Construction World December 2016

COMMENT

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The December issue of Construction World has become an overview of construction in the preceding 12 months. Even though the number of entries in the civil engineering and building categories remained fairly low (four and six respectively), the number of entries in the specialist contractors or suppliers category increased to 24 (out of the 58 entries the competition received).

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One of the three judges, Nico Maas – himself a specialist contractor – offered a simple explanation for this dramatic increase. According to him, major construction companies now outsource most contracting jobs and become more like project managers. The spectrum of specialist contractors and suppliers of specialist products was impressive: from the supplier of admixtures to a windfarm, to innovative formwork for unusual structures, to a prefabricated school erected in a few days, to some very impressive piling. The entries in the professional services category, once dominated by consulting engineers, received various entries by architects. This is a good sign: architects are increasingly supporting the forum created by Best Proj- ects and by doing so, are breaking down the division that exists between contractors/consulting engineers and architects.

Two projects were major winners this year. The rehabilitation of Bruma Lake received a highly commended award in the ‘civil engineering’ category while it won the ‘AfriSam innovation award for sustainable construction’. The second big winner was MultiChoice City which was a joint winner in the ‘professional services’ category while it received a highly commended award in the ‘AfriSam innovation award for sustainable construction’ category. Theprojects – which could not be more different – are indicative of the entries this year: diverse but still innovative and excellent. I hope you enjoy the ‘overview’ of the 2015/2016 construction world. Wilhelm du Plessis Editor

@ConstWorldSA

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EDITOR & DEPUTY PUBLISHER Wilhelm du Plessis constr@crown.co.za ADVERTISING MANAGER Erna Oosthuizen ernao@crown.co.za LAYOUT & DESIGN Lesley Testa CIRCULATION Karen Smith

PUBLISHER Karen Grant PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY Crown Publications cc P O Box 140 BEDFORDVIEW, 2008 Tel: 27 11-622-4770 • Fax: 27 11-615-6108

TOTAL CIRCULATION: (Third Quarter ’16) 4 824

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The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD DECEMBER 2016