Construction World April 2017

SAICE CEO, Manglin Pillay and MD of SAICE Professional Development and Projects, Dr Allyson Lawless.

work to do on racial transformation, but the current actual numbers show remarkable progress in the built environment, consider- ing that it takes about 10 to 12 years, exclud- ing basic education of another 12 years, for any individual to accumulate the necessary education and training before they are ready to register as professionals. There is no quick-fix solution, but we can build on the existing successes.” One such success is the work done by the MD of SAICE Professional Development and Projects (PDAP), Dr Allyson Lawless,

another professionally registered engineer. Thousands of black graduate engineering practitioners are now registered profession- als through PDAP’s Candidate Academy and Road to Registration programmes. Dr Lawless says, “There is a need to re-engineer local government capacitation and professional development for gradu- ates. Assuming that an applicant with a tertiary engineering qualification can grow into a senior post, without working in a community of expert practice, is a fallacy. Since 2005, a dramatic loss of staff over

50 years of age occurred in municipali- ties – they would typically have been the strategic planners and leaders, also acting as mentors and coaches. Where senior technical design staff is not available, training should be sought through second- ment and tapping into the pool of retirees to offer their expertise until in-house staff have been adequately trained.” Only by doing so, the next generation of engineers will grow into skilled, competent, experienced and responsible candidates capable of filling senior posts. 

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD APRIL 2017