Construction World April 2016

NAME CHANGE Century old engineering and environmental consulting company, Jeffares & Green, announced that it will be changing its name and renewing its brand to better reflect goals and strategies.

Jeffares & Green, as part of the Lowlands Waterworks Joint Venture, designed the Metolong bridge where the local communities on either side of the Phuthiatsana River need to have easy access to each other.

JLS Jeffares founded a consul- tancy in 1922, and was joined by Hal Green in 1927. They became partners in 1947 and the name

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Jeffares & Green (J&G) became synonymous with professional engineering that never compromised on quality. Throughout its existence, J&G has progressed and evolved, keeping pace with fluctuations in demand, the industry and customer requirements. To maintain momentum for continuous development, the shareholders made a bold decision at the end of 2015 to rename and rebrand the company in order to better align the name and the brand with its areas of operation – the African continent. Management also wished to align the brand with the firm’s strategy to remain a proudly South African owned company. According to J&G’s marketing and communications manager, Charmagne Denny, “The brand development process started with the appointment of brand specialists. A stra- tegic session was held and, after some collab- oration, naming options were presented. After much hard work, research and an inclusive staff voting process, JG Afrika was chosen.” This was a carefully selected name, designed to represent the company’s identity to the world, while maintaining its African roots. “The inclusion of ‘JG’ symbolises the company’s acknowledgement of and appreci- ation for its history, while ‘Afrika’ denotes its independence, its love for the continent, and is a nod to the African way of spelling ‘Africa’,” says Denny. The new corporate identity, which will be launched in April 2016, draws on designs of the past and the company’s ethos of dedica- tion, community benefit and environ-

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STANDING, FROM LEFT: Jan Norris, Seetella Makhetha, Phaks Ngqumshe and Martha Makhetha. SEATED: Harold Tiganis, Nomsa Mkaza and Paul Olivier (managing director).

options, and involving our valued staff – after all, our success is built on their strengths.” He concludes that, “While this is an incredibly exhilarating time for J&G, we assure the industry that we remain the same professional, knowledgeable and inde- pendent organisation; our name and brand changing does not alter the spirit of the company, but rather enriches it. “We look forward to providing another century of experience, quality and integrity as JG Afrika.”

mental protection, while being refreshed for the 21 st century. “The name ‘Jeffares and Green’ has served us well for nearly one hundred years, and we will certainly continue to pay homage to our distinct history. “However, the time has come to look to the future and to align our corporate identity with our diverse, modern and highly-skilled workforce,” says Paul Olivier, Jeffares & Green’s managing director. “We sincerely enjoyed the process of evaluating naming

Du Toit says that a combination of two factors contribute to ongoing misunderstanding of contractors’ rights with regards to non-payment. “The first factor is that contractors simply don’t always know what their rights are and they have to deal with the issue of non-payment both professionally and legally. “Secondly, those who understand their rights are often reluctant to enforce them because they don’t want to upset the relationship with the client, engineer or principal agent. “This is understandable seeing as it could impact future contract oppor- tunities down the line,” explains Du Toit. Instead of opting to sit back, wait and hope the issue will resolve itself (in other words that a contractor will get paid at some point down the line); the revision enables contractors to be more proactive.

“Thanks to the latest GCC revision, it isn’t a case of ceasing works in order to demand payment, which many contractors would be hesitant to do. The GCC 2015 contract enables contractors to put forward a case that shows you are unable to work because you don’t have the capital to continue to fund the project without payment. This makes it much easier for contractors to enforce their rights and continue doing business in a way that makes it financially feasible for everyone involved in the project,” says du Toit. Du Toit says that while this is the major revision that contractors need to take note of in the GCC 2015, there are also more subtle terminology changes that he will be discussing at the upcoming Alusani ® CPD – accred- ited course dedicated to GCC 2015. For more information, visit the website at: www.alusani.co.za

CONSTRUCTION WORLD APRIL 2016 I I