Articles

Eskom to push ahead with maintenance despite load-shedding

What is a Contractors All Risk Insurance policy? Contractor’s All Risk Insurance is a policy which insures the principal/employer and covers the contract works undertaken by the contractor and sub contractors. CivilSure offers 2 types of Contractor’s All Risk Insurance policies: 1. Contractors All Risk Once Off This Contractor’s Insurance …

The NHBRC CAN Send You to Jail. If you are in the home building industry then this is a must read. Here are some important things you and housing consumers should take into consideration regarding the NHBRC and how it will affect your home building process. The National Home Builders …

New Electric Fence Legislation Sends Shock Waves throughout South Africa Penny Swift, 23 June, 2013 When the regulations regarding an electric fence were changed in 2011, nobody paid much attention. But now that the authorities are enforcing the regulations, people are totally shocked and all fired up. Yesterday a homeowner …

    By PENNY SWIFT The City of Cape Town recently ordered builders to halt construction of a Gordon’s Bay house because the project did not comply with the National Building Regulations (NBR). In fact work has been stopped several times, and only after repeated complaints over a period of …

Councils Must be Ruthless with Restricting Occupation of Unsafe Buildings I think it must be terrifying to be woken at 04:00 in the morning by a thunderclap that makes the whole building shudder. Then, in a confused state, you realise your bed’s still shaking and, no, it wasn’t thunder, it …

City of Cape Town Planning Departments Now Accept Plans On a Memory Stick After at least two years of development the City of Cape Town has implemented and introduced its new DAMS  (Development Application Management System). This new Development Application Management System allows all new development applications to be made and processed …

Engineers Design Buildings for a Purpose Engineers around the world will design a structure based on the brief given to them by a developer. The basis for any good design is to have a structure that is “fit for the purpose” for which it is intended. Most international building codes, …

Is Flood Damage an “Act of God” or a Result of Bad Planning and Shoddy Construction? By Penny Swift, November 16,2013 As much of the greater Cape Town area and other parts of the Western Cape are still reeling after a night of flash flooding and continued rain, thousands of people …

Rapid Urban Decay in Jozi Blamed on Illegal Building The City of Johannesburg has lost control of town-planning infringements, according to an article published in The Star newspaper at the beginning of February 2013. It seems they simply can’t stop them from happening. The Accusations In the article, Ros Greeff, …

Dozens of Residents Die When Building Collapses January 20, 2012: A badly maintained apartment block which was home to some 50 people, collapsed like a pack of cards in Beirut this week, killing at least 25 people. A teenage girl and her grandmother, an elderly man (73), and several labourers …