Construction World November 2015

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WESTERN CAPE CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY ON THE UP “2015 has seen theWestern Cape construction industrymaintaining a reasonably steady flow of work with a further slight improvement on last year,” according to Immediate Past President of the Master Builders Association of the Western Cape (MBAWC), Craig Bain.

At the recent MBAWC’s Annual General Meeting, Bain elaborated on develop- ments in the province that have helped

in excess of R500-million. These developments are certainly a vote of confidence in the future of our city. “High levels of building activity persist on the Atlantic Seaboard and at Century City where a number of large commercial developments are under construction at the moment,” added Bain. Bain praised the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town for continuing to award a significant number of projects in the health, education and housing spheres to the local construction industry. Regarding the National Government’s R847-billion infrastructure roll-out, Bain said, “This does not seem to have gained much trac- tion. The recent publicity appears to be focused on the long-delayed coal fired power stations in the north of the country and more recently on the proposed nuclear power stations. Our region could be the beneficiary of one or more of the nuclear power stations as the current site at Koeberg and another coastal site near Bredas-

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Immediate Past President of the Master Builders Association of the Western Cape (MBAWC), Craig Bain.

to sustain the building sector over the past year, stating, “Cape Town has been fortunate that its CBD has not experienced the significant decline witnessed in cities like Johannesburg and Durban and continues to be a destination of choice. This has resulted in the construction of a number of new high-rise office blocks as well as residential accommodation in the city centre. Furthermore, the extensions to the CTICC have now commenced in earnest and will result in a conference facility that will be virtually double its present size.” He went on to say that, “The adjacent V&A Waterfront has continued to develop with a number of new hotels, office blocks and a high- rise residential block under construction. The new Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is also being constructed within the structure of the old grain silos and at a cost

dorp are earmarked at this stage. Whether our local industry will get to participate or whether we will see an influx of contractors from either Russia or China remains to be seen.” Bain concluded by saying, “Although most of our members and the contracting fraternity at large seem to have reasonable order books and sufficient projects on hand, this remains a very competitive industry with tight tendering and lowmargins remaining the order of the day. “Our industry seems to be fixed in a low-margin mind-set and one wonders what sort of volumes of work would be required to raise profit margins to a level that that adequately compensate contractors and subcontractors for the risks that they expose themselves to in their daily business operations.”

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PARTNERSHIP FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

GIBB, South Africa’s largest black-owned multi- disciplinary engineering consulting firm, has announced the acquisition of environmental solutions consultancy, Strategic Environmental Focus (SEF). The transaction ushers in South Africa’s strongest environmental offering in the engineering fraternity.

“Developing infrastructure alone is not sustainable without rigorous envi- ronmental measures and both firms have built their reputation on standards of excellence. With this great marriage of minds, our clients can now look forward to comprehensive solutions delivered by some of the most talented professionals in the country,” he said. According to GIBB environmental services sector general manager Dr Urishanie Govender, the acquisition more than doubles the size of GIBB’s environmental team. “We are now able to position the broader group to deliver world-class environmental solutions using professional environmentalists, auditors, green design experts and specialists with sufficient capacity to develop a customised, comprehensive and complete range of solutions for clients,” she said. “The combined firms will result in a fully integrated environmental team, with more than 60 environmental practitioners being part of the GIBB Group’s approximately 950 staff,” she continued. The 18-year-old firm caught the attention of GIBB as the firm continues to grow in stature and capacity through, among other approaches, major acquisitions. Last year GIBB acquired 70% of one of the largest architectural firms in Africa, SVA International. The engagement will see former SEF staff provide their skills to several mega-projects currently underway, strengthening GIBB’s already impressive presence in the Environmental industry. Former SEF CEO, Dave Rudolph described the move as ‘a major development for the environmental sector’. “The time to move on was ideal since environmental legislation was recently passed allowing environmental impact assessments (EIAs) to be undertaken as part of large engineering teams, with external peer review,” said Rudolph. Rudolph said that with the latest change in 2014, authorities have recognised the value add of professionalism and self-regulation. “Environment is also no longer something which can be seen as an add on service and having a clear understanding to environmental constraints at the on-set of a project is critical,” he added.

GIBB Group CEO, Richard Vries, described the move as a great milestone, not just for GIBB and SEF, but for the entire South African Environmental Services Industry.

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Former SEF CEO Dave Rudolph, left, and GIBB Group CEO Richard Vries sign the documentation that will see the acquisition through.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD NOVEMBER 2015