Housing in Southern Africa July 2016

Industry Buzz New guide to application of ISO 9001

S onja de Klerk, Head of Qual- ity, Environment & Sustain- ability at Aurecon, says that engineering consultancies and contractors are often required to have formalised Quality Manage- ment Systems and be ISO 9001 certified to compete in today’s marketplace. The new guide, which will be entitled Guide to the Interpretation and Ap- plication of ISO 9001:2015 in the Consulting Engineering Industry when it is released, will demystify many complex aspects of the Stan- dard. “This guide will be helpful to any quality management practitioner in the consulting engineering industry. The clauses in ISO 9001 can seem abstract, but the new guide will help clarify them in the context of our industry through the use of explana- tions and examples,” says de Klerk. FIDIC is the global voice of T he CEO of engineering and infrastructure advisory firmAu- recon, GiamSwiegers, recently announced a number of new leader- ship appointments as the global firm ramped up its investment in its advisory practice. Two senior advisory leaders, Brad McBean and Stuart Cassie, have joined the firm. McBean heads up the global Advisory as Managing Director and Stuart Cassie as Advisory Market Director. McBean joins Aurecon from his previous role as Partner within the Strategy Practice (Strategy&) at PwC Management Consulting and Cassie as PwC Managing Director Capital Projects. Swiergers has also commissioned independent consultant Gerhard Vorster, most recently Deloitte’s Chief Strategy Officer and previously De- loitte’s consulting leader in Australia, South Africa, and South East Asia, to advise on the growth of Aurecon’s global Advisory business. McBean, Cassie and Vorster will join Matt Coetzee and Dr Chris Von Holdt to form the leadership team of Aurecon’s Advisory Practice. Swiegers said, “As one of Austra- lia’s biggest providers of infrastruc-

Aurecon recently hosted the first workingmeeting of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers’ (FIDIC) QualityManagement Task Force. The goal of the task force meeting is to create a new guide that will give practical and useful information on how ISO 9001 clauses can be applied within engineering and construction companies.

Paints, Coatings & Sealants, Energy Efficiency, Green Building & IBTs, Bricks & Paving To advertise contact Brenda Grossmann on 011 622 4770 or email brendag@crown.co.za Our Next Issue H O U S I N G in Southern Africa De Klerk explains: “Companies are not required to instantaneously switch over to the new ISO Standard. Instead, a transition period of three years from date of publication of the new standard has been agreed for accredited certification. This period will end on 15 September 2018, which means that all certified companies need to be fully compliant with ISO 9001:2015 by that date. The new guide helps them on this journey.” The Task Force on Quality Man- agement is chaired by Walter Painsi from Austria and includes South Africa, which is represented by Sonja de Klerk. Painsi says the new ISO 9001 Standard introduces some far-reaching changes to pre- vious revisions, such as a promi- nence of risk-based thinking and engagement with interested par- ties. For further information visit www.fidic.org ■ management professionals interpret the application of the Standard.

consulting engineers and member firms are encouraged to commit to implementing quality management systems that involve all levels of man- agement and every employee within their companies. In 1997, FIDIC first released an implementation guide, with further revisions released as the ISO 9001 Standard continued to evolve. In 2015, a fundamental review of the Standardwas released, namely ISO 9001:2015. It was the catalyst for FIDIC and the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Asso- ciations (EFC A ) Task Force on Quality Management to come together and create a guide that will help quality ture and engineering services, Aure- con is seeing an increasing demand for consulting advice around supply chain, asset optimisation, portolio..” “With a focus on the rapidly chang- ing face of key areas of infrastructure such as Transport and Cities, these leaders will work closely with Aure- con’s Chief Digital Officer, Dr Andrew Maher, to develop Aurecon’s solu- tions to support the digitisation of infrastructure.” The new team all trained as engi- neers and have built and sustained world-class supply chain and pro- curement capabilities as well as advisory practices across a number of industry segments. I am delighted to welcome them to Aurecon,” added Swiegers. He concluded, “The engineering and infrastructure industry faces huge change and challenges over the next few years. In a commodi- tised 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.” ■

Sonja de Klerk

Aurecon’s new leadership

H O U S I N G in Southern Africa www.housinginsamagazine.co.za

July 2016