Industry association Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa) and professional services multinational Aon South Africa on November 10 recognised excellence in the consulting engineering fraternity in what was a difficult year for infrastructure and engineering projects.

The Cesa Aon Engineering Awards, in its forty-ninth year, recognised and awarded engineers and engineering companies for their work.

"This has been another year of surprises and challenges, especially in the past few months, that, as a country and industry, we managed to navigate. Cesa member firms have risen to the challenges and our member firms continued to produce work that is world-class in terms of innovation, quality, workmanship and professionalism," said Cesa president Sugen Pillay.

Cesa supports the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) for the county. It also remains in discussions with, and in support of, Infrastructure South Africa, which contributes to Cesa remaining cautiously optimistic that the ERRP will gain momentum and lead to a more well-defined project pipeline across all engineering sectors, he noted.

"It is, therefore, imperative that we, as an industry, produce work that is of the highest quality to deliver value for money and remain trusted advisers to clients and stakeholders," he said.

The consulting engineering industry serves to protect lives through the design and development of quality infrastructure that contributes to livelihoods in the built environment value chain and the country. Infrastructure and infrastructure development is one of the key drivers of economic growth through the design and development of valuable infrastructure, added Cesa CEO Chris Campbell.

Infrastructure improves service delivery and contributes to the upliftment of communities through access to services and amenities that help to alleviate poverty and unemployment in line with government's National Development Plan and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, he said.

In the category of megaprojects with a value greater than R1-billion, Ritchie Midgley Consulting Engineers received a commendation for the 56-storey Leonardo, located in Sandton, and developed by the Legacy Group. The project was completed in 2020.

Further, in the category of projects valued at between R250-million and R1-billion, Zutari was the winner for the 36-storey residential high-rise 16 on Bree, in Cape Town, and developed by FWJK Developments.

Zutari technical director and water, wastewater and industrial treatment expertise leader Mpho Ramphao accepted the award on behalf of the company and noted that the design of the building incorporated innovative structural design solutions that broke from traditional high-rise designs to mitigate the natural drift of the building under wind loads.

Further, Aecom receiving a commendation in the R250-million to R1-billion category for the upgrade of national route 7 (N7) Section 1 from Atlantis South to Kalbaskraal to a dual carriageway. The project was completed for the South African National Roads Agency, and included six interchanges, five underpasses and addressed medium- and long-term traffic growth expectations.

Meanwhile, Bosch Projects and Zutari were named joint winners in the category for projects valued at between R50-million and R250-million. Bosch Projects completed the UCL 175 TCH Factory Expansion project for the UCL Company within 18 months and on budget.

Zutari received the award for the Kruisvallei Hydropower for Zevobuzz. The project involved two hydropower stations that were completed within 18 months on time and within budget, starting from April 2019, with Zutari performing construction management, on-site quality assurance, as well as grid code and network compliance work.

"The [Kruisvallei Hydropower] project demonstrated how growth and economic development can be decoupled from environmental degradation and carbon-intensive sources in a responsible manner to increase resource efficiency and promote a sustainable lifestyle. Sustainable development cannot happen without sustainable consumption and optimum recovery of natural resources," said Ramphao.

Knight Piésold was awarded a commendation in the category for projects valued at between R50-million and R250-million for the design and construction of the Emoyeni Reservoir for the eThekwini municipality, which increased its capacity from 5 Mℓ to 25 Mℓ.

Further, Zutari won the award in the category for projects valued at less than R50-million for the Kuils River Corridor Upgrade on behalf of the City of Cape Town’s water and sanitation department.

"The work Zutari did for the Kuils River Corridor upgrade embodies the vision of the City of Cape Town's liveable urban water programme and as part of its transition to a water-sensitive city. We at Zutari aimed to showcase sustainability, and people and the environment living in peace and harmony by creating a positive impact through carefully considered engineering," said Ramphao.

Meanwhile, for the Engineering Technology and Innovation - Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Building Design Excellence Award a commendation went to Spoormaker & Partners for the Engineering 4.0 Facility for the University of Pretoria.

"The project was technically challenging, and it is not every day a company can design and participate in the development of a new engineering laboratory. We also thank the mechanical contractors for implementing a technically difficult design," said Spoormaker & Partners mechanical engineer Deo du Plessis.

Du Plessis also received a commendation in the young engineers awards category.

Meanwhile, BVi Consulting Engineers won the Business Excellence Award, while Knight Piésold Consulting received a commendation in this category.

Koleko was awarded the Small or Medium Company of the Year, while SMEC South Africa’s Edward Archer was recognised as Mentor of the Year and AECOM was named Mentoring Company of the Year.

Cesa also recognises the contribution young engineers make to the profession, and Zutari’s Confidence Tshilande was named Young Engineer of the Year.

Dr Dempsey Naidoo received the Lifetime Industry Achievement Award for his contribution to the profession, with a career spanning 37 years in the infrastructure, engineering, business creation and management sectors.

The Visionary Client of the Year recognition went to N4 management agency Trans African Concessions for its involvement in social and entrepreneurial development, job creation and training, and skills transfer in a variety of fields in the construction industry, which have made a significant impact not only in the lives of ordinary citizens, but also through the opportunities afforded to local consulting engineers and the construction industry at large.

The Publishing Excellence in the Trade Publications category went to Creamer Media, publisher of Engineering News and Mining Weekly, while the Daily Newspaper category was awarded to Arena Holdings.

"As Aon, we see fundamental shifts and challenges as opportunities to do things differently. We are committed to accelerating innovation and enabling better decisions by laying the foundations to better the future of our clients, communities and businesses. We do not accept a new normal, but strive to build a new better," said Aon South Africa CEO Terence Williams.