The Cosira Group, a South African structural steel fabricators and construction company, has been awarded the Turbine Hall Contract for the Medupi Power Station Project for Eskom, managed by Alstom. Cosira job in the massive construction project that is part of the multi-million rand contract, consists of supplying 12 000 tons of steelwork.

This is the first contract that Cosira have acquired in the power generation sector, and not only that it is also the single biggest contract awarded to the supplier so far.

Cosira is supplying the structural steel for the six units of the turbine halls. There is also a crane building and some intermediate platforms under construction and Cosira will be responsible for detailed shop drawings, fabrication, corrosion protection, installation and cladding.

“In total the turbine hall project will require 12 000 tons of structural steel, with each unit (turbine hall) having approximately 2000 tons.” says Richard De Arruda, Commercial and Risk Director, Cosira.

Cosira has purchased two 275 tonne crawler cranes for the project, in order to overcome the limited access and time constraints of the overall project.

Cosira are working to a Just-in-Time (JIT) delivery methodology on site, providing steel on-demand as the project progresses. The manufacture and fabrication process will be carried out in phases, with batches of steel erected on a JIT basis.

Alstom and end-customer Eskom have stringent safety standards that must be adhered to on site, and Cosira are confident of living up to those standards. The goal is that of Zero Harm in terms of safety, health and environmental issues.