Creamer Media’s Engineering News was among the organisations and individuals recognised at the 2016 Engineering Excellence Awards, hosted by Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa) and Aon South Africa in Gauteng late last month.

Engineering News received the Publishing Excellence award in the daily news category, while Civil Engineering Contractor received recognition in the trade publication category.

However, the event was, as the name suggests, mostly a showcase of outstanding achievements in the engineering industry, highlighting not only excellence in large and small projects, but also young talent and the efforts of experienced engineers in mentoring the next generation.

“Given the pivotal role that Cesa members have in South African society and the economy, these awards are about thanking all the participants for the role [they] play in our country’s growth,” said Aon South Africa CEO Terence Williams.

He added that the winning projects proved that South Africa still had a lot to deliver and offer its citizenry and that realising the potential of the country would continue to require the excellence that the consulting engineering industry has to offer.

“Clearly an enormous responsibility lies upon your shoulders as the consulting engineers in South Africa but, by the same token, to deliver on these responsibilities, consulting engineers have to operate in a secure, risk-managed environment. It’s our role at Aon South Africa to facilitate that environment and to ensure that you have a professional and qualified team on your side every step of the way,” noted Williams.

Awards were handed out in various categories, including Engineering Excellence for projects with a value of less than R50- million, projects with a value between R50-million and R250-million and projects with a value of over R250-million.

Other categories included Best International Project, Visionary Client of the Year, Mentor of the Year, Business Excellence, Mentoring Company of the Year, Young Engineer of the Year, Publisher of the Year, Job Shadow Initiative of the Year and Branch of the Year.

The Winners

•Braamhoek Consultants Joint Venture, Royal HaskoningDHV and Knight Piesold took first place in the Engineering Excellence category for projects with a value greater than R250-million for Eskom’s Ingula pumped-storage scheme, located between Ladysmith and Harrismith, in the Little Drakensberg. It has a generating capacity of 1 332 MW. Zitholele Consulting received a commendation in this category for the Driefontein Waste Water Treatment Works.

•The winner in the Young Engineer of the Year category was Dr Gabrielle Wojtowitz, of Aurecon, while Louis de Waal, of Bosch Holdings, received a commendation.

Airports Company South Africa sponsored this year’s Young Engineer of the Year award.

•Royal HaskoningDHV received the Engineering Excellence award for projects with a value less than R50-million for the National Department of Science and Technology/Mintek Nanotechnology Innovation Centre Cleanroom Facility. HHO Consulting received a commendation.

•MPA received the Engineering Excellence award for projects with a value between R50-million and R250-million for the R103 provincial road P4-1 between Van Dyk road and Diana road, in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.

Royal HaskoningDHV received a commendation for the refurbishment of the Condale substation, as well as Mott MacDonald for the Bellville waste management facility.

•Bigen Africa received the Business Excellence award. This privately owned project-based group of companies specialises in infrastructure and its vision is to have a long-term development impact within the African economies and communities in which it operates.

•In the Best International Project category, sponsored by the Built Environment Professionals Export Council, the recipient of the award was Aurecon Botswana for the Kusane Kazungula village sanitation project, while Bosch Projects received a commendation for the Nakambala product alignment and refinery.

•Bigen Africa was also named the Mentoring Company of the Year. The award was sponsored by Bosch Holdings. Bigen, which highlights human capital as its biggest asset, designs and implements strategies that align business objectives with individual expectations of career success.

•Cesa recognised Nevin Rajasakran, of Zitholele Consulting, as Mentor of the Year. With 18 years’ experience, Rajasakran has personally mentored three candidate engineers over 15 years. His culminating achievement was to mentor and guide his three mentees to manage teams on some of the country’s major power stations.

•Growthpoint Properties was recognised as the market leader in implementing ‘best practices’ for sustainable operational efficiency and ‘green’ features in its 470 properties and received the Visionary Client of the Year award.

•Royal HaskoningDHV received the Cesa Job Shadow Initiative award, while UWP and Nako Iliso were runners-up.

•Cesa’s Cape Town branch was named Branch of the Year.