Construction World December 2022

CONSULTING ENGINEERS

PROJECT INFORMATION

• Company entering: Aspire Consulting Engineers • Client: Nike • Start date: March 2021 • End date: December 2021 • Main Contractor: Billet • Architect: C76 • Principal Agent: C76 • Quantity Surveyors: QS3 Architects • Consulting Engineer: Aspire Consulting Engineers

T he Shapa Soweto project i s a flagship project for Nike and has been establ i shed on the ethos that sport has the power to change the world and thrives of f connect ing and uni t ing people. Shapa Soweto started during the South Af rican 2010 FIFA World Cup as a world-class footbal l training faci l i ty for footbal lers in Soweto. The faci l i ty was aimed at bringing together the highest qual i ty trainers and coaches to inspi re youth through sport whi le teaching them important l i fe ski l ls and contribut ing to thei r overal l development . The faci l i ty was extremely wel l used at fi rst but began los ing support over t ime as i t fai led to pique the interest of the wider communi ty. An intense renovat ion and relaunch of Shapa Soweto was therefore commi ss ioned by Nike in 2020 wi th the aim of creat ing a faci l i ty that gives young people the creat ive f reedom to di scover the sports and act ivi t ies that move and inspi re them. The project has diverse aspects that make i t noteworthy – f rom the technical nature of the works ; to the value bui l t envi ronment profess ionals tr y to create for the end user ; the lessons learnt along the way that have uni ted us . Thi s project i s unique in i ts aim to bring communi t ies together – which epi tomi ses the spi ri t of Ubuntu. Thi s project was careful ly coordinated by the profess ionals and the cl ient wi th a cons iderable NIKE SHAPA SOWETO

attent ion being placed on the technical requi rements . Thi s wi th the s igni ficant t ime pressure further exaggerated by the ef fects of the global pandemic almost resul ted in the project not going ahead. The team however mi t igated against thi s . The project had a large communi ty involvement and at t imes contributed to the chal lenges wi th the project

66 21 st Best Project Awards 2022