November 2010

High Power Equipment (HPE) Africa has continued to gain market share across the construction industry during 2010, proving that it has a recession-proof business strategy. While 2010 has proven to be a testing year for many businesses in the construction industry, HPE Africa - the sole distributor of Hyundai earthmoving equipment in Southern Africa - can look back on the year and confidently acknowledge that it has been a highly-successful one. They feature on our cover this month - and celebrate a decade in the country.

(Hyundai equipment was used during the demolition of the Allandale bridge over the Ben Schoeman highway.)

Our project profile this month is the impressive Illovo Edge. It was designed by Bentel Associates International and the development is demonstrating that the highest standards of architecture, design and construction are pre-requisites for an iconic, sought after commercial property.

(Illovo Edge, at the corner of Harries and Fricker Roads in Johannesburg, is rapidly becoming the ultimate commercial address for both national and international leading companies.)

On a serious note, Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) is leading the call for a collaborative and sustainable approach in which the private sector supports government in enhancing service delivery at all levels so as to ensure the economic wellbeing of all business enterprises and to improve the quality of life for all. This has become necessary as, over the past decade, the public sector has experienced a considerable migration of engineering capacity to the private sector. This has resulted in a loss of corporate memory and the ability to plan and execute programmes and projects of a developmental nature, particularly at local authority level severely hampering service delivery.