In February, the Rustics Jungle Gyms team installed custom designed metal play systems at the newly renovated Engen Tugela 1-Stops, North and South bound. The Engen Tugela 1Stop operates 24/7 and is centrally located on the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban, 2km from the Tugela Toll Plaza towards Durban.
Working with Rene Brett, Director of Viridian Consulting Landscape Architects, Andre Hayward of Rustics Jungle Gyms, designed and installed a state-of-the-art play system at both service stations. The design was based on the Tarantula play system but with a few modifications to optimise the use of the space provided. According to Andre, “The design was the easy part! Installing within very tight timescales on opposite sides of a highway during the storm ravaged month of February was something else.”
“The distance between sites meant that we had to very organized at the beginning of each day. If even a bolt was left behind, it meant a round trip of 32kms to deliver it to the other site on the opposite side of the highway. Popping to town to buy another one was also not an option with Ladysmitrh being the closest at 30kms away. Luckily, this level of organisation is run of the mill for our installation teams who often work in extremely remote rural areas.
“The weather also played a major part in this installation. Torrential rain fell every afternoon at about 13:30 and flooded the whole site. The area is also prone to lightning strikes, so any sign of a storm meant the teams were pulled off site until it passed.
“Despite the challenges, we managed to complete our installation within time and budget constraints with our sense of humour intact.”
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