Parliament, Monday, 13 November 2023 – The Secretary to Parliament (STP), Mr Xolile George, is pleased with the significant progress made in the repairs and upgrades to Parliament’s infrastructure damaged by the fire in 2022.
This work is carried out against the backdrop of inadequate space for optimal functioning of Parliament, including constraints relating to facilities that were not fully compliant with the National Building Regulations (NBR).
Below, Mr George outlines the work underway, the progress made to date, and what is expected in the coming months.
155 New Offices Completed in Seven Weeks
Mr George said that after the project was handed over to Parliament by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure in March 2023, work began in earnest. This was in response to the dire situation that left Members of Parliament without offices. Planning, design work and procurement were concluded for the reconfiguration of the 4th and 5th floors in the 90 Plein Street building. Construction started on 17 July 2023 and was completed on 6 September 2023. A total of 155 offices for Members of Parliament were completed within a period of seven weeks. These offices are now fully furnished, including two meeting rooms, three pause areas with kitchenettes, two reception areas, and three storerooms. Also part of the project was building 20 interpretation booths and two sign language studios to support the core business of Parliament.
We are now working with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to secure additional floors in the 90 Plein Street building and to reconfigure them for additional offices and committee rooms. This will help ensure that space is optimised and will allow the upgrade to the Old Assembly and National Assembly to provide adequate working spaces for core business. The architects working on the two buildings will also have enough room to bring innovation and green concepts into designs.
Rubble Removal and Recovery of Assets
Approximately 750 m3 of rubble was removed from the Old and New Assembly buildings. The contractor secured areas badly affected by the fire and this allowed the consultants appointed for design work access to conduct detailed assessments. Moveable assets were recovered from 382 offices and some had to be disposed of. While some items were not affected by fire, their value relative to the cost of storage and potential future use are such that they should not be kept. Auctioning or donations to charitable causes would be appropriate in this case. The heritage artifacts were carefully retrieved and safely stored off-site. Books with historical importance and heritage value have been retrieved and stored off-site. Some of them were affected by water ingress and mould and will be restored by specialists. Other assets with high book value or potential for future use are kept at an off-site storage.
Installation of a Temporary Roof
A temporary roof was installed on the sections of the Old Assembly building that were affected by the fire. This will ensure that the interior of the building is protected from elements and that work during construction can continue without disruptions.
Restoration of the Fire Burnt Buildings
The next phase of the project includes repairs and upgrades to the Old Assembly and the National Assembly buildings, which is currently in the concept and viability stage. In the initiation stage, the end-user needs were affirmed, and the professional teams were given a brief. To this effect, existing documents and concepts from recent studies were shared with them. The professional team retrieved existing plans from other sources and conducted a benchmarking exercise with other Parliaments. They prepared pre-feasibility reports which outlined their understanding of the brief and defined the scope of work, schedule of surveys and investigations, including a programme.
With regards to concept and viability, the professional team conducted detailed condition assessments on the two buildings and the extent of non-compliance with the National Building Regulations. Most services and control systems were rendered dysfunctional. Many of the mechanical and electrical assets that were not affected by fire had reached the end of their life cycle, are outdated, and require replacement.
The STP said that as the project enters the design phase, Parliament is on course to obtain all the necessary permits to ensure a balance between quick delivery and compliance with the statutory provisions that protect the country’s cultural heritage. This includes compliance with the National Heritage Resources Act. Of note, is section 27 (18) of this Act which prohibits, among other things, the altering of any heritage site without a permit issued by the responsible authority. Mr George emphasised that while preserving the heritage value of these buildings, Parliament will mainstream the cultural diversity of our democracy in the designs. He said this is a moral obligation and consistent with the preamble of the National Heritage Resources Act. “In our approach to infrastructure delivery, the past injustices of exclusion, suppression of the cultural values of others will not be repeated and the views of all stakeholders shall permeate through our design concepts,” he emphasised.
Mr George also met with the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and officials of the City of Cape Town and was pleased with the overwhelming support received in respect of the development planning application processes. The City further made its engineers available to serve on Parliament’s Gateway Review Panel, which will appraise designs and costing.
The Old Assembly
The second floor on the front wing of the Old Assembly building suffered major structural damage, including a complete collapse of the roof. This exposed the building to further damage from the elements. The recommended option for the design concept is based on like-for-like repairs to conserve the heritage value of this building. Additions that were made later to the building departed from its original design and further created non-compliance. These now need a correction with minor upgrades and additions recommended to make the building compliant and to support the core business of Parliament. The other great opportunity to be ceased is to introduce sustainability concepts without tempering with the heritage value of the building.
The National Assembly
The National Assembly suffered the greatest damage with the chamber, some committee rooms and offices completely gutted. There are various options for this building with retaining the envelope and demolishing internal structures that have been condemned showing the most viability.
The recommended approach is to retain the building facade and to achieve uniformity with the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and the Old Assembly buildings and carefully cut out sections that were gutted by fire with the necessary control of the load distribution in the process. The plan is to build a structure from within the retained envelope and introduce modern design and green building concepts, mainstream the South African cultural diversity, and ensure compliance.
Decisions on the options were based on the financial, economic, socio-cultural, technical, and environmental viability. The work is iterative at this stage and the finer details will be cemented through stakeholder engagement processes, notably approval by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA).
Other Sub-Projects
Determination of safe access routes in the fire-damaged buildings was completed and this made way for physical work on asset verification and testing of the samples by the Auditor-General. Arising from the asset verification, impairment calculations were done, and input made to the Annual Financial Statements. Work was completed on 16 May 2023.
A 3D scan of the buildings was completed, and this enabled the professional teams for the repairs and upgrade of the Old Assembly and the New Assembly. There is now a cloud-based platform to work from and share designs and data in real time. It further assists in speeding up design work and more importantly, elimination of errors.
The Way Forward
Stakeholder consultations are ongoing and there were extensive engagements with Members of Parliament through committees. A gateway review process for the design concepts will be concluded in the third week of November 2023. The key output will be finalising the permit approval process through SAHRA, which also involves multiple stakeholders. Beyond the statutory approvals, the committee responsible for oversight will approve the budgets.
The project team has put together a programme with designs scheduled to be completed by February 2024 to allow the pre-qualified contractors to price their bids. The planned completion date is 28 November 2025. The Old Assembly project team is assessing the practicality and viability of a sectional completion so that some parts of the building can be used early.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Enquiries: Moloto Mothapo