Multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm Bosch East Africa Consulting Engineers – part of South Africa-based Bosch Holdings – has extended its mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) services to include civil and structural engineering services to further extend its footprint in Africa.

The company’s extended civil engineering consultancy services now also include the design and construction supervision of bulk earthworks, roads, stormwater structures, dams, water and wastewater treatment plants, pipelines and solid-waste management facilities. Its structural engineering services comprise reinforced concrete and structural steel design services, and the construction supervision of residential, industrial and commercial buildings, from the foundations to the roof.

Bosch East Africa MD Gary Barlow tells Engineering News that there has been a notable uptick in government- and donor-funded public infrastructure and privately funded building projects in East Africa, specifically in Kenya, within the past year.

“The company identified an overwhelming demand within this growth market for civil and structural engineering consultancy services and wished to cater to that demand.”

Barlow emphasises that the company aims to provide effective coordination during the design phase of all services, to be carried out in-house. Bosch East Africa will subsequently be able to reduce the incidence of clashes during the construction phase of clients’ projects. “This will save clients significantly on construction time and associated costs.”

He points out that, since its service expansion, the company’s coordinated service offerings have proven to be an invaluable asset to clients: “The expansion has enabled us to provide a one-stop service for engineering requirements.”

Barlow indicates that this allows for projects to be much simpler, as clients do not have to deal with multiple companies working on the same project.

Projects

Barlow states that Bosch East Africa has enjoyed substantial growth in East Africa in the past five years, including bids for projects in Rwanda, Ethiopia and Ghana. With the expansion of the MEP services, the company has since been appointed for several new civil and structural engineering projects.

Such projects include the structural assessment for an existing residential building in an informal settlement with a population of more than 3 000 people, the design of a domestic wastewater treatment and recycling facility for a population of 8 000 people and the supervision of refurbishment work on the tanks of an effluent treatment plant, all within the Eastern Africa region.

Barlow highlights the company’s recent appointment to provide the civil, structural as well as part of its MEP services for the outpatient, three-floor Gertrudes Garden Children’s Hospital project, in Kenya, where there are no public utility services in the vicinity. He claims that the project is a prime example of what the company’s extended service offering has enabled it to achieve.

The project, currently in its early design phase, will comprise emergency and casualty rooms, consulting rooms, a maternity section, an operating theatre for minor operations and wards for overnight stays. The project began in April this year and is scheduled for completion in mid-2020.

Barlow concludes that Bosch East Africa enhances its multidisciplinary consulting services through a maintenance and support programme to ensure that all contractors comply with contractual and regulatory requirements.