SA Reserve Bank - Solution Station

PROJECTS
SA Reserve Bank
A conference centre, capable of hosting small and large conferences,
new offices and a highly necessary parking garage for staff and management
has recently added value to the South African Reserve Bank in Pretoria
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
HEAD OFFICE EXTENSIONS
Pretoria
Client
South African Reserve Bank
Architects and Principal Agent
BILD Architects
Quantity Surveyors
Davis Langdon Farrow Laing
Consulting Engineers:
Structural
Africon
Mechanical
WSP Consulting Engineers
Ubunye Engineering Services
he importance of the design,
development and physical aspects of
the recently completed South African
Reserve Bank (SARB) Head Office
Extensions project, is highlighted by the
historical background of what took place in
the vicinity in both the recent past and in
its original conceptualisation.
T
ARCHITECTS REPORT
Background
BILD Architects completed the original
Reserve Bank Head Office Building
during the late 1980’s when the practice
was known as Burg, Doherty, Bryant +
Partners (see Architect and Builder –
January 1989). The original project was
built by a JV between Murray & Roberts
and Stocks & Stocks and upon completion
was awarded with both the Institute of
Architects’ Merit Award (1987-1988) and
the SAPOA Building Merit Award (1988).
Various design permutations and
options were explored for the original
project, but ultimately the client, at the
time, favoured a single Office Tower, 150m
high accommodating one large openplan office level and a separate parking
structure (the Parking Annexe) for limited
staff and management parking. The
original project was designed to
accommodate, at some future date, four
additional Podium Office Floors.
Since the completion of the original
building and prior to commencement of
this phase the only other large scale
Electrical
CKR Consulting Engineers
Nala Consulting Engineers
Façade
Pure Consulting
BKS Consulting Engineers
Wet Services
DSB Consulting Engineers
Sintec Joint Venture
Time Managers
SiVEST
Acoustic Consultants
Pro Acoustic Consortium
Fire Consultants
Building Code Consultants
Landscape Architects
KWP Architects
Security Consultants
M2C Security Consultants
Lift Consultants
WAC Projects
Main Contractor
Rainbow/WBHO Joint Venture
Photography
Dalton Dingelstad
54 ARCHITECT & BUILDER January/February 2004
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
developments in the immediate vicinity
were the construction of the Sammy
Marks Retail, Office and Convention
Centre, together with the eventual
pedestrianisation of Church Street from
just above the Reserve Bank Block,
terminating at Church Square.
The State Theatre, diagonally behind
the SARB, almost closed down
permanently and a substantial portion
of the Municipal Offices (known as
Munitoria) burned down during the early
90’s. No significant redevelopment or
reconstruction had recently taken
place in the CBD. The Municipal offices
may in future be rebuilt on the site of
the existing building.
Following a lengthy investigation into
the feasibility of relocating, as opposed
to adding to the existing structure,
the Reserve Bank finally concluded that
the Country’s Central Bank should
remain in its present location. The
architects were, therefore, briefed to
investigate the full extent of extensions possible on the site within the
framework of existing Structural and
Town Planning restrictions.
EAST - WEST SECTION
NORTHEAST ELEVATION
Various design permutations and
options were explored for the original
project, but ultimately the client, at the
time, favoured a single Office Tower,
150m high, accommodating one large
open-plan office level and a separate
parking structure
56 ARCHITECT & BUILDER January/February 2004
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
Initial Brief
The final Brief for the project consisted of 4
components, namely:
• Additional
Open-Plan
Office
Accommodation.
• A new Conference / Banqueting Section.
• Additional covered Staff Parking.
• The Redevelopment of the Security
aspects, particularly pertaining to
separate access points for entrances to
the Conference Centre and its
associated parking areas, comprising a
lower security level within the remaining
high security zone.
The present Governor of the Reserve
Bank suggested that the architects visit the
Bank for International Settlements in Basle,
Switzerland, to gain first-hand knowledge
of the type of Conference Centre that was
envisaged by the Governors for the South
African Reserve Bank. A short trip was
conducted during December 2000 after
which the Conceptual Design commenced
in all earnest.
Brief and Final Accommodation
Schedule
The most difficult aspect of the new project
was to accommodate the provision for new
covered staff parking within the constraints
of the existing site. After numerous
investigations the architects advised the
bank that it would not be possible to
sensibly accommodate the parking on the
existing site.
The adjoining site, to the east, belongs
to the Nederduitse Hervormde Kerk and
after successful negotiations the Church
was amenable to sub-dividing a portion of
the existing land (3,300m2) for purchase by
the SARB. The said portion of the site was
totally under-utilised and provided a means
of income to the church, namely casual or
monthly open parking. This portion of the
site was sub-divided, rezoned and
consolidated with the existing site during
1999 – 2000.
The final approved Scheme accommodated the following:
• 850 Covered Staff Parking Bays,
accommodated within a purposedesigned structure over 10 Levels and
within the 25m height restriction zone.
• Additional Podium Office space of
14,000m2, accommodated as a series of
new Office Podiums over the existing
Podium 1 Office Level as well as a makeup Level within a so-called Mezzanine
Level over the existing Parking garage
Annexe Building.
• The latter then made it possible to
construct the new Conference Level over
the Podium Annexe over 2 Levels.
EAST ELEVATION
The adjoining site to the east belongs to
the Nederduitse Hervormde Kerk. After
successful negotiations the Church was
amenable to sub-dividing a portion of
the existing land
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
January/February 2004 ARCHITECT & BUILDER 57
Du Toit, Vermeulen and Prinsloo Streets. It
is directly west of the Sammy Marks
Development and diagonally opposite the
State Theatre on the one corner and the
Municipal Offices on the other corner.
Along Du Toit Street to the east the site
fronts onto the old Technikon Campus and
a new Mosque constructed recently
diagonally across the north-east corner.
The site is further surrounded by some
medium-rise office developments and
single or double storey Retail/Warehousing.
To the west, a portion of the Sammy
Marks Development was partially
demolished to make way for a 5-Star Hotel
that has, to date, not materialised.
The main pedestrian access to the
existing office tower is west from
Prinsloo Street and south from Church
Street. Existing vehicular access is via a
dedicated slip-lane parallel to Vermeulen
Street on the north, giving access to the
existing Basement Parking as well as the
new Parking garage. A peak hour exit
from the Parking garage is provided along
Du Toit Street.
New pedestrian and vehicular access to
the Conference Level is provided further
down along Church Street.
• A new Banqueting Hall accommodating
500+ people was carved out of the
existing Podium 1 Offices, adjoining
the Lower Level of the new
Conference Centre.
• A separate and re-configured pedestrian and vehicular access point was
designed along the southern edge of the
existing Building.
The Site
The new consolidated site covers an area
of 23,730 m 2 , west of Church Square,
along Church Street. It is bounded by
The existing glass curtain wall
construction was matched by the
development of a new façade system,
which looks virtually identical but has
improvements in line with current world
trends in cladding.
58 ARCHITECT & BUILDER January/February 2004
Architectural Solutions
The existing building utilises a flush-glazed
SIG glass façade and polished black
granite panels on the lift cores. The original
SIG flush-glazed units were pioneered by
PG Glass at the time and were partially
assembled abroad for shipment and final
fitting by Frederick Sage Company.
The existing glass curtain wall
construction was matched by the
development of a new façade system,
which looks virtually identical but has
improvements in line with current world
trends in cladding. The system, like it’s
predecessor, comprises pre-fabricated
units constructed from bespoke aluminium
extrusions, which are factory assembled
and glazed. The units are then transported
to site where they are “hung” from the
façade like a “curtain” from pre-installed
brackets, hence the term curtain walling.
GSA supplied the glass within the units
and Geusteyn and Horak, a specialist
contractor in the cladding industry based
in Bloemfontein, undertook the curtain
wall subcontract.
Marble Classic, utilising a newly
innovated “thin stone” fixing system
developed by the Façade Consultants,
undertook the granite stone cladding
to the podiums and to the Parkade
next door. This innovative system
enabled the use of thinner stone, smaller in
size, which was mechanically supported
back to the primary skeleton of the
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
Extensive use was made of local
granites, sandstone and marble for both
flooring and wall cladding
building utilising a system of fully
adjustable aluminium extrusions. The result
was a much easier and faster installation of
the panels as the stone panels were far
easier to handle. This resulted in a rapid
high quality end product.
The new Podium floors fan out from
the existing office tower footprint and step
back at the various levels creating
accessible external terraces in line with
the original Design Concepts. The HVAC
Plant Room for the lower tower
levels is accommodated on Levels 5 & 6
within the existing office footprint and
therefore limits the Podium Extensions
to Levels 2, 3 & 4.
The Podium Office Floors are therefore
an extension of the existing Tower footprint and as such accommodate an
extension to the existing raised access floor
for the majority of services i.e. HVAC,
Electrical, Data, Telephone.
The access floor portions within the
existing Tower Block footprint were
removed (originally a Tate access floor) and
replaced with the new generation locally
manufactured Donn access flooring
system. Very strict tolerances were required
between external curtain wall mullions,
exposed ceiling T’s and access floor plans
to accommodate the client’s existing demountable partitioning systems. The
smaller, existing staff toilet facilities within
60 ARCHITECT & BUILDER January/February 2004
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
The flooring and wall cladding were
further complemented by imported
Cherrywood joinery fittings and fixtures
the Tower Block footprint were demolished
and re-configured to accommodate
increased staff levels.
Standard office finishes consist of 600 x
600 acoustic ceiling tiles in an exposed
Donn T ceiling grid, standard 600 x 600
loose lay carpet tiles in special corporate
colours and standard Décor vinyl wallpaper.
The existing lift lobbies were left as per
the original design other than the
replacement of carpet tiles and ceiling tiles.
The polished Black Rustenburg granite
façade panels that were partially removed
to accommodate the new extensions were
re-worked and re-polished as vanity tops
to the new toilet blocks and flamed for use
in a tile application to the plinth of the
Parking garage.
The single office level over the
existing Annexe Parking Building follows
the same specification, other than a
smaller column grid designed originally to
facilitate parking. The colour scheme of
the new interiors follows the grey and
blue tones of the original as it still has to
match and accommodate existing office
screens, office furniture and other
fittings. Due to the increase in density
of the open-plan workstations, the
lighting grid and Lux levels were increased.
The client was responsible for the
design and installation of all the
office workstations.
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
January/February 2004 ARCHITECT & BUILDER 61
The Conference Centre is arranged
around a double volume main foyer
topped by a glass rooflight
Conference Centre
The new Conference Centre is situated
over the Annexe Parking Office Level,
with a direct vertical lift link to the new
ground floor entrance lobby as well as a
direct VIP entrance to the new Parking
garage Level P5. The Banqueting Hall,
seating approximately 550 people, is
adjacent to the Conference Centre at the
same level, carved out of a portion of the
existing Podium 1 Office Level. The
Banqueting Hall is serviced by its own
separate kitchen with vertical goods lift
access to the existing delivery area at
Lower Ground Floor Level.
The Conference Centre is arranged
around a double volume main foyer topped
by a glass rooflight. The main Auditorium
62 ARCHITECT & BUILDER January/February 2004
(350 capacity), the Conference Rooms and
Syndicate Rooms are grouped around from
this main foyer area.
It was a requirement from the bank that
provision had to be made for simultaneous
translation and the necessary supply of
the latest audio visual facilities to these
spaces. The Conference and Syndicate
Rooms are of varying size to accommodate
smaller or larger groups.
At the intermediate level of the
Conference Centre provision is made for
the travel desk, dedicated offices for
visiting dignitaries as well as discussion and
related work spaces. Dedicated HVAC
Plant Rooms serving the Conference and
Auditorium portions have also been slotted
into this area.
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
The Banqueting area was re-modelled
within a portion of the existing
Podium 1 Office level
The finishes to this level celebrate the
textures, colours and materials of Southern
Africa. Extensive use was made of local
granites, sandstone and marble for both
flooring and wall cladding which were
further complemented by imported
Cherrywood joinery fittings and fixtures.
Chromojet purpose-made carpets were
used for the main circulation areas ,in
corporate colours ,to further enhance the
overall colour scheme.
It is the Bank’s intention to ultimately
use this space to exhibit their extensive
Art Collection. An exciting truncated
raking conical roof light covers the lobby
area to the Conference Centre. The roof
light is constructed in structural steel
64 ARCHITECT & BUILDER January/February 2004
and clad in toughened laminated glass
supported only at its corners by cast
stainless steel “spiders”. The complexity
of the geometry of the roof light meant
that the glass cutting sizes had to be
accurately pre-determined utilising a
complex three-dimensional computer
model of the roof light. The façade consultant’s successfully undertook this task.
The finished product makes for exciting
space to mingle under whilst enjoying the
world-class conference facility.
Banqueting Area
The Banqueting area was re-modelled
within a portion of the existing Podium 1
Office level by omitting, amongst others,
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
The colour scheme of the new interiors
follows the grey and blue tones of the
original as it still had to match and
accommodate existing office screens,
office furniture and other fittings
the access flooring etc, thereby
maximising the floor-to-ceiling heights
within the structural constraints of the
existing envelope.
Externally a portion of the existing roof
slab was demolished to create an open
north facing terrace. The rest of this space
is taken up by the dedicated kitchen, bar
service areas, various store rooms and the
Conference Centre management offices.
The roofscape over the Conference area
was designed with no services clutter as
this area is visible from within the adjoining
office tower and surrounding buildings.
External break-out terraces from the
conference level face east and allow
dramatic views of the Union Buildings in the
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
distance. Similarly, the stepped terraces
leading from the Podium Office floors allow
multiple views into the heart of the city.
Parking Garage
As far as the parking garage is concerned
it was specifically designed as a multistorey car park only and as such the
column grid and the post-tensioned
concrete slab construction maximises
the structural depths in order to
accommodate as many levels as
possible within the existing 25m height
restriction zone. The parking garage
has been designed to complement the
finishes of the rest of the development
as the client was very sensitive to
January/February 2004 ARCHITECT & BUILDER 65
the construction of a utility-type parking
structure on the site. A cost-effective
solution was designed by the Façade
Consultants to enhance the glass
and polished granite feel of the
remaining elevations.
Parking levels are individually colourcoded with a dedicated lift service down
to the main staff entrance level and security
control point at ground floor adjacent to
the existing office tower footprint.
The extensive landscaping theme of the
existing development is continued along
the ground floor façades of the parking
garage as well as the garage’s interface
with the historic Church Building on its
southern façade.
The construction of the main building
was preceded by a bulk earthworks and
piling contract, completed by Africa Franki
during November 2001. Following an
intensive pre-qualification procedure the
tender for the main contract was awarded
to a Joint Venture between Rainbow and
WBHO and the site handed over during
November 2001.
PLAN: CONFERENCE ROOM,
BANQUETING & GARAGE
New Parking Garage
Annexe Level 1
Banqueting
Existing Podium 1
Office Tower
66 ARCHITECT & BUILDER January/February 2004
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
Practical completion of the last phase
was achieved during August of 2003.
It was obviously imperative that
none of the functions of the Bank
should be disrupted in any way whatsoever during the construction phase.
Ten phased or sectional completion
dates were therefore included in the
Tender Documentation. Certain functions
and Departments within the Bank
(particularly the existing lower level
tower office floors) had to be temporary
relocated during the construction
phases, some to areas within the
existing building and others to vacant office
space in adjoining buildings.
Conclusion
On the construction side it should
also be noted, that extensive security
clearance procedures were put in
place and every single person associated with the project had to be
screened for approval and clearance
long before they could physically enter
and work on the site.
Advertisers on this Project
Arup
Multi-disciplinary consulting
engineering, planning and Project
Management Practice
BILD Architects
Architects and Principal Agent
BKS Consulting Engineers
Consulting Engineers and Façade
Consultants on this project
Building Code Consultants
Fire Consultants
CKR (in a JV with Nala Consulting Engineers)
Consulting Electrical Engineers
PLAN: PODIUM CONFERENCE
ROOF & GARAGE
Davis Langdon Farrow Laing
Quantity Surveyors
DSB Consulting Engineers
Wet Services Consultants
Emergent Office Solutions
Specialists in Office furnishings
Geustyn & Horak
Manufacturers and suppliers of
aluminium doors, windows, internal
screens, flush glazing, façades etc
Hansgrohe Personalised Bathrooms
Specialists in bathroom fittings and
sanitaryware
New Parking Garage
Hulett Aluminium
Suppliers and manufacturers of
aluminium products including
Hulabond
M2C Security Consultants
Consulting Engineers
Mansonia Joinery
Specialists in joinery, shopfitters and
custom-designed furniture
Annexe Building
Modulex
Specialists in signage
Nala Consulting Engineers
(In a JV with CKR)
Consulting Electrical Engineers
Rodlin Design
Specialists in seating for conference
centres, lecture theatres etc
Pro Acoustic Consortium
Acoustic and AV System Design
Consultants
Pure Consulting
Multi-disciplinary practice – Façade
Consultants on this project
New Podium 3
SiVEST
Project & Time Managers
Ubunye Engineering Services
Consulting Mechanical Engineers
Van Dyck
Manufacturers and suppliers of a wide
range of floor coverings
Office Tower
WBHO/Rainbow Joint Venture
Main Contractor
WSP Consulting Engineers
Consulting Mechanical Engineers
SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
January/February 2004 ARCHITECT & BUILDER 67