Construction World August 2016

FROM GARDENER TO ASAQS PRESIDENT sity of Pretoria's Department of Construction Economics and has established a new personal company, QS-Online.

Dr Stephan Ramabodu has been elected as president of the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS). Dr Ramabodu's first practical experience of the QS profession was as QS student at B&L Bloemfontein while studying for a BSc Quantity Surveying degree at the Univer- sity of the Free State (UFS). After graduation, he became a junior lecturer at the university and did private work for contractors or QS firms to gain further experience. In 2006, he joined the construction consultancy, Davis Langdon, as a director and in 2008, left to start his own business, Ramabodu & Associates. He was also reappointed as lecturer at UFS where he completed a Master’s degree in 2005. Thereafter, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer at UFS, and also elected as senior vice-president of ASAQS, Fees Chairman of ASAQS, and Editorial Board Chairperson of Acta Structilia, a national journal for research articles in the physical and development sciences, published by the UFS Department of Quantity Surveying and Construction Management. He is now senior lecturer at the Univer- >

Consultants, has been elected as vice-president of ASAQS; and Yunus Bayat of Bayprop Projects in Pietermaritzburg, as deputy vice-president.

The new ASAQS president came from a particularly disadvantaged background and had to do gardening work to pay for his high school studies. Spurred on by the promise of a bursary if he managed to matriculate, the young Stephan managed just that and enrolled at UFS for a generic BSc degree which he changed to BSc QS studies after an uncle who worked on a building site – and gave his young nephew money for transport and food – had introduced him to the quantity surveying profession. Dr Ramabodu, who obtained a PhD at UFS in 2014, includes in his main aspirations as leader of ASAQS transformation, including gender equality; marketing the profession; research; and “providing the ultimate service to ASAQS members”. Bert van den Heever, immediate past pres- ident of ASAQS, comments: “Stephan is the first black South African quantity surveyor to be awarded a doctorate in his field. This is a tremendous achievement when you consider there are very few doctorates in the QS profes- sion worldwide.” Lydia Carroll, director of the Irene-based company, Quantity Surveyors & Contracts

Dr Stephan Ramabodu.

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“Responding to these market trends is already seeing Aurecon enter into strategic partnerships, rather than competing, with established advisory firms,” he said. “All three trained as engineers and have built and sustained world-class supply chain and procurement capabilities as well as advi- sory practices across a number of industry segments. I am delighted to welcome them to Aurecon.” “The engineering and infrastructure industry faces huge change and challenges over the next few years. In a commoditised market, subject to disruptive technology, we must respond to the constantly shifting business landscape. This means knowing our clients and their businesses better than our competitors and excelling in bringing innovation and expertise to the table to help solve their most difficult problems,” Swiegers said. “Aurecon is responding to the enormous demand around the world to improve connectivity of people and freight.”

Brad McBean as Aurecon’s global advisory managing director.

Stuart Cassie, ANZ advisory market director.

both our private and public sector clients.” “With a focus on the rapidly changing face of key areas of infrastructure such as Transport and Cities, these leaders will work closely with Aurecon’s chief digital officer Dr Andrew Maher to develop Aurecon’s solutions to support the digitisation of infrastructure.” “Aurecon is responding to the enor- mous demand around the world to improve connectivity of people and freight.

“This is driving a surge in infrastructure investment in places like Sydney and Melbourne, as well as focus by organisations to drive productivity improvements and work their existing assets harder. This is delivering growth in our AUD100-million core advisory business, underpinned by the demand for technical and engineering expertise, as infra- structure stakeholders navigate an increas- ingly digitised world.

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD AUGUST 2016