August 2013
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
42
project profile
J ly 2013
1.
ver the last year a
striking new build-
ing has arisen.
It will be the new
head office for
WorleyParsons-
TWP, being built
by Basil Read at a
construction cost of
about R350-million.
WorleyParsons, the Australian-based global
engineering, procurement and construction
management group, recently announced the
completion of the R900-million acquisition of
EPCMbusinessTWPHoldings fromBasil Read.
Nigel Townshend, chairman of Worley-
ParsonsTWP says that the company’s existing
offices, also in the Melrose Arch precinct, are
quite disjointed. “The building that we cur-
rently occupy was never intended for single
Ideal building, ideal location
Motorists driving on the M1 in Johannesburg would have
noticed an interesting addition to the row of office buildings
facing the highway in the Melrose Arch precinct.
By Wilhelm du Plessis
tenant use – it was intended for multiple,
smaller tenants. It does not work well as a
corporate location.”
“We love the location of Melrose Arch,
but we do not love the building that we are
in,” adds Franco Pellegrini, deputy CEO of
WorleyParsonsTWP. “They are ‘ok’ – we are
in a great location – they work, but they are
not ideal. So we thought:‘let us have an ideal
building in the right location’.”
The current building that WorleyPar-
sonsTWP occupies does not lend itself to
productive staff interaction. “The building is
disjointed and does not encourage people to
come together. It does not have any common
spaces to get staff interacting or have staff
meetings,”says Pellegrini. He adds that since
Townshend started the company it has always
May 2012.
February 2013.
April 2013.
October 2012.
