Brown Engineering Group’s presence can currently be seen in multiple projects across Harare’s commercial and industrial sites and the outlying regions – particularly in Victoria
Falls. They are one of the leaders in the design, construction, and installation of steel structures across the country focusing on commercial, retail and bespoke manufacturing. They not only provide the most comprehensive and efficient services; they also have the most competitive prices for any steel work. Their many projects include warehouses, factories, wholesale and retail outlets and even school facilities.
Brown Engineering Group was founded in 1976 and from fairly humble beginnings has grown to become one of the foremost engineering companies in Zimbabwe and the Southern African region. Regional projects include Ethiopia and Tanzania as well as Malawi, Mozambique, Angola and Zambia. They are still based at their original premises in Southerton where they have extensive workshops and manufacturing facilities. The founder was Strath Brown who named the company J S Brown Industries – mainly focused on agricultural products largely for the tobacco industry. In 1986 Andrew Brown took over the reins from his father and diversified their products and services to include broader agricultural facilities– tobacco curing barns, tobacco handling, heating and grading systems, baling presses and boxes, farm sheds and trailers.
They also moved into the mining and construction industries as well as pipe and tank projects and materials handling. Their projects range from smaller concerns to huge developments. There is nothing that Brown Engineering Group can’t handle. One of their recent projects, featured in Structure and Design, (issue 66) was to supply the steel work for the Gwebi River bridge and the new Dulux Paints warehouse in Southerton (issue 69). They’re currently very busy with various construction projects in Victoria Falls as well as the 2.4 km pipeline for the Nyangani Renewable Energy project in the Eastern Highlands. Among many other prestigious accomplishments, they contributed the steel work for the bridge at the Palm River Hotel in Victoria Falls.
A recent project in Harare is the new Electrosales Hardware outlet in Pomona. The new warehouse is almost a mirror of the existing original outlet structure next to it and has been sympathetically designed and built to make the two buildings complement each other. The new structure was designed by a local architectural firm and built in conjunction with Brown Engineering Group and Kalamain Construction who worked closely together for the final product. Although the two buildings are fully detached it’s obvious that they create an integrated whole. The two structures are similar in size and volume with the same charcoal grey Chromadek cladding (called dark dolphin) on the roof and the walls, as well as similar red brick facades, which help to create a unified aesthetic.
Working with the architect and with Kalamain Construction, Brown Engineering Group has created a very impressive new outlet for Electrosales. The new building focuses more on construction hardware like doors and doorframes, window frames, structural timber, PVC piping, and bulk cement orders. It’s orientated to take care of building contractors with bigger orders but can also accommodate home DIY enthusiasts who only need smaller quantities. In order to accommodate bigger trucks for delivery and dispatch there are four 6m x 6m roller shutter doors for easy access. Brown Engineering Group worked with our team of engineers as well as, among others, the Engineer Derick Kambarami (from Infradesign, multidisciplinary engineering consultants) to come up with the final design specifications. According to Shepherd Tshalibe, site manager for Brown Engineering Group, “Planning took a couple of months, but due to the best brains in the industry, it was easier to coordinate and meet client requirements.”
It was a very complex project with the main warehouse roof being 42 x 42 metres at a height of around 12.5 meters. In addition, there are exterior canopies on all four sides that extend about six meters from the main structure. The two structures make Electrosales one of the biggest hardware outlets in Zimbabwe. The roof trusses were manufactured at Brown Engineering Group’s workshop and then transported to site on 30 tonne trucks and assembled using their in-house crane to lift up the trusses and fix the Chromadek roof and cladding. The trusses are triangular lattice structures to help create the desired roof pitch. While the girders are extremely strong they needed four, slim internal pillars for support.
Leaving out the internal pillars would have changed the design dramatically and been much less cost effective. The current design is value orientated and provides considerable savings. The roof has no skylights for natural lighting, as per the architect’s specifications, which means that the internal lighting – colour and brightness – is consistent and carefully controlled at all times. The structure was fitted to concrete stubcolumns generated by Kalamain Construction during the manufacturing of the main slab. The construction and finishing of the floor slab was done by Kalamain after the roof was put in place. Brown Engineering Group’s mission is “To achieve and sustain a DIFOT (Delivery in Full On Time) Key Performance Indicator in excess of 95%.” They have certainly achieved this, and more, at the Pomona Electrosales new outlet.
