Wilhelm du Plessis has been the editor of Construction World for the past 15 years and prior to this was involved in publishing, public relations, and media communications. He completed a Masters degree (cum laude) at Rhodes University.
Construction World is a business-to-business magazine that has been in publication since 1982. It currently has an audited circulation figure of 16 600 and is a respected title that keeps readers within the construction industry informed, while offering a vehicle for advertisers to reach this segment.
Although it started as a monthly magazine, Du Plessis has grown the title into a brand that – in addition to the monthly printed copy, online magazine, and PDF (emailed title) – now offers a vibrant website, two weekly newsletters that each reach more than 12 000 people, and a LinkedIn page with 45 000 followers.
The crowning glory of the Construction World brand
Construction World’s Best Projects Awards is the most significant and visible of Construction World’s brand extensions as it enables the construction industry to highlight its level of excellence to the broader industry and the public.
The annual awards are hosted every November. Du Plessis took over management of Best Projects in 2010, soon after taking over as editor of Construction World. Under his administration, the awards event has grown to almost 10 times its original size (in terms of attendance, the number of annual entries and industry sponsorships). It is now a highlight on the industry’s calendar and has morphed from being a small cocktail function to being an evening dinner event hosting up to 400 people.
Best Projects is the only independently judged competition for the construction industry. It recognises excellence in civil engineering construction, building contractors, specialist suppliers or contractors, consulting engineers and architects.
It was one of the first awards in the country to recognise excellence in sustainable construction and, since its inception in 2002, has had a dedicated category for this in the form of the ‘AfriSam innovation award for sustainable construction’.
The unbiased results of the awards are achieved by using judges who are retired experts in the fields of civil engineering, building, consulting and architecture. In the 21 years that the awards event has taken place, there have been only two changes in the judges – testament to the consistency of the awards.
In addition to the day-to-day editing and writing function of Construction World and his role as deputy publisher of Crown Publications (its publisher), Du Plessis, is responsible for every aspect of the awards.
The awards programme starts in May when the first call for entries is sent to industry. He manages all entry logistics, edits all the entries, ensures that they adhere to the judging criteria, arranges the judging process, and organises the awards function/event. This is held in architecturally interesting and significant venues around Johannesburg, such as Rand Club, Katy’s Palace and Victoria Yards.
The fact that many companies display the Best Projects certificates they have won in the foyers of their business premises is indicative of how valuable this independent award has become over the past 22 years, and more particularly the past 13 years, which is when Du Plessis took over and raised the profile of the awards.
The December issue of Construction World is dedicated entirely to the winners and entrants of Best Projects and as such becomes a digest of the excellence that the construction industry achieved in the preceding year.
Quick facts
- Under Du Plessis’s management, there have never been fewer than 50 entries for Best Projects (in 2011 there were 72).
- The black-tie awards event is by invitation only and attended by between 250 and 400 people from the industry.
- The special December issue of Construction World is a 100-page magazine that is dedicated to the awards.
- Best Projects is the only independently judged award in South Africa for the entire construction industry.
- A short video is created of the awards event and distributed via Construction World’s various platforms.
- Best Projects has raised the profile of excellent projects within the industry.
- Best Projects motivates construction companies to set new benchmarks in the industry and this, in turn, inspires others to up their game.
- The awards have always attracted entries from across the board: from big companies such as WBHO to smaller companies. The only pre-requisite is that there is excellence in the execution of the project.
