSIR smart mobility expert, Dr Karien Venter.

Once the judges had finalised the category winners, the four trophy winners were chosen on the basis of the points they had accumulated in their respective categories. There was one Engineering Excellence trophy winner and three Aesthetic Excellence trophy winners.

Rocla earned the sole Engineering Excellence trophy for the supply of HDPE-lined steel-band jacking pipes which were used in the construction of a new bulk outfall sewer system in Montague Gardens, Cape Town. The pipes were designed in accordance with very strict specifications for micro-tunnelling trenchless construction, a system which has gained world-wide traction for the installation of precast concrete sewer pipes in urban areas.

Revelstone, C.E.L. Paving Products and Cape Concrete Works were the Aesthetic Excellence trophy winners.

Revelstone, which also gained three Aesthetic Excellence awards, earned a trophy for supplying pavers for an extensive landscaping makeover at Erinvale Estate Hotel and Spa, a five-star sanctuary in Somerset West  surrounded by the majestic Hottentots Holland Mountains.  Entered in the Wet Cast Stone category, the project entailed replacing clay brick paving with cast-stone cobbles.

Approximately 3 500m² of Revelstone’s 50mm Kent Cobble and its Jura Cobble edging pavers were specified by the designer. The project was far from simple and the design and actual installation work required careful planning and detailing. The paving forms an intricate web of interlinked paths, tree and fountain circles which are interspersed among the estate’s extensive indigenous gardens and Cape Dutch architecture.

C.E.L. Paving Products won two Aesthetic Excellence certificates, one of which was in the Beauty for Life category from where it earned a trophy for supplying paving blocks for the High Constantia Retail Centre in Cape Town.  The prestigious site is steeped in history and the design team wanted to ensure that the finished product harmonised with the surrounding  landscape and its past.

C.E.L.’s coarse exposed aggregate paver was used to pave all the parking areas in a double mix concrete design which incorporates a dense cement-heavy 10mm topping. Ten years on, the paving’s beautiful aesthetic has withstood normal vehicular and heavy duty traffic and looks as good today as when it was first installed.

Cape Concrete Works won a certificate and a trophy in the Cladding/Large Panel category for the cladding of the new Investec building at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront with large precast concrete panels. The building features 536 vertically installed panels in light and dark shades and in smooth and corrugated finishes.

Erected on the eastern and southern elevations, the precast concrete facades integrate seamlessly with the glazed facades on the western and northern elevations. The panels not only offer low maintenance but are designed to age gracefully, providing the building with an authentic aesthetic.

This year’s event was the CMA’s second digital competition. And as in 2022, videos were made of all entry submissions and were posted on YouTube and other social media platforms. They provided outstanding levels of focussed exposure in the lead up to the judging.

“Our digital reach at 124 600 was nothing short of epic,” said Cockcroft, “and our content interactions at 639 was a staggering 643% higher than in 2022. Our total watch time covered 21 days and 11 hours and our organic wow factor came in at 6 681, a jump of 54.8%.

“The fact that the entry videos achieved these remarkable results through our social media platforms, show that in addition to showcasing precast concrete, they contain information of real value to construction professionals. In fact the competition is more to do with gaining exceptional visibility for the multiple applications of precast concrete than winning an award. It’s about creating an informative resource for engineers, architects, property developers and other professionals, encouraging them to tap into the many advantages of precast concrete,” concluded Cockcroft.