August 2013
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
47
shopping malls & office development
Murray & Roberts Western Cape is advanced with construction of the iconic Portside building in Cape Town.
Baywest Mall entrance.
Work in progress at 102 Rivonia Road, the new South African headquarters for Ernst & Young in Sandton.
base as we are allowing our business units
the potential to flatten the cycles of feast
or famine by being able to operate in other
regions in Africawhichmay bemore buoyant
during difficult domestic trading conditions.
What we aimto do is to de-risk our operations
by expanding our value chain and at the
same time adding value to our stakeholders
and customers by being more predictable
and demonstrating value on three fronts:
the bottom line, and the environmental and
social responsibility agendas.
This is a potentially difficult sell in a capi-
talistmarket – but one that is gaining support
under the banner of responsible capitalism.
Our customers and stakeholders no longer
want to invest in companies that are purely
focused on the bottom line. They want to
invest in companies that are successful and
exhibit real social responsibility and are envi-
ronmentally aware thus adding value to their
business offering.
What is your definition of sustainability?
‘Sustainability’ for Murray & Roberts Con-
struction means operating in a manner that
responds to the long term aspirations of
society. It includes being socially responsible
in education, skills transference, essentially
the general upliftment of the society inwhich
we work. As I said the agenda is moving from
pure bottom line value to how we respond
in moving towards a world-class socially
responsible and environmentally responsible
business. Regardless of which stance you take
in the global warming debate, it is socially
responsible to look after the environment.
We should not be driven into a ‘tick box’
scenario, but be driven by a quest to oper-
ate in a way that responds positively to the
environment in an innovative way.
How have you overcome the difficulties
caused by the economic downturn?
We have responded by becoming more
predictable in delivery, focusing on opera-
tional excellence and entering into diverse
markets and by driving an agenda with cus-
tomers and various public bodies in support
of a construction industry that is focused on
win-win solutions.
Seven of the world’s fastest growing
economies are in Africa, albeit starting off a
low base. What we have to do is to address
and engage those markets in a respon-
sible and pro-active manner. While they are
buoyant and South Africa lags in terms of
recovery, you can start balancing the whole
spectrum of your operation over a far larger
geographic area.
The danger in South Africa is that wemay
come out of the current depressed cycle and
go into an overheated phase. We have lost
a lot of skills across the industry during the
global downturn andwe need to address this
issue and insure that our industry is one that
is able to attract the very best talent.
There are different drivers of the re-
covery in South Africa: a number of big
developments are coming to fruition in
Johannesburg. This is being driven by nodal
development – the Gautrain has changed
the environment. Big organisations want to
consolidate operations along the nodes that
this world-class transit systemhas created. In
Sandton there is amove to consolidate offices
of some of the major corporations. We need
to ensure that when these potential mega-
projects come tomarket, they do not detract
from what we (and other major players) are
doing elsewhere as they have the potential
we ensure the transfer of the lessons learnt.
It becomes a holistic and sustainable way
of interaction and doing business. This is a
slower process to simply attacking an op-
portunity as it comes to table – but it is far
more rewarding in the long-run.
How does this benefit Murray & Roberts
Construction?
We are better positioned to retain our skills
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