A big thanks to the Newsletter Editor and Branch Chairperson Quinten Corner for the July 2011 Newsletter. If you are not receiving these electronically please subscribe to the eflash email notification system.
SAICE WC Branch The South African Institution of Civil Engineering Western Cape Branch
Infrastructure Report Card 2011
The 2011 SAICE Infrastructure Report Card for South Africa was officially launched in Johannesburg on the 5th April and followed up with a presentation in Cape Town on the 22nd June 2011. Sam Amod (SAICE 2006 President and Convenor of the 2011 SAICE Infrastructure Report Card) presented the Report Card as an up to date assessment of Infrastructure in South Africa.
The full report card can be downloaded from the Publications page on the SAICE National Office website.
2025: The Age of the iGeneer
On the 22nd June 2011 Justin Coetzee gave a very insightful presentation to the Western Cape Branch on the topic 2025: The Age of the iGeneer. The presentation discussed the challenges the next generation of engineers face, key charateristics of this generation and what the future of engineering could be like in 2025. The presentation attracted a great amount of interest from those who attended and was well very insightful! For those of you that missed out you can download the lecture in pdf format here.
SAICE UCT Student Chapter Visit to the Berg River Dam
Article written by Alice Chang.
On Friday, 20 May 2011, third and fourth year students from the University of Cape Town had the amazing opportunity to visit this concrete-faced, rock-fill dam, located in the upper reaches of the Berg River catchment area. The students were taken on a tour of the pump station, the intake tower and the dam outlet dam. The visit into the intake tower was interesting, especially for the more adventurous students who got a chance to trek all the way down to the bottom. The only problem was, once you got to the bottom of the tower, you had to climb 160 m back up to the top again! To round off the perfect field trip, the students were treated to a ‘picnic’ of pizza and cold beers.
The SAICE Student Chapter at UCT would like to thank Bruce (GOBA) and Wallie (DWA) for taking the time to share their extensive knowledge and experience. Thanks also to GOBA for sponsoring the refreshments and Bertrand van Zyl (DWA) for organising the permit for the visit. Finally, the UCT Student Chapter would like to thank Prof Kobus van Zyl (UCT) as it would not have been possible to organise this visit without his assistance.
Regional Awards 2011
This year three brilliant projects were entered into the Regional Awards, two in the category of Outstanding Technical Excellence and the other under Community Based:
•Controlled Demolition of the APS Cooling Towers – Technical Excellence – submitted by (Kayad) Knight Piésold;
•Buitengragt Pedestrian Bridge – Technical Excellence – submitted by VelaVKE
•Reconstruction of MR 172: Helshoogte to Boschendal – Community Based – submitted by VelaVKE
All three projects achieved high marks, with the winner in the Technical Excellence category the Buitengragt Pedestrian Bridge achieving 86,4%, with the Demolition of the APS Cooling Towers a very creditable second with 78% and the Community Based category being won by the Reconstruction of MR 172 with 80%. The adjudication sub-committee indicated that the Branch should support the entry of all three projects in the National Awards Competition.
Water Competition 2011
The schools water competition was held in the recently upgraded Liberty Promenade Mall in Mitchell’s Plain on 14 May. Vast crowds of people walking past and quite a few new schools in evidence after a lot of hard work by Quinten. On the day, the introduction by Prof Van Zyl – to whom our thanks – and Abdulla Parker and Alice Chang much in organising. We had joint winners, both from the same school, the Cape Academy of Maths, Science and Technology, with ridiculously low penalty points of 130ml each, with the third placed team, Brakenfell High, the defending champions only 10 points adrift!
Bridge Building Competition 2011
The scholar’s bridge building competition is organized and hosted by SAICE, with the aid of our kind and generous sponsors, of whom ASLA Magwebu is the main sponsor.
The competition was held at the Central Court, Canal Walk Shopping Centre on the 16 April 2011. We received 22 entries from 20 enthusiastic schools that were either out to improve on their previous performance or, to clinch the coveted title of the Western Cape regional winner of 2011. The SAICE committee lead by Andrew Clothier was once again out in full force to ensure that the competition ran smoothly, with the willing assistance from the student chapter at UCT. Some spectacular designs were conjured up by various schools, which had the judging panel very intrigued. The judges utilized all their skills to predict the outcome and hence the order of the testing and with Mick Latimer, Mayoena Guzgay and Prof. Sparks who did an outstanding job in almost getting it spot on. Parel Valei High had set the goal with an exasperating 205kg in the middle of the testing and managed to clinch the title. The schools performed as follows:
• Parel Valei – 184 pts (load = 205kg; wt = 250g) – 1st
• Brackenfell A – 175 pts (load = 195kg; wt = 248g) – 2nd
• Brackenfell B – 148 pts (load = 170kg; wt = 273g) – 3rd
Courtesy of the generous sponsorship received by various engineering firms, the top 3 teams received cash prizes and both Parel Valei and Brakenfell-A will represent the Western Cape in the National Finals, which will take place between the 31 August - 2 September 2011 in Gauteng.
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