Construction World June 2023

CONSULTING ENGINEERING

Consulting engineers are essential to maintaining standards of excellence in project planning and execution.

SUSTAINED GROWTH VITAL TO RETAIN ENGINEERING SKILLS

Although the mining sector is currently buoyant, it is hoped that public sector spending on infrastructure will rise and stabilise – providing a firmer foundation for South Africa to maintain and develop the depth of its expertise in consulting engineering.

SRK Consulting Managing Director, Andrew van Zyl.

A ccording to SRK Consulting Managing Director Andrew van Zyl (pictured) , recent years have been busy for the company due largely to its long history in the mining sector. However, it is really only a sustained and upward trajectory of growth that will secure South Africa’s vital skills base in the consulting engineering sector, argued Van Zyl. “In any country, the quality of its consulting engineering industry relies on the steady growth of experience across multiple disciplines over decades, not just years,” he said. “Here in South Africa, we have been struggling to generate and retain these skills; many specialisations are in high demand internationally, so we are also competing with other countries for these scarce skills.” He pointed out that the cyclical nature of the mining industry tended to create challenges of its own, as demand for specialised consulting engineering input regularly fluctuates. It was therefore important that other sectors of the economy were also vibrant, so they could help even out the highs and lows of the commodity cycle. “For consulting engineers like SRK, recent years have been very busy on account of buoyant commodity prices –

even creating scarcity in some disciplines,” he said. “At the same, though, the construction and infrastructure sector has been subdued – along with its demand for consulting engineering services.” He highlighted that both the public and private sectors are heavily reliant on consulting engineers to advise on how to plan and implement quality engineering solutions for a modern economy. The disciplines underpinning these solutions take decades to nurture, and invariably demand some of the best students that the educational system can generate. “To cultivate these skills and interests among the country’s best students is a necessity for the growth of the economy – which means supporting students and mentoring graduates,” he said. “In practice, though, this can only be successful in a growing economy that can make full use of this expertise, and where careers can be built.” Consulting engineers are essential to maintaining standards of excellence in project planning and execution, he noted, as they delivered highly specialised technical and strategic services to various industries. Their status

30 CONSTRUCTION WORLD JUNE 2023