Bus shelters designed and built for Durban’s Interim People Mover (IPM) strategy, have won Rebcon Engineering a Merit Award in the Product category at the 2006 Stainless Steel Awards
The client, eThekwini Municipality, decided on stainless steel as the preferred material for fabrication in lieu of other materials due to the aesthetic qualities and improved life-cycle costs of stainless steel. In addition, stainless steel is the ideal material for the corrosive coastal environment of Durban.
The bus shelters comprise a Grade 316L stainless-steel framework with a 168-mm-diameter central support post, 6 mm shaped plate fins that support either the clear polycarbonate windshields or the bus timetable, and a 60-mm-diameter and 48-mm-diameter radiused upper structure, off which purpose-machined clamping mechanisms are bracketed, which hold the 4 mm silver metallic curved Hulabond cladding and the clear Armourglam glass cladding.
A twin-seat substructure is fixed adjacent to the main structure, also fabricated in grade 316L stainless steel. All stainless steel was supplied with a No. 4 finish, and then electro-polished after fabrication. Twenty-one sets were fabricated and installed by Rebcon Engineering at various sites around the Durban central business district (CBD). A main transfer station is being fabricated at present for installation in West Street.
“The architecturally-designed structures, on a par with other international facilities, are providing the catalyst for the regeneration of the Durban CBD and beachfront districts. The structures define the IPM route, which will create a safe and efficient transfer system for business and tourist commuters from the north beaches through the CBD to Victoria market, back through the CBD and on to the south beaches. The client must be complimented on using stainless steel,” says Rebcon Engineering director Warren Butler.
Rebcon
Tel (031) 705 5851
Fax (031) 705 5855
rebcon@iafrica.co.za
