The Carte Blanche Making a Difference Trust (MAD Trust) have embarked on a third project at the Sebokeng Regional Hospital in Gauteng, for a Children’s Emergency Facility.  

Over the past decade, the MAD Trust has raised funds and found donors to build two dedicated high-care wards at Sebokeng Hospital. The third project at the hospital was to create a first-of-a-kind Children’s Emergency Facility. This dedicated new Paediatric Emergency Unit will revolutionise the care of babies and older children.  

But building it has not been without difficulties. 

Care for community 

The site nestled tightly between Sebokeng Regional Hospital’s existing buildings will soon become a space where young lives will be saved. This new facility will provide all-round emergency care for its young patients and hope for their parents and caretakers. 

“We’re not only dealing with children. This child comes from a family, and this family is coming from a community,” says Sebokeng Regional Hospital’s Head of Paediatrics, Dr Thapelo Theletsane. “I think in the longer term, the overall health status of children in this district will be improved.” 

Project challenges 

Difficult ground conditions resulted in more costly foundations required for the development and as with many projects, keeping to the tight budget was challenging.  

Also tight, is access to site, located as it is between other buildings. Any power or water lines that needed to be cut during construction, had to have a temporary feed installed. This was to avoid causing a shortage in the operations of the surrounding hospital buildings.  

Trouble on site 

The project was originally slated for completion in July 2024, but in August, news broke about past difficulties with the so-called construction mafia.  

Brewing from late 2023, the construction mafia started making its presence felt on-site in February 2024 masquerading as business forums from the community, these organised criminal groups requested tenders from the development.  

When these were not given, the tone changed. Intimidation ensued during impromptu site visits, WhatsApp message campaigns, and threatening phone calls to the site manager and building contractor. 

This heightened tension and uncomfortable working environment came to head when Karolina Andropoulos, Patron of the MAD Trust, stopped work and pulled everyone off the site. She was concerned for the safety of the workers on site and felt that the security situation needed to be handled before proceeding. 

Working together 

Andropoulos explains that the Trust has worked with the hospital for over 10 years, and built relationships with the medical teams and community, which was key to resolving this situation. 

The Trust, together with hospital management and staff secured a protection order against the suspected leader of the Sebokeng “construction mafia” and work resumed.  

Design for healing, safety and hygiene 

Ensuring safety inside the hospital, Polyflor South Africa once again supplied top quality hygienic vinyl sheeting to the project. These are suited to the specific needs of different areas within the new paediatric emergency unit. These sustainable safety flooring solutions conform to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Guidelines and EN 13845.  

The safety vinyl flooring was supplied in a range of colours to create a vibrant space for the paediatric emergency unit.

Palettone PUR 

As with all homogeneous PUR ranges, Palettone PUR features a high quality, cross-linked polyurethane reinforcement, UV cured to provide a low-cost polish free maintenance regime for the lifetime of the flooring.  

This product was supplied in a range of colours including green, purple and orange for a vibrant space throughout most of the general ward and treatment areas, creating a more friendly environment for children 

For wet and high slip risk areas a combination of slip resistant flooring products were used to ensure safety of both staff and patients: 

Polysafe Hydro Evolve 

This safety flooring features a textured pimple emboss to improve traction and safety underfoot. It has a low slip potential, achieving 36+ on the Pendulum Wet Test. It is ideally suited for continually wet areas and was therefore used in the showers and assisted bathrooms. Supplied in Colorado, a practical grey terrazzo-pattern. 

Polysafe Verona PUR Original  

This sustainable, slip resistant safety vinyl flooring has virtually invisible slip resistant particles. Its pendulum test results are 36+ (slider 96), making it well suited to heavy traffic areas with risk of spillage. It was supplied in Rock Salt, a neutral grey tone, for the bathrooms and utility and specimen collection areas. 

Team effort 

This project is driven by a desire to move from the old hospital buildings, into the future.  

Crediting the speedy progress once back on site, Neethling says it’s a team effort. Everyone working together, from architect to quantity surveyor, engineers, building team, doctors and hospital staff, and community itself. 

The project puts in place a facility that can manage any conceivable emergency that may arise, confirms Andropoulous.  

Rising above challenging site conditions and a brush with the local construction mafia, the MAD Trust’s Sebokeng Hospital project forges ahead, to bring a much-needed medical facility to the community.  

Full thanks and acknowledgement go to https://www.dstv.com/m-net/, and https://www.polyflor.co.za/ for the information in the article. For more information on how to deal with the construction mafia, click here.