Here’s a challenge for your intellect, ingenuity and determination

This is your chance to win an all expenses paid trip for two to Paris. Worth R125 000!All you have to do is use your experience, skill and knowledge to solve three tricky questions...

What could’ve made this timeless beauty, just a little more beautiful? In 1889, the Eiffel Tower cost $1 495 137.43 to build. Since then, this iconic landmark has been painted every 7 years, (a total of 17 times), using 50 tonnes of paint, every time, taking 25 painters up to 18 months to complete the job. What is clear is that if the Eiffel Tower had been made from stainless steel, the main-tenance of this global symbol of engineering ingenuity would have been easier, more cost effective and would’ve made it even more, staggeringly beautiful.

Of course, in stainless steel, it would never have to be painted, but considering that stainless steel wasn’t even invented in 1889, we can forgive Gustave Eiffel this little oversight.

To enter the competition, you have to make use of the Life Cycle Costing App, or use the Life Cycle Costing software on the Sassda website. Then using the information provided calculate the answers to the following questions.

1. Calculate and compare what the initial costs would be to build the Eiffel Tower in 2017 in mild steel, utility ferritic stainless steel and lean duplex stainless steel.

2. Calculate and compare what the operating costs would be for the Eiffel Tower for the next 100 years if it were built out of mild steel, utility ferritic and lean duplex.

3. Calculate the total life cycle costs (Total LCC) of the Eiffel Tower in mild steel, lean duplex and utility ferritic stainless steel.

What you have to do:• Download the Sassda Life Cycle Costing Application from the Google Playstore, or the Apple App Store.

• You can scan the QR code on this page to download the App.

• Alternatively you can use the sassda website LCC program.

• Assume a 100 year design life, with an average inflation rate of 1% and a cost of capital of 2%.

Enter to win a trip to Paris, all expenses paid, worth R125 000!

To enter the Lifecycle Costing Campaign, follow these rules and instructions carefully.

Visit www.sassda.co.za/lcc. To enter you need to submit your answers based on the information provided:

Terms and Conditions:

1. All questions must be answered. Failure to do so will disqualify the entry.

2. Contestants must be over the age of 18 to enter.

3. Winners must be in possession of a valid passport to utilise the prize

4. Entries must be submitted via the App by emailing the results to eiffel@ sassda.co.za

or if using the sassda LCC program, by scanning the printout and emailing to eiffel@

sassda.co.za.

5. In order to enter the competition all entries MUST make use of the Sassda Life Cycle

Costing Application or sassda LCC program. The application is free, available at the

Google Playstore, and the Apple App Store. The sassda LCC program is available from

the sassda website (www.sassda.co.za).

6. All entrants will be judged, by a panel of judges comprising sassda members and

staff. The entries that qualify, will be selected as finalists for the lucky draw.

7. Judges decision is final, no correspondence will be entered into.

8. The prize includes the following:

- Business class airfare for two people to Paris, including airport

taxes and visas.

- One night’s accommodation near the Eiffel Tower at a three star hotel.

- Tickets to the Eiffel Tower.

- R10 000 in spending money.

- Total value of the prize is R125 000.

- Winners are responsible for obtaining their own passports.

- The air tickets are for midweek flights in April 2018.

9. All entries remain the property of the entrant, but Sassda reserves the right

to publicise the information supplied by entrants.

10. The competition runs from the 14th February until the 30th October 2017.

The Stainless Steel Eiffel Tower Project - LCC App Required Information

Criteria Mild Steel Utility Ferritic Stainless Steel

Lean Duplex Stainless Steel

Design life 100 years 100 years 100 years

Inflation rate 1% 1% 1%

Cost of capital 2% 2% 2%

Material mass 7 300 t 7 300 t 25% less

Material cost $600/t $1 475/t $2 575/t

Fabrication & erection costs 1¼ x material cost

1¼ x material cost

1¼ x material cost

Painting costs $4 073 376 None None

Post fabrication cleaning costs

None 1/3 of painting costs

1/3 of painting costs

Maintenance costs: Painting

$4 073 376 None None

Maintenance costs: Cleaning

None None None

Painted every 7 years N/A N/A

Washed every N/A N/A 20 years

Dismantling Costs $1 000 000 $1 000 000 $1 000 000

Residual (scrap) value $200/t $300/t $700/t

Some Interesting Information

Painting:

• 250,000m2 painted surface area

• 25 painters specialised in metal structures and tower tops

• 60 tonnes of paint

• An estimated 15 tonnes of damaged paint occurs between paintings

• 50 km of security cords

• 5 acres of protection netting

• 1500 brushes

• 1500 sets of work clothes

• 1000 pairs of leather gloves

• The paint is provided by the company; Jotun and the painters come from a French company called Stelma

Background InformationWhen the Eiffel Tower graced the opening of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, World’s Fair it was the tallest building on Earth. Standing at 300m it almost doubled the height of the Washington Monument, the previous holder of the record. In the 1950’s the Eiffel Tower grew an additional 24m, allowing it to overtake the Chrysler Building and once more claim the title of tallest freestanding structure on the planet.

French structural engineer Gustave Eiffel’s tower was designed to be rapidly dismantled within two decades of appearing on the Parisian skyline. But its success as a tourist attraction, along with its utility as a mast for housing telecommunications technology, meant that it survived several attempts to decommission and relocate it.

Given that it is today regarded as one of France’s greatest examples of Expressionist structural art, it’s somewhat surprising that the tower was so badly received. Leading anti-tower novelist Guy de Maupassant took lunch there every day, claiming that it was the one place in Paris from where he could guarantee he’d not have to look at it.

Project briefingOn 2 May 1886, the French government announced a design contest. French engineers and architects were invited to ‘study the possibility of erecting on the Champ de Mars an iron tower with a base of 125m square and 300m high’. The structure needed to be self-financing – able to attract sufficient ticket-buying visitors to recover construction costs – and the design had to allow for easy and rapid deconstruction. The race was on to build the world’s tallest freestanding structure in order to become the flagship exhibit at the 1889 World Fair.

Budget and costsAt the time the total build and materials cost of the Eiffel Tower was 8 million francs or $1.5m (around $36m currently), but this is not a true reflection of what it would cost to build today, as the labour costs alone (assuming it could be built in two years) would swallow $30m. With a capacity potential of 10,000 fee-paying visitors on the tower at any one time, costs were recovered in the first year of the tower being open to the public, with Gustav Eiffel becoming a rich man as a result.

PersonnelThe tower was riveted together by 300 on-site workers. During the course of the project only one worker died. Today, the principal maintenance task is repainting the structure, which must take place every seven years. There is 250,000m2 of iron lattice surface area that needs to be cleaned and painted. Paint must be applied manually, by brush, as rollers and paint guns are not allowed. Each repainting, by 25 painters working for 15 months, requires 1,500 brushes, 5,000 sanding disks and 1,500 sets of work clothes.MaterialsThe tower’s iron pieces (none weighing more than three tonnes to allow for the use of the tallest available cranes) were cast off-site to allow for rapid construction. Perhaps Eiffel’s only mistake was to not galvanise the components before painting. Based on today’s wage and price levels, this would have saved more than half the construction and erection costs over time. In his defence, Eiffel could hardly have foreseen the longevity of the tower.DesignEiffel was one of the first engineers to recognise the importance of wind forces on tall structures. The open sides of the tower mean that the wind passes through the building, which sways only 6-7cm (depending on ambient temperature, thermal expansion may cause the top to shift up to 18cm away from the side facing the sun).

This economy of design means that the metalwork of the structure weighs only 7 300t, which if melted down would fill the 125m2 base to a depth of only 6cm.Facts and figuresIf you wanted to build your own Eiffel Tower you’d need 18,038 separate pieces of ‘puddled’ iron and two-and-a-half million rivets. Once complete, to paint it you’d need 50 tonnes of paint and it will need to be repainted every seven years. Although it looks plain brown, several colours are used to create a ‘soft-fade vignette’ to maintain the optical illusion of tonal uniformity from top to bottom. On a clear day you can see a distance of 42 miles from the top of the tower.Delivery and legacyBuilt in 21 months the tower was delivered on time. In 1889 Thomas Edison visited it and wrote in the visitor book to the ‘engineer, the brave builder of so gigantic and original specimen of modern engineering from one who has the greatest respect and admiration for all engineers’. Within a century the tower became the most visited public landmark in the world, spawning more than 30 imitators worldwide, including the Blackpool Tower, an approximate half-scale replica. In 2007 international archery champion Erika LaBrie ‘married’ the Eiffel Tower in a so-called objectophile union, to become Erika Eiffel.

Background Information