...Build on the Best...

Oconbrick re-draws Jo'burg skyline

1 December 2010

The skyline of metropolitan Johannesburg is being constantly re-shaped  – and 15 Alice Lane Towers is one of the latest high-profile, high-rise structures where Oconbrick’s leadership in quality clay brick production is being harnessed by major developers.

More than 1 500 000 Oconbrick clay stock bricks have rolled onto the Sandton site since construction began. The first delivery was on 1 April 2009, and the last truckload from the company’s Meyerton plant unloaded on 4 November 2010. Through the 18-month construction period, priority deliveries to building contractor Tiber Bonvec regularly met deadlines

15 Alice Lane Towers has been one of Oconbrick’s many production and delivery challenges at a time when new corporate headquarters, hotels, shopping malls and business complexes have been rising above the city horizon.

Large clay stock brick orders have included 2-million bricks for ABSA Towers, the bank’s new three-block Africa corporate headquarters in central Johannesburg, and roughly the same quantity was required for construction work at The Zone commercial and shopping centre in Rosebank. Other important projects are the expansion of the Hobart Road retail centre in Bryanston, and the Station Place hotel and retail complex and Protea Place office block in Sandton.

“These are all high-profile corporate projects which carry specifications for brickwork of equally high quality,” says Oconbrick operations director Nico Kemp.

Another big order for Oconbrick has been 2,5-million bricks for a mosque, school, clinic and shopping centre in Midrand.

Although the current downturn in the building construction industry has seen a slowing demand for bricks, Oconbrick is maintaining production levels that continue to ensure “off-the-shelf” availability of stock.

“We understand that some clay brick suppliers have been forced to scale back on production, leading to some supply shortages, but Oconbrick continues to have a healthy order book,” says Kemp. “Even though we are not running at full capacity, we are well-equipped to meet all current and future demand for bricks.”

In addition to commercial and private developments projects, Oconbrick’s order books identify infrastructural projects, too – typically schools, university buildings, and other public educational facilities in the region.


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