Construction World October 2016

UPSKILLING CONSTRUCTION WORKERS Corobrik has opened a new bricklaying training centre at its Lawley factory in Gauteng which is one of three countrywide that provides opportunities for unskilled South Africans to acquire the fundamental expertise they need to secure work in the building industry. >

find gainful employment with government or construction companies and many have gone on to establish their own enterprises,’” Petty said. The Corobrik Bricklaying Centres are not run on a profit basis but rather to cover costs so as to help make the training affordable to the learners. According to Petty, it is all about helping people attain the skills they need to earn a living. This is in line with government’s appeal for business, labour and communi- ties to work together to help meet the New Growth Path objective of creating five million jobs by 2020 and reducing the unemploy- ment rate to 15%. ‘The building training centres are also an integral element of Corobrik’s multi-faceted Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment initiatives to help lay the foundation for a prosperous future for South Africa. The Durban training centre is at Coro- brik’s Avoca factory, the Cape Town facility has moved to a site next to the company’s Lansdowne centre in Springfield.TheGauteng school has moved fromMidrand to Lawley to be more accessible to the learners.

More than 2 000 people have already graduated from the company’s training schools in Durban and Cape Town, and at their former Midrand facility. “Skills development remains a key priority in South Africa and Corobrik is committed to playing a meaningful role in this process,” says Berkley Petty, human resources development manager for the brick manufacturer which has been in oper- ation for more than a century. “Corobrik’s three building training centres are designed to provide unskilled workers in both the public and private sectors with recognised qualifications in bricklaying, blocklaying and segmental paving disciplines, providing fundamental skills to the construction industry.” The Corobrik training centres offer a

variety of courses ranging frombasic bricklaying to learnerships. The bricklaying training centres are accred- ited by the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) and run NQF accredited courses. Training is conducted in groups both at the centre or on site, combining theory with practical implementation. A number of major construction companies as well as the Department of Public Works and Transport have enrolled learners on Corobrik’s bricklayer training programmes. The progress and skills levels of each student are monitored and recorded – during both their theoretical and practical training. Those with strong technical aptitudes and those that show initiative are encouraged to go further with their training. Once they have completed the courses, the learners are in a better position to

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and implemented strategies which align business objectives with individual expec- tations of career success. All this – through the organisations’ Future Integrated Talent Programme which sits under the Bigen Capacity Framework. In an effort to promote Mentorship of young engineers CESA recognises the contri- bution Mentors make to the industry and the future of the profession. Nevin Rajasakran from Zitholele Consulting is the Mentor of

the year. He has 18 years of experience. He has personally mentored three candidate engineers over fifteen years. His culminating achievement was to mentor and guide his three mentees to manage teams on some of the country’s major Power Stations. Growthpoint Properties is the V isionary client of the year . Growthpoint is the market leader in implementing ‘best practices’ for sustainable operational efficiency and ‘green’ features in its 470 properties.

In recognition of the role that the media plays in the industry, Civil Engineering Contractor received recognition for Publishing Excel- lence: Trade Publication and Engineering News received recognition for Publishing Excellence: Daily Newspapers. Royal HaskoningDHV was announced as the winner of the CESA Job Shadow Initiative with UWP and Nako Iliso as runners-up. CESA's Cape Town Branch was named winner of the Branch of the Year Award.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD OCTOBER 2016