To address the massive skills shortage in the South African consulting engineering sector, increased cooperation between the private and public sectors is needed, engineering and design company WSP Africa CEO Mathieu du Plooy tells Engineering News.

“The serious skills shortage in the country will continue to be a challenge and the consulting engineering sector needs to deal with this. It is an issue that relates to the education system and the level of investment in mathematics and science,” he says.

Du Plooy adds that a lack of experienced engineers is another issue the consulting engineering fraternity has to face, which, he suggests, might be closely linked to the skills shortage. The lack of experience has also directly impacted on the ability of consulting engineering companies to successfully deliver major infrastructure projects.

“If you look at the age of personnel delivering major projects in South Africa, you will probably find they are 40 to 50 years old,” he notes, highlighting that there are too few young personnel with sufficient experience to fill the gap when the current generation retires.

“Addressing the skills shortage is a key part of how WSP is navigating its future. We are investing an enormous amount in skills development, not only in terms of bursaries but also [in terms of] the full talent pipeline. Our focus continues to be on attracting and retaining the best talent in the industry,” Du Plooy comments.

He notes that WSP is involved in bursary schemes with educational institutions in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. Once employed, WSP places its personnel on a “people journey”, which develops personnel in terms of the technical aspects of the consulting engineering profession and also on a personal level.

The technical aspect of the journey helps engineering graduates develop their Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) profile. After becoming candidate engineers, they are expected, to attain continuing professional devel- opment (CPD) points from ECSA to be registered as professional engineers and continue their CPD training to maintain registration.

WSP runs personal mastery and leadership development courses as part of its personal development programme.

“The key to personal mastery is developing people so that they can interact and operate in a team environment, not only within WSP but also with clients and the various professionals within a team. This will improve their awareness of how to interact and operate in these situations.

“Our industry and sector are relationship-driven and we need to ensure that we support our people in developing and maintaining in-house and external business relationships,” Du Plooy comments.

He notes that, while consulting engineers have a traditional role as custodians of the technical elements of a project, thereby protecting the public interest, relationships are developed through consulting engineers’ roles in supporting clients to get the most out of their assets.

“I would also like to see a move towards understanding what the future is for the assets that consulting engineers are involved in in developing projects from a technical perspective and adding more value to the work that we do.

“Determining the future of assets has a lot to do with understanding the relationship, not only the role the asset would play in the future but also what the client would like to see from that asset. It also involves matching that understanding with technical solutions and how to best deliver on that,” Du Plooy explains.

Growth Opportunities
“The aspirations of South Africa for sustainable economic growth, underpinned by the National Development Plan (NDP), are key opportunities for all South Africans,” Du Plooy puts forward.

He adds that this is a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to join forces to build infrastructure that will create a sustainable South Africa for the current generation and those to follow.

When asked about the debates between the public and private sectors regarding the delivery of the NDP, Du Plooy suggests that greater dialogue is needed between the two sectors. “Improved dialogue will enable all concerned parties to plan better [to resource] the projects that are coming through and to form partnerships.

“The public and private sectors have to work together if they are to achieve the goals of the NDP. I am optimistic and I do believe that we are making progress. People will always comment that we should be making more progress, but there is some movement and a lot more work still needs to be done,” he concludes.