Quality where it counts
BP Pro produces the high quality products that are designed specifically for pavers. This quality ensures that our projects have great long-term performance and reliable installation that improves your paver installation. Pavers are the finest hardscape system and we offer products that match the performance of this system. We have been field tested on many of the most demanding projects in the world so we know that we can offer the look that you want with the performance you demand. Call 714-258-0800 for more information.
Peter van Niekerk
With over 30 years of experience in the paver industry, Peter has been instrumental in the design and development of many high profile paving projects in South Africa, New Zealand and through out North America.
For the past 15 years Peter has focused his energy on the development and introduction of joint stabilizing sealer to the block paving market and has been very involved within the ICPI serving as a member on its committees over the past several years.
Please feel free to contact Peter at our offices (714-258-0800) or email him at petervn@vanninc.com.
The Original and Still the Best
Peter has always been involved in the design of interlocking pavements and he acted as a consultant to the California based theme park owners, Disney who wanted to use interlocking pavers in some of their new projects. They expressed concern about the possible damage to the block pavements through the erosion of the jointing sand in the course of the daily high pressure washing that the pavements would have to be subjected to and sought his advice as how the jointing sand could be contained under these circumstances. He was, through his prior work in Europe, very familiar with solvent based prepolymer joint stabilizers but Disney were not prepared to use solvent based products on their theme parks and so they commissioned him to source and identify a water-based equivalent. Some months later he tracked down a suitable water based sealer that also had adhesive qualities that would bind up the jointing sand when the application was correctly carried out. He conducted exhaustive testing and subsequently specified the product to be used on the new and remodeled concrete block paving projects in Disneyland. He then decided to form a company to market this type of product to be used as a sealer and joint sand stabilizer for this particular type of application. He published some articles on the topic of joint stabilizing and also got the product specified and installed on a number of projects (project list) to illustrate the benefits of this new type of product. The interest in the use of joint stabilizers grew to the extent that it was eventually generally adopted as a standard by that industry and today the large majority of manufacturers endorse the use of joint stabilizing sealers to enhance the appearance of their products and insure the integrity of the pavements. It is probably fair to say that Peter was personally responsible for the introduction of the joint stabilizing industry as it has now developed throughout the United States. As part of this process he has always continued to consult on projects and compare the performance of the original product with other newly developed joint stabilizers and as a result of this direct involvement and background in the industry he has been in a unique position to evaluate these products to a greater extent than any other person in the industry. This ongoing commitment to testing and evaluation and his international relationships has allowed us to be confident that we are working with the best chemical companies to develop the best products for the block paving industry. Our specialization in the block paving industry puts us in unique position to offer the right products in a way that no other company can.
Consulting
Consulting – Over the years Peter has been involved in consulting work originally in South Africa and later in the United States, South America, New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the Far East. In South Africa his projects included major downtown and waterfront redevelopments and pedestrianization in downtown Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria. He was extensively involved with, amongst others, the design and development of the new city square in Sandton, the commercial capital of South Africa. These projects involved several concrete, clay and granite decorative paving systems for pedestrian and heavy vehicular traffic. He has also been responsible for the design and installation of heavy traffic concrete block pavements on industrial roads and container facilities. He has also acted as a consultant to Engineers and Architects in the Cities of Auckland, New Zealand on Street and Waterfront projects including the America’s Cup Pavilion lending his expertise to the design of the paving and in the maintenance of pavements. He has also assisted in the design of a container facility in Panama in Central America. In the United States Peter worked on the installation of the clay pavingstone surface at the Gateway Center, Union Station in Los Angeles, the American Consulate in Beijing and the redevelopment of concrete and clay block pavements in Disneyland, Anaheim as well as the Disneyland projects in Hong Kong and Beijing to name a few. Other projects have included the Aliso Viejo town center development. Peter has also worked in conjunction with engineers, architects and landscape consultants on design and sourcing of materials on other commercial and public projects including the UCLA medical center plaza in Los Angeles, Queensway Bay Harbor in Long Beach, the Anaheim Conference Center and Ball Park and the Alamo car rental facility in Las Vegas, commercial developments for the Irvine Company and a large granite cobble plaza on Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago.
History of joint stabilization
History of joint stabilization – Peter had for some time recognized that stabilizing the jointing sand had become standard practice on all residential, commercial and industrial concrete and clay interlocking pavingstone installations in Europe. Developers and designers had come to realize the benefits of ensuring the integrity of the pavements by the use of joint stabilizers to prevent rainwater and high pressure washing eroding the jointing sand leading to excessive saturation of the bedding sands and sub-bases that invariably led to their subsequent failure. There were also real concerns about the contamination of the sub-soils that was taking place through the leaching in of contaminants on block pavements on gas stations, fuel storage facilities and airport aprons where pavers were being commonly specified.
Relocation to the USA
Relocation to the USA – Peter moved to the United States in 1993 to joint what was to become one of the largest residential paving contractors in the country. He later worked as a consultant for a major pavingstone manufacturer from Israel who had previously met him at an international paving conference in Rome in 1988 and who wanted to use his expertise to promote the use of the interlocking paving system to local developers and specifiers in California. He subsequently formed his own company providing a consultancy services to the pavingstone industry offering technical design details, the review of construction drawings and the drafting of detailed specifications. He also carried out site visits to determine that that the construction was being carried out in accordance with the design intent.
“Photos Queensway”
Industry contributions
Peter has attended and co-authored papers at the 1988 Pavitalia conference in Rome, the 1996 Interpave conference in Israel, the 1998 Pave Columbia in Columbia, the 2002 Brazilian Concrete Masonry Association conference and regularly writes articles in Technical Periodicals. He also served on the technical committee of the Interlocking Concrete Paving Industry of North America and was a major contributor in drafting their standard sealing and cleaning specifications.
Natural stone cobbles
During this time in South Africa he was involved with the Cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town during their rebuilding of their city centers using traditional European paving. At their behest Peter did a sabbatical in Italy and Germany to do a study on traditional stone cobble paving. He was later commissioned to describe the details and write the specifications and the City Code of Practice for the installation of these units using methods and sections based on designs going back some 2,000 years.
Background
Peter van Niekerk was born in South Africa, educated in Pretoria and attended the University of Pretoria where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Quantity Surveying and Building Management. He has been involved in the construction industry for over 40 years, working for various Civil Engineering Contractors before becoming the President of one of the largest Home Building Developers and Contractors in the country. During that period, he traveled extensively, particularly in Europe, attending conferences and undertaking market research into trends taking place internationally in the development of new construction techniques, building materials and practices. In the early 1970’s he transferred his interests to the concrete block pavingstone industry. His involvement included the manufacture of concrete pavers as well as the design and installation of clay and concrete pavements in large commercial and industrial developments. He continued in the pavingstone industry until his relocation to the US in 1993. Photos South Africa