Service
Structural steel fabrication, erection and maintenance
Pipe racks, platforms, gantries, tank internals and plant structures fabricated in our Evander workshop and installed on site, with structural welding under our ISO 3834-2 certified system.
Plant structures corrode, lose section and crack at connections long before anyone plans to replace them. Umbusso Engineers fabricates and erects new structural steel and repairs or replaces existing members on operating plant — pipe racks and supports, access platforms and handrails, conveyor gantries and transfer-house steel, and internal steelwork in tanks and vessels.
Our structural work is welded under a quality system certified to ISO 3834-2:2021, with structural steel and AWS D1.1 in the certified scope, and our CIDB grading covers both mechanical engineering (7ME) and civil engineering (7CE) classes. In September 2022 we installed and modified structural steel beams inside a water tank at an Eskom power station, working from scaffolding under confined-space controls.
What we do
- Fabrication of platforms, stairs, handrails, pipe racks, supports and gantries to drawing.
- Erection and installation on site, including rigging and temporary works.
- Structural repairs on live plant: section replacement, connection repair, corrosion remediation.
- Internal steelwork in tanks and vessels under confined-space controls.
- Surface preparation and protective coating to the client’s coating specification.
Standards, quality and documentation
Structural welding is carried out under our ISO 3834-2 certification (JC Auditors certificate 1013) with AWS D1.1 in scope, by welders holding ASME IX performance qualifications and under a named welding coordinator. Fabrication runs to a quality control plan with dimensional and weld inspection hold points; material certificates are retained in the data book. Site erection is planned under the Construction Regulations with appointed competent persons and a fall-protection plan.
Where this service applies on the plant
Explore the representative plant environment in the Umbusso Industrial World to see the equipment this service covers.
Proof: work delivered on purchase order
Each project record states the client, the order or contract reference, the scope and the quality documentation it ran under. Contract values are available to prospective clients on request.
Water-tank structural work
Installation and modification of structural steel beams inside a water tank, with scaffolding, under confined-space controls.
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (under the main contractor) · 2022
Read the project record →Slurry plant rubber lining
Replacement and internal rubber lining of the AWRSE tank outlet pipework to slurry Mixers A, B and C, and rubber lining of the slurry plant mixers, delivered as Main Contractor with a full data book.
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd · 2025–2026
Read the project record →From the workshop and site
How an order runs
Send the drawing, scope or problem. We reply with questions or a site-visit date.
We confirm the scope, access, outage window and your quality and safety requirements.
Priced quotation with a quality control plan outline so the hold points are agreed before award.
Work under permit-to-work and the agreed plan, with witnessed hold points and progress reporting.
Inspection records, certificates and material traceability compiled into the data book and handed over.
Frequently asked
Do you work at height and in confined spaces?
Yes. Our site work runs under the Construction Regulations with a fall-protection plan and appointed competent persons, and confined-space entry follows an approved method statement with atmosphere testing and permit control.
Can you fabricate to our engineer’s drawings and provide weld records?
We fabricate to your drawings and issue a quality control plan with weld and dimensional inspection points. Welding procedure specifications, welder qualifications and inspection records form part of the data book.
Is protective coating included?
Surface preparation and coating to your specification can be included; on the slurry-plant rubber-lining contract the external coating was applied to the Eskom coating standard.
Technical articles on this equipment
Written and reviewed in-house. What fails, why it fails, what the standards require and how to specify the repair.
Corrosion, section loss and connection failure on plant structures: inspection and repair scopes
Plant structures are inspected less often than the equipment they carry, and they fail slowly until they fail suddenly. This article sets out where corrosion and connection failure start, how to inspect for them, and how a repair scope is defined so it can be priced and executed inside an outage.
Reviewed by the Welding Coordinator · September 2026
Read the article →Related services
Request a quotation
Send us the drawing, the scope or the problem. We reply with questions, a site-visit date or a priced quotation — whichever gets you an answer fastest.
Office +27 17 007 0135 · WhatsApp +27 72 535 1598 · info@umbussoengineers.co.za
