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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
NOVEMBER
2015
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MARKETPLACE
At the recent MBAWC’s Annual General
Meeting, Bain elaborated on develop-
ments in the province that have helped
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
Immediate Past President of the Master
Builders Association of the Western Cape
(MBAWC), Craig Bain.
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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-
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.
PARTNERSHIP FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
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.
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.”
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.
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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.