Included in the line-up of speakers was Ari Seirilis, national director of the QuadPara Association of South Africa, who appealed to delegates to take people with disabilities into consideration when planning and constructing buildings so that people in wheelchairs will have the freedom to move around.
The 107th annual Master Builders South Africa (MBSA) Congress was held in September at the Wild Coast Sun in KwaZulu-Natal.
The theme was Building South Africa and members of the building and construction industry looked at future infrastructure trends and growth opportunities. High on the agenda was the need for collaboration in promoting the industry, sustainability and environmental issues in building and the industry’s important role in economic growth.
The Minister of Public Works, Thula Nxesi, outlined 17 major strategic integrated projects proposed to drive infrastructure, skills development and economic growth. These include development of the mineral resources in Limpopo and related activities; transport and industry development in the Eastern Cape; revitalisation of public health facilities; and the refurbishment of schools. Nxesi stressed that government had committed the resources, but admitted that his department did not have technical professionals. He encouraged real and lasting partnerships between the public and private sectors to achieve growth for both and infrastructure as a whole.
The minister also said that proper collaboration could ensure transparency and root out corruption in both sectors. He appealed to MBSA and established contractors to commit to assisting in the development of emerging contractors, mentoring new talent to help grow professional skills in the construction industry. He also said that strengthening the construction sector bargaining council is imperative to prevent tragedies like the Marikana incident.
Political analyst and futurist, Daniel Silke spoke on future global trends and how these will affect the construction industry. He said the global economic crisis would result in a drop in global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which would allow emerging markets like South Africa to grow. He expected a critical shift about five years from now, when 75 percent of economic growth will come from emerging markets.
Economic and infrastructure growth go hand-in-hand, so this is a positive prediction for the construction industry and will open up many opportunities,” he said. “High economic growth, combined with population expansion predicted for the nations of emerging markets, will lead to rapid urbanisation and create a demand for quality infrastructure. However, as there will be an abundance of skills from these many emerging markets, infrastructure industry will become highly competitive and SA will need to ensure it provides quality to benefit from this global change.”
Francois Viruly, Associate Professor in the Department of Construction Economics and Management at the University of Cape Town, agreed that these global trends would lead to rapid urbanisation, especially in Africa, and said the residential property market would change most.
“This will affect the construction and building industry in a number of ways. In the past, growth of South African cities have shown a lack of densification compared to other cities around the world, but rapid urbanisation will require more high density housing. Also, as rates, taxes, electricity and other operating costs continue to be inflated, buildings will need to 30 percent to 40 percent more efficient to lower costs.
“Connecting the city will be a challenge. At present, South Africans spend 20 percent of their household income on transport - the same amount spent on housing - and infrastructure will need to find a way to make transport more cost effective. Property around the transport lines will become more valuable and the industry will need to ensure that it builds correctly in these areas to benefit from this opportunity.”
Viruly said the challenge for the industry will be to accommodate the rising demand for housing and preventing urban spread caused by poor town planning.
The line up also included Dr Isabel Perry, a speaker from the US, who encouraged delegates to go beyond meeting government regulations and make health and safety a key component in their company’s values and philosophy. She said that without a safety culture, investigating safety complaints would be the tip of the iceberg with many other implications, such as labour loss caused by absenteeism due to injury or time delays that can indirectly result in financial loss. However, with preventative measures in place, accidents can be reduced which, in turn, will reduce costs.
Part of the day’s programme consisted of an African panel discussion, focusing on partnership opportunities across the continent, the role of the industry to enhance policy framework and positively affect delivery of infrastructure in Africa. Led by Prof Viruly, the panel consisted of Daniel Grawe, past president of the Construction Industry Federation of Zimbabwe, Eng Davis Baitani, chairman of the Construction Association of Tanzania and Rockson Dogbegah of the Association of Civil Engineering and Building Contractors of Ghana.
PPC Cement sponsored an interactive session during which delegates discussed sustainability issues in the construction environment. Topics included what the industry is doing to develop a green philosophy, how to make green cheaper, faster, and better, and how businesses can stay competitive using green strategies.
Although it was agreed that environmentally friendly technologies are initially more expensive, construction needs to move towards building infrastructure that is sustainable by ensuring that the structure has a long-term life span, is equipped to reduce running costs and lowers its use of increasingly scarce resources.
The day concluded with a tree planting ceremony at the nearby Umgungundlovu Tribal Authority Hall.
