OU
AZETTE
REHM GRINAKER CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITED
Issue 18 ▪ September 2011
BY
MIKE PURCHASE
As we are already into the final months of the year we should reflect back on what we have achieved in the year, and
what can be expected going forward.
The highlight of our year will be the completion, and opening of the Bagatelle Mall on the 29 September. A year ago
when the Prime Minister visited the site and said he would be back exactly in a years time for the opening, we thought
he was dreaming! Well congratulations to the full Mall and Infrastructure site teams – you have achieved the impossible on an extremely challenging job. Thanks for the hard work, and long hours put in, none of which went unnoticed.
Of course there is still a lot work to be done over the next six months, but the major milestone was met!
In the last few months we also completed the Cascavelle Business Park, which looks very good; and Mont Piton which
was a struggle but is now handed over; and a few smaller jobs. The Ring Road is now starting to see the ‘light at the
end of the tunnel’ with the Gorge Bridge, and other structures complete. However we still have the large Nallah Bridge
and Underpass across the motorway to complete. Also on Terre Rouge we have completed most of the culverts and
are left with two bridges.
Looking ahead we are well underway at La Tourelle RES which is progressing very well on a difficult mountain site. The
SIT building at Ebene is busy with foundations and recently had a raft concrete pour of over 800m3. It will be interesting to see our new formwork decking system being used on this site. We have also started work on the Runway widening which has some difficult challenges as it is night work. The Taxiway will also commence in the coming weeks.
Added to this we have some smaller jobs such as Morcellement at Anahita and Rouillard, and another Marina Hotel
alteration.
We have started the 2012 financial year with more work than ever before, and there are still some good prospects on
both the building and civil side for next year. So as far as having work is concerned we are in a pretty strong position.
However there is a lot of competition, our margins are tight, and we are carrying out more risky types of work than
before. We are going to have to find ways to manage this risk and operate more efficiently. We hope to focus heavily
on this in the coming months.
On the safety side we have employed a new Senior Safety Manager, Thys De Beer, and have increased the size of the
safety team. We are very positive on improving on our safety, and it will happen irrespective of the costs and challenges.
Last but not least – we achieved our 20 year Anniversary in August this year. Congratulations to all of you for your part
in this achievement. There will be a special newsletter celebrating this event together with other initiatives, including
some gifts.
This year has not been easy. We have all worked much harder, and longer than normal, and the stress levels have
been high. Thank you everyone for your efforts this year……one final push as the end of the year is around the corner!
CONTENTS
Editorial
Completed contracts
Current contracts
Tendering
Health & Safety
Training
CSR
Staff Welfare
Staff News
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QUALITY ON TIME
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Quality staff
Quality work
Quality client relationships
Quality earnings
Quality workplace
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completed projects
MONT PITON
This Morcellement located on the foothills of Piton offers great views of the
North Coast and Mountain range and majestic Pieter Both behind. On
around 70 arpents of land 155 exclusive plots will for sure offer its residents a peaceful haven which makes the most of the beauty of our island
Mauritius.
That said, this was a tough contract in many ways mainly due to the hilly
topography and bad weather which made constructing stone walls, drains
and roads a real challenge. The project is now complete as we move onto
our next Morcellement not far away, Le Clos de la Forêt.
Ajay
GROS BOIS
This project is a first “orchard” style morcellement located at Gros Bois Savannah, offered by ENL under a new green concept. The first phase consisted of
parcelling land into 85 plots located around existing fruit orchards, vegetable
plantations and green spaces. To give this development a natural/ sustainable feel the roads are made up of crushed macadam grabbeaux mix and
fencing to plots shall be with betafence and hedges hence eliminating concrete walls and the like. Nowadays where sustainability should be part of our
everyday language and thoughts, this morcellement should be a very good
example for all to seek inspiration from.
Ajay
current contracts
TERRE ROUGE VERDUN
Terre Rouge Verdun Link Road works will mainly consist of the construction of a new road on
about 16 km and its junctions with existing roads.
The works will consist amongst others of the following items:
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Construction of a bridge of 11m wide over Motorway M2 for the new interchange type
diamond between Terre – Rouge and Calebasses existing junctions.
Construction of a new bridge on Calebasses River (4 lanes) at 15m wide.
Provision of various drainage structures type box – culvert which varies from
1.00mx1.00m to 2(5.00mx4.00m) and underpasses.
Provision for different types of drains types E1, E2, E3, E4, M1, M2, M3, M4, etc.
Provision of miscellaneous road equipment such as carriageway marking, traffic
signs, handrails, safety fences, road lighting at junctions, etc...
Temporary Traffic Diversions.
Our progress to date are that all our Box Culvert are 95% complete, drains are 30% complete and concerning the bridges; Calebasses
Bridge 1st abutment wall has been cast and by
the end of September the second abutment
shall be done, on M2 bridge – precast platform
are ready and piling shall start this current month. Hemraj
PAILLES BRIDGE
“Pont Rouge” by its name, this narrow bridge on Pailles Branch road, existing for
almost a century (built in 1912) has been upgraded to a wider new bridge allowing for 2-way traffic, with footpaths on both sides, drainage works, resurfacing of
road on a stretch of 470 m and displacement of existing services while diverting
the flow of traffic on a tailor-made diversion.
We would like to thank the dedicated site team being driven by Shafeek for their
excellent spirit that prevails through this project. Completion is well scheduled
Manish
for end of October 2011.
Quality client relationships
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BAGATELLE
At the time of writing, we are a mere 23 days from the widely publicised and
anticipated opening of the first truly regional shopping centre in Mauritius.
As may be expected, there is a frenzy of activity of site, extending over weekends, public holidays and late into the evenings. Though tired and worn-out,
workmen, supervisors and managers alike press on with pride towards the
much sought-after completion milestone and public opening on 29 September.
In order to achieve the desired opening, the contract was split into a number
of sectional completion milestone period/dates. The earliest being that of
the 90 day tenant fitout date (i.e. the shop must be constructed and handed
Lighting on Steelwork – Bridge over M1 Highway
over 90 days prior to opening to enable the tenants to complete their fit-out)
– these typically being the large anchor tenants; followed by a further set of
shops at 60 days – the food court; the line shops at 42 days; minor shops at 30 days; and finally, the public areas at 0 days. We can
proudly report that we have successfully handed over 131 of the 144 shops.
Our final drive is now focussed firmly on the external and
public areas, where we have been exposed to the wonderfully welcome, but utterly frustrating rain over the past 6
weeks. Whilst we expect a photo-finish, we remain confident
of a successful result.
A portion of our team will remain in site until early May 2012
to complete a substantial extension to the Mall [Block 10].
Hotel and Lambic House
In close proximity to the Mall, we are constructing a three
storey, 110+ key hotel targeting the business traveller segment of the market. The structure has topped out and will
be completed shortly, with the wet trades now well progressed and the finishing trades to commence in full earnest following the preparation of the “mock-up” room. This component of the Project is scheduled to be completed by end of February
next year.
A further exciting element of the project is the construction of a micro-brewery. Here, due to unforeseen events, its commencement was
delayed and will now be completed by end of March 2012.
Anton
AIRPORT JOBS
Runway Overlay and new Parallel Taxiway are two projects undertaken by JV Colas/RG with a total contract value of more that Rs3 billion.
The Runway Project involves – widening and extension of the existing runway, changing the airfield ground lighting system, drainage
works and asphalt works. Most activities for the Runway project are done at night. The shift starts at 11:55 pm when the last aircraft
take off from the runway and ends at 6:30 am so that aircrafts can land as from 7:00 am. The challenge is to upgrade the runway which
is operational by working at night. The runway must be handed over every morning in an operational mode, ie all lights must be functional, all underground works started must be completed presenting no hazards to the planes and; asphalt and concrete works effected
at night must be able to take aircraft movement.
The New Parallel Taxiway project involves – backfilling 1,700,000 m3 of suitable soil, Airfield Ground Lighting system, drainage and
asphalt works. This project shall be carried out during the day and the parallel taxiway will be eventually linked to the widened and extended runway. Yash
Quality staff
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AKASHA BRIDGE
The project was awarded in April 2011 and we had three weeks of
initial delays to proceed with the river diversion. The works consist of
21,000m3 of imported engineering filling works to make the access
road from the Black River ‘A3’ road, a reinforced concrete bridge with
double span of 13m with abutment/ wing walls, precast beams and
slabs. The pile foundations have been built onto ‘driven cast-in-situ’
piles done by Franki. The difficult part was during construction of the
pile bases which were cast below the water level, meaning that we
had to continuously pump the water out to provide for a dry working
area at all times. The slab to the bridge has now been completed and we are expecting completion of the backfilling works against the bridge walls by end of September 2011.
Patrick Beauharnais and Keerpah with the rest of the site team are making this small job a great
one.
Ashvin
MCFI
The MCFI Granulation plant is a Rs9 million civil work for our shareholders, MCFI.
The job consists of building new raft foundations with numerous raised bases,
including pockets at precise positions and heights, at oblique angles so that the
different equipment can be fixed in position at a later stage. The different bases
are for coating machine, dryers, granulator, ID fans, chimneys, boilers, blast furnaces, cooling machines, bucket elevators and sieving machines. We also had to
build circulating pools, spray chambers, dust chambers and a control room. The
works started on the 1 July 2011 and were completed on the 15 September
2011. A special thank to the team that have put in extra hours to get the job completed on time.
Dinesh
LA TOURELLE
We are already eight months into the contract and have successfully completed the bulk earthworks, which was really difficult. We had some 29,000m3 of cut to do along the foot of the La
Tourelle mountain and had the risks of rolling stones as well as slope stability. The agreed methodology for doing the earthworks has been followed systematically, like maintaining an earth berm
to catch any falling rocks, having the excavators to work at all times in a disciplined manner and
following the right sequence. The earthworks were particularly difficult because of the existing
houses downhill (just some metres away from the site) and we couldn’t allow taking chances.
The original contract is for four blocks and the public areas (technical areas, main swimming pool
and common areas). We have recently been awarded to do one additional
block and the Client intends to award the last block, where we are currently
doing the piling works, by end of September 2011.
Finishing works have started already and the interior of the first apartment
block will be ready by end of September 2011.
The whole of the apartment blocks has a magnificent view onto the west
coast of Black River.
Ashvin
CASCAVELLE BUSINESS PARK
We have achieved the Practical Completion on 30 August 2011 after
2-3 final hectic months and working long hours. All the 7 building
blocks have been handed over and some of the tenants have already
started their fit out works. At the moment we are busy completing the
roadworks, snagging and some variations. A big bravo for the team
led by Ali Emrith, Lodewyk Fourie, Nicol Arlanda, Jean Marc Lefort,
Micheal D’Avrincourt and to all of them which made this happen.
Lets hope the happy Client comes back to us for others such business parks!”
Quality client relationships
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PORT LOUIS RING ROAD PHASE I
A high profile national project Port Louis Ring Road (phase 1 JV) From
Montebello to Guibies, comprises of about 8 km of dual carriageway ,
underpass, bridges, culverts and heavy drainage works on a rolling and
hilly terrain. The completion date is currently scheduled for December
2012 .
Big Thanks to the dedicated site team being driven by Tawfick for their
excellent team spirit that prevails on this very challenging job to
achieve RG set objectives.
SIT
The job started in June 2011 and will take 22 months to complete. The job consists of construction of a double basement of 8,800m2, a
university block (ground to fourth floor) of 5,500m2, an SIT block (ground floor to thirteenth floor) of 14,000m2, a lecture theatre block
(double volume ground floor and single volume first floor) of 1,250m2, including all M&E installations, drainage, site and landscaping
works. We have started the casting of the raft foundations with concrete pours ranging from 400 to 900m3 per day. These big pours
need special arrangements that are now already well in place. We have invested in some new formwork systems for the slabs, namely
the Sta-Flex system from Preform, which is much lighter and less congested than the normal quick-stage currently used over the island.
We are also using the multiform system for the walls, instead of normal EF panels.
We want to make this building different to how we usually do – we have already given lots of thoughts to the following:
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new systems of work,
we are considering piecework for the various activities,
cost control system in place,
disciplined sequencing of works to achieve well-established targets,
Have the right structure in place
We hope that this will be a marvellous job and that we can rely on the site team who is already well motivated to achieve our expectations.
Ashvin
tendering news
We have recently been awarded another morcellement, Le Clos de La Foret which is next to La Foret Daruty on the Forbach Goodlands
Roads. This project is the first of a series of phases along the green forest.
We have also been awarded some refurbishment works around the pool and common areas at Marina Village Hotel.
On the tendering side, as usual, we are pricing quite a few civil and building projects. Hopefully we will win some to keep all of us out of
Ajay
mischief for the coming year !
Quality staff
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health and safety
I am sure by now everyone knows we have embarked on a new road with regards to managing safety. Although we haven’t had a fatality
or extremely serious injury for the past couple of years, that doesn’t mean we manage safety well.
Rehm-Grinaker‘s safety statistics are currently the worst in the Aveng Group. We have had 155 injuries in the last financial year of which
9 were Lost Time Injuries. We cannot continue along this road and must find ways to prevent our employees and contractors from getting injured.
To strengthen the safety department we have appointed a Senior Safety Manager, a Safety Clerk and four Trainee Safety Officers to help
with the implementation of a streamlined Safety Management System. Along with that various new system procedures, standards, rules
and forms will progressively be implemented to improve our safety management system. On-the-job training is of utmost importance and
we are using the help of a very experienced Safety Manager from South Africa to do training on-site.
Please everyone, safety must become our way of life just the same way as getting dressed every morning. We don’t think about getting
dressed every day, we know we must get dressed before going to work so we just do it. Our attitude towards safety requires being the
same. It MUST become a habit to work safely according to our procedures, standards and rules without compromise. It is everyone’s
responsibilities to care for his/her own safety as well as that of his/her colleagues.
Please be ensured of Management’s commitment to the prevention of all accidents and incidents and do not hesitate to report any near
miss, incident and accident to your supervisor or the safety department.
Let’s really live up to our safety slogan of “Home Without Harm, Everyone
Every Day”.
Thys
training
David Miles from Grinaker-LTA will be
working here for six months, training
our employees on all aspects of
Health and Safety.
We have conducted training for our
employees in scaffolding as from
19t July 2011 and up to now some
94 participants benefitted from it .
corporate social responsibility
On 15 June 2011, we donated the following amount to recipients of
our CSR projects :
Muscular Dystrophy
Gurburrun Trust Fund
SSR Disability centre
S.O.S Children Centre
Caritas
Ecole Fatima
Ti Diams
Cite La Cure Govt School
Roche Bois Govt School
Quality client relationships
100 000.00
58 000.00
100 000.00
100 000.00
58 000.00
100 000.00
100 000.00
25 000.00
25 000.00
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staff welfare activities
RG FAMILY DAY AT CASELA
RG was set up in 1991.
To celebrate our 20th anniversary, Management is inviting all our staff to
the RG Family Day at Casela Nature and Leisure Park on Saturday 29th
October 2011.
In order to make this day a memorable one for staff and their family, the
following activities are planned
Visit of the Park
Mini safari
Observation of lions/ cheetahs/ tigers
Tilapia fishing
Musical entertainment.
Refreshments and meals will be provided.
Come and join us for a cool day in the relaxing environment of Casela.
SIX A SIDE FOOT BALL TOURNAMENT
Our first Six a side football tournament for Year 2011 was held on the 16th
April ,some twelve teams from different departments and sites participated ,
It was really a great fun day, luckily no injury was reported ,fair play was observed
throughout. The Bagatelle team being the most regular team won the tournament.
Our next tournament is tentatively schedule for October .
PERE LAVAL PILGRIMAGE
We participated in the annual Pere Laval Pilgrimage on Thursday, 8
September 2011. Food and drinks were served to pilgrims who came
from long distance to attend the function.
profile
GEORGES LAVAL CHARLOT
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Born on 8 September 1953. Named after St Georges & Jacques Desire Laval.
Joined Longtill on 1 January 1972. Transferred to RG on 7 July 1991. Most senior
employee with regard to length of service— 38 years. Is presently employed as GF.
Married to Danielle, father of Dario, Manuella and Vanessa. Grandfather of Megane
and Mathis.
Socially very active. Enjoys serving and supporting people. Wanted to study medicine.
Ended up in construction as he loves the structures of places of worship and enjoys
‘putting a roof’ over people’s head.
Has seen it all. In the early days of construction: Scaffolding made of eucalyptus
poles, compaction performed with iron rods, bending of steel by means of a ½” galvanized pipe, formwork with planks, use of coral sand etc.
His views on training- long time back, artisans more skilled, as they were trained on
the job through ‘apprenticeship training’.
RG must persevere in investing in training of its employees
His personal plan for the future- after retirement, Laval plans to be actively involved
in coaching young persons willing to join the construction sector. He will not forget
‘life skills’
Quality staff
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new employees
We are pleased to welcome the following employees to the
RG family
Navish Boodhram, Trainee QS, 7 February
Selven Goinden, Technical Officer, 7 February
Arshad Jussub, Site Manager, 14 March
Prakash Runjeet, Senior Site Engineer, 17 March
David Philippe, Assistant QS, 1 April
Giovanni Mustapha, Section Foreman, 1 May
Roger Charlot, Section Foreman, 10 May
Anousha Saiboo, Trainee Engineer, 23 May
Nitish Ramsamujh, Assistant QS, 1 June
Steven Berthelot, Assistant Surveyor, 1 June
Talayven Moonesawmy, Section Foreman, 6 June
Nikhil Gunnoo, Safety Clerk, 1 July
Thys de Beer, Senior Safety Manager, 1 July 2011
Baseer Dhurowa, Quantity Surveyor, 13 July
Denis Moothen, Section Foreman, 14 July
Roneesh Hurbissoon, Assistant QS, 18 July
Mehdi Peerboccas, Assistant QS, 18 July
Oliver Latchman, Assistant Draughtsman, 18 July
Divesh Ramdonee, Trainee Engineer, 1 August
Mandil Poliah, Trainee Engineer, 8 August
Bernard Legris, Section Foreman, 8 August
Jean Bruno Brune, Section Foreman, 8 August
Andy Goder, General Foreman, 8 August
Pascal Rezannah, Assistant Surveyor, 15 August
Rodish Seewoogolam, General Foreman, 15 August
Rakesh Bheecah, Assistant Surveyor, 15 August
Kunaldeo Krishto, Assistant Surveyor, 16 August
Pravind Balaghee, Assistant QS, 22 August
Yusoof Maudarbocus, Senior Site Manager, 22 August
Vanita Iyavoo, Trainee Safety Clerk, 22 August
Hemlesh Jokhoo, Trainee Safety Officer, 22 August
Majula Tanakoor, Trainee Safety Clerk, 22 August
Nausad Deelawor, Foreman, 22 August
Vintish Ramessur, Trainee Safety Officer, 29 August
Vincent Yeung, Trainee Engineer, 30 August
Davisen Chinapiel, Trainee Safety Officer, 5 September
Ravindranath Daby, Section Foreman, 5 September
Aumrajsingh Sookun, Site Manager, 19 September
Kisnamurti Kunniah, General Foreman, 5 September
new canteen at HO
The idea of a RG Canteen trotted around in our heads a
long time……....and I must say that the boost was slow to
come.
But finally a Chef in the person of Girish appeared as if
by magic and here we are in our canteen which without
doubt serves 5 star lunches.
Moreover, the canteen offers a much welcome venue to
let our hair down and mingle with other HO colleagues
over a relaxed lunch.
Any proposal will be welcomed, Thanking everyone who
supports this ongoing project.
Jacqueline
weddings
births
Congratulations
Amresh and Bhartee Putty
Vincent and Stephanee Andre
Deenesh and Lutchmee Ragnath
Mahfooz and Begum Lallmahomed
Sanjane and Louis Jackson
Raginee and Kevin Ghoorahoo
11 December 2010
20 May 2011
29 May 2011
1 July 2011
15 August 2011
4 September 2011
Congratulations
Nishal and Aruna, a baby
girl, Jaanvi, born 1 March
2011
congratulations
To Hemraj Mungur and Vincent
Andre for having successfully
completed their BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying from the
College of Estate Management
in United Kingdom.
Quality client relationships
Thatiah Rajess – Foreman was awarded a ‘
Safety Performance Recognition Certificate
Award’ for his initiative and leadership in
providing a safe and healthy working place.
The certificate was awarded by Site Management on Bagatelle.