The iconic ‘twisty’ PwC Tower in Midrand, together with its slipform, received a Commendation in the buildings greater than three-storeys category at the 2017 Fulton Awards hosted by the Concrete Society of South Africa in June 2017. The PwC Tower is the 24th tallest twisted building in the world and the only twisted building in Africa.
Arup was the structural consultant responsible for achieving the twist in the tower and for designing the façade. The project was submitted by Afrisam and CHRYSO SA.
Richard Lawson, associate director at Arup and project manager on the PwC Tower said, “We are delighted to have shared in this Commendation by the Fulton Awards judging panel, and we congratulate the client Attacq Waterfall Investment Company and LYT Architecture, together with Afrisam, CHRYSO and all contractors who are involved with the project. For the Arup team, this has been a major achievement in twisted building design, and we are exceptionally proud”.
The judges’ citation highlighted that “the design solution balanced gravity loads on the corner columns and reduced the torsion on the core of the tower, making stresses on the core wall decrease by a factor of four. This meant that the structure used a 450mm core wall that is a similar thickness to what a typical straight tower of that height would have needed. By taking this approach, both time and cost efficiencies were realised resulting in better integrated and well considered design that satisfied the architectural vision of the building and space planning constraints”.
Afrisam is one of South Africa’s leading suppliers of construction materials and technical solutions, and the main concrete supplier on the PwC Tower development. CHRYSO Southern Africa formulates, manufactures, sells and distributes admixtures and additives that service the cement, readymix, precast, new construction, mining and gypsum industries.
About Arup
Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world’s most prominent projects in the built environment and across industry. From 92 offices in 40 countries our 12,000 planners, designers, engineers and consultants deliver innovative projects across the world with creativity and passion.
There are over 650 staff in Africa, of which over 200 are in South Africa. We have worked on more than 20,000 projects and developments in Africa across all sectors.
For more information, go to www.arup.com/Global_locations/South_Africa.
