Gas & Biofuel Sleeving

The Rolkon team recently completed a tough drill in KameelRivier, in the Mpumalanga Province for Shingirayi Civils.

Forming part of the installation of the Kuilin Pipeline water-main sleeves, the Rolkon team drilled and pulled through a 630-diameter HDPE pipeline. With extremely rocky conditions the project was a challenge right from the pilot drill and required a steady hand and focused teamwork. At the end of the day, and despite a slow reaming process, the project was successfully delivered to a very happy client.

The pipe welding was undertaken by Velocity Construction and the pipe was supplied by Rho-Tech.

Another Successful Pipe Cracking project completed by our team for BLOC.

The project was to replace the 110 diameter sewer line with a 160 diameter sewer line at the AECI plant.  The road could not be cut as it carries a lot of truck traffic and services and there could be no weakening’s placed on it so drilling was the obvious and best solution. The drill was 16 meters in length and was conducted with no impact on traffic or the surrounding area. The client was very satisfied with the team’s quick and efficient delivery, and Rolkon once again delivered another successful site.

For this job for Netronix on the N3 at Lynfield Park, Rolkon had to undertake a site survey and prepare the drill plans for what was estimated to be a 73m crossing for a CCTV installation. The extent of the drill and the cover needed resulted in this being a complicated drill that was compounded by the extensive rock on site, as well as the shorter ramp crossing of 31 meters.

Despite these challenges, this 5 day project was delivered on time, with the geological conditions adding an extra layer to the drill team’s experience.

Rolkon was back for the final installation on this three phase project for Icon Construction in Efaye.

During this final 5-day project, the team installed 2 x 450 diameter sleeves with a 200-diameter water main. Once again the drilling was on point and accurate, and we delivered the project on time and on budget. Most importantly, our client was extremely satisfied with the project and our service in general. This is a critical pillar of the Rolkon ethos as we strive to foster long-term, solution-orientated relationships with all our clients.

The bulk water supply scheme location on Msunduzi river, an undulating area that brought some difficulties to the project. Rolkon was appointed by Afriscan Construction to install both a 450 and 630-diameter water main sleeve across a provincial road running through the peri-urban area of Nkanyezini.

The drill was closely monitored by both the client and project engineer Escongweni BPH Engineers who were delighted by the accurate drilling and delivery of the service. The project was delivered under budget and within the planned period of 5 days.

As a well-respected construction company, Afriscan has strict safety and environmental protocols which Rolkon was able to meet, being a company with Gate 2 Occupational Health and Safety registration.

In this classic pipe cracking job, Rolkon used the Vermeer D9 drilling rig to help solve a clients’ long-time stormwater run-off issue.

At a residential property in Berea, Durban the team drilled though an existing pipe that went under a building and foundations. We carefully positioned the rig in the owners yard to avoid damaging the driveway, walkway and buildings and to ensure limited impact on the manicured gardens. After a careful and successful piloting, a quick and easy pipe crack and pull back process followed.

Great feedback from the client on trenchless technology and all round praise for the Rolkon team made this classic pipe cracking job a great day out.

Whilst this project was not the most difficult we have had to do, it had a few interesting quirks and was certainly a drill with a view. Our client was 123 Net and the project was a fiber connection installation in Umhlanga Rocks.

The drill rig had to be neatly positioned between a shoe shop and a restaurant and the drill took place under the busy Lagoon Drive that runs outside the new Oceans Mall and The Pearls. With such a densely packed area, there are a number of services located at between 0.9 and 1.2 meters below road level which meant careful drilling because damaging anything in the area would impact the whole of the Umhlanga Village. The drill had to happen quickly to ensure minimal impact on business, traffic and the urban environment, and the team achieved this with no fuss.

This project proved to be one of the more difficult we have had to undertake with real lessons learned in this sewer installation in Van der Bijl Park.

With site constraints, a lack of technical information, hard geotechnical conditions and heavy rain, the Rolkon team found themselves having to tough it out to deliver a project to our client BLOC Contractors that we are all very proud of. The first drill was under a road and went relatively well and the 30m pipe was quickly installed.

The second drill was under a culvert which for most of the way went through ferricrete, a hard, erosion-resistant layer of rock cemented by iron oxides. This material was not kind to the drill rigs and our rods, drill heads and reamers really took strain with a number of them breaking mid-drill. Whilst it seemed as if we would never succeed we eventually got the pilot through, reamed and pulled the 60m pipe.

What was supposed to be a 5-day job ended up being a 20-day job which reminded us that whilst not every job goes perfectly we must always deliver and stick to our promise of leaving no site unresolved.

The Rolkon team experienced new terrain on this project with a dune drill in Amanzimtoti.

This project at the Amanzimtoti Pipeline Aquatic Centre was very environmentally sensitive and the team had to drill under the dunes which were covered by indigenous mangrove-type vegetation.

Working for MOT Construction on a project for Liquid Fibre, we had to install 4 x 160 diameter ducts for fibre coming in from Mauritius. The project was on a tight schedule as the completion of the landside works had to align with the arrival of the ship.

This time and the environmentally sensitive project was another major success for the Rolkon team.

In what is Rolkon’s biggest project done to date, the team faced some severe space constraints and a 17m grade drop over the length of this drill in an upmarket suburb in Morningside Durban.

Working for BLOC, who was contracted by the eThekwini Storm Water department, the horizontal directional drill for this project served to implement a stormwater network that links all the properties along the main storm water bulk line in Innes Road.

The pilot drill was approximately 104m starting from the properties at the top of the hill and following the grade down a 17m fall over the length of the drill. With no line of sight, master driller Hendrik Nortje had to rely on the instrumentation and expertise of his locator as the team navigated under outbuildings, pool houses, tennis courts and foundations of retaining walls.

The reaming process was very slow as approximately 130 cubes of mud had to be removed from the base pit using a TLB, tipper and specialised fluid truck with a suction pump. Both the entry and exit points were carefully constructed by BLOC using a sheet file methodology to ensure maximum safety for the Rolkon team. RhoTech supplied 90m of pipe which they welded on-site using the butt-welding methodology. A 2-step reducer was specially made for this process to ensure the best quality welding for the job. In addition, a 315mm pipe puller, specially engineered by Nicky from New Vision Engineering, was purchased for this job.

The successful delivery of this multi-faceted project was made possible by the knowledge, experience and expertise shared by BLOC and our Rolkon team.

In what was a very technical and difficult job, the Rolkon team led by our newly accredited driller Solly installed an electrical duct into the basement of a building in Dr Pixley Kaseme Street in the Durban City Centre. Despite all the building rubble in the confined space on the building, Solly managed to pilot the drill from the ground floor into the basement, weld the 160mm diameter pipe and pull in the new sleeve.

Thanks to the skilled planning done by our assistant project manager Sthe, the calm demeanor of our driller Solly, and the technique that is horizontal drilling, this project is a demonstration of how Rolkon is able to take up the challenge of difficult projects and deliver – no matter the site.

Thank you team!

In the second phase of this project for Icon Construction the Rolkon team installed 1 x 450mm, 2 x 400mm and 1 x 200mm diameter water main sleeves.

Rocky conditions and the crossing of a busy highway made no difference to the efficiency of the delivery and in our client’s words “there was no fuss, no excuses, the project just happened.” The total length of the ducts was 60 meters and the installation included a 72m product pipe with stub and flanges.

Rolkon has made its trenchless drilling debut in Cape Town with a contract for the Azile Group to pull new fibre ducting for a new fibre network in Gugulethu and Kayalitsha. The project entails pulling between 100 and 200m of 110mm fibre ducting per week, and so far it has gone off without a hitch, with our team delivering beyond expectations.

Slowly and steady, week by week, we can now proudly say that Rolkon is a National team!

In another great project delivered by the Rolkon team for Icon Construction the team had to install 4 x 450mm and 1 x 315mm watermain sleeves in Efaye near Wartburg.

The ducts were 60 meters in total length with a product pipe of 72 meters by 250mm including stub and flanges. This project was delivered as per our client’s expectations in rocky conditions, and in the client’s words “there was no fuss on this job, the project just happened.”

The Rolkon team faced a relatively tough drilling environment with varying geotechnical conditions coming into play as they drilled from soil to rock.

Undertaking the drill for Mdima Civils the project entailed the installation of 630mm water main sleeves for a new water main pipeline in Mandini. The 2 pipes of 18m each were installed over 5 days with some time taken drilling through the rockier parts of the dig.

The Rolkon team spent the better part of this drill pounding through the rock-hard surface of the ground in order to find soil conditions conducive to pulling duts for the traffic signals outside Midway Mall in Newlands.

The drill was a first for our new client the eThekweni Transport Authority (ETA) and although the drill took longer thanks expected, all the crossings were completed as planned.

The length of the drill was 75m, with 2 x 110mm ducts pulled to ensure the effective function of the new traffic signals.

It definitely felt like winter on a recent job in Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape where the team installed a 40m water main for client Kara SA who is working on a project to make water more accessible for the local community.

The 450mm pipe was installed under the main highway running through the town, but using trenchless technology there was no disruption to the traffic. A relatively straightforward job, the biggest challenge was the sub-zero overnight temperatures and the hard, compact soil conditions.

It was a tough project for the Rolkon team in Empuluzi near the Swaziland border. Working for BLOC Contractors this project involved the installation of several water main sleeves in a number of different locations.

The pipes were all different lengths and they had to be installed at different depths based on the surrounding landscape.

Site conditions ranged from hard and dry to soft and muddy and as the rain and snow of the weekend drew in, the job had to be put the job on hold. But the team returned to site to finish the installation adding another successful project to their list of experiences.