Expertise

Vela VKE has extensive experience in pavements  and materials, geotechnical services and construction supervision. These services are backed by a total of 137 staff members represented in seven cities across South Africa, including Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth and Rustenburg. Technical support is also provided to our associated companies in Southern Africa, including Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia.

Vela VKE’s capability extends from initial materials surveys through detailed pavement designs and materials utilization proposals to final construction monitoring and acceptance testing. The latest technology and techniques are always applied within an integrated and holistic approach towards projects.

Vela VKE also owns its own laboratory, namely Soillab (Pty) Ltd, which allows for a complete site investigation and geotechnical testing service.

Detailed  Capabilities :

Pavements and materials:

• Flexible pavement design
• Concrete pavement design
• Gravel road design
• Road and airfield rehabilitation, including concrete, flexible and gravel pavement structures
• Heavy-load pavement design
• Materials evaluation and utilisation
• Asphalt and seal design
• Tender adjudication

Geotechnical services:

• Dolomite
• Bridge foundations 
• Undermining
• Earth dams
• Specialist advice
• Townships
• Building foundations 
• Roads
• Waste disposal, including tailings dams
• Tunnels

Construction supervision:

• Construction supervision
• Construction monitoring
• Occupational health and safety services

Joe Grobler is in charge of the Implementation Division, which consists of the Materials and Pavement Design, Geotechnical and Construction Supervision sections. He obtained a BSc Engineering Degree from the University of Pretoria in 1975. Thereafter he obtained an Honours Degree in Materials and Geotechnical Engineering in 1978 and a Master’s Degree in Geotechnical Engineering in 1994, which dealt with the amelioration of shrinkage cracking in stabilized base courses.

Joe has over 35 years experience in the materials and pavement industry of which 9 years were spent carrying out construction supervision. He has acted as a specialist consultant to various other consultants and organisations and has carried out materials investigations and searches for suitable quality road building materials on their behalf.  In addition to materials investigations and pavement designs for approximately 2 500 km of new roads, Joe has also carried out investigations for the rehabilitation of approximately 3 500 km of existing roads involving regravelling, resealing, base reconstruction and asphalt overlays. He also has extensive experience in troubleshooting materials and pavement problems, which may occur during construction and in relating these to the initial investigations.

He has been actively involved over the past 15 years in the preparation of Government tender documents, conducting of tender meetings, adjudication of tenders received and preparation of tender evaluation and recommendation reports.  He is therefore fully conversant with the Government Procurement Process and policies. In particular, Joe is well known and respected for his ability to extend rehabilitation investigations into cost-effective rehabilitation designs in which the strengths of the existing pavement materials and local resources are maximised.

Joe is registered as a Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa, serves on the Executive Committee of Vela VKE and is a member of the Society for Asphalt Technology as well as the South African Institute of Civil Engineering.

Email :  groblerj@velavke.co.za