Exec Digital speaks to MD Indresen Pillay and Director Nigel Sessions about how Davis Langdon is helping lay the foundations for the future growth of South Africa
By Rebecca Waters
“If you travel by air in South Africa, Davis Langdon has touched every part you can see from the air.” says Managing Director Indresen Pillay. “Someone once said ‘Davis Langdon has really cleaned up in terms of government infrastructure spend’, and I think that’s something that I am proud of.”
Davis Langdon Africa (Pty) Ltd has indeed “touched every part of South Africa”. At the moment, the construction consultancy firm is doing quite a lot of work on stadiums.
“In a cost management role, we are involved with the stadiums in Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria and we assisted with budgets and tender procurement of the Port Elizabeth stadium, adjunct to that there is the stadium in Botswana, which is going to be a training venue,” says Pillay. “In addition, we are participating in a cost management role in the FIFA 2010 compliance work for the Soccer City Stadium, which will be holding the FIFA World Cup final. That involves all projects ranging, from transport facilities to the roads and infrastructure.”
Transport
Essential to 2010 is the number of infrastructural projects that are happening in South Africa; for instance the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link and the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) – both of which Davis Langdon is involved with.
Davis Langdon has been appointed Independent Certifier with Arup on the £1.5 billion rail project. The company will also conduct civil and M&E engineering procurement on the Gautrain project, which will operate between Pretoria, Johannesburg and the international airport.
“We have also been involved with the overall development of the existing terminal precinct at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg,” says Director Nigel Sessions. This follows Davis Langdon’s work on the £195 million Central Terminal Building (CTB).
“The terminal essentially joins the Domestic Terminal building and the International Terminal and creates a new retail and check-in space for the airlines,” explains Pillay. The project is part of the Airports Company South Africa’s (ACSA ) current development plan which includes a series of major projects, upgrades and new buildings intended to increase the capacity and functionality of the airport.
These include the CTB, the International Terminal upgrade, a new apron, a train link and several multi-storey car parks. Surrounding road infrastructure and access roads have also been upgraded.
Engineering services
Alongside Davis Langdon’s specialism in transport is the company’s engineering specialty, which has historically been involved with the mining industry in South Africa. “At the moment we are doing quite a lot of work with the ports,” says Sessions. “We are working for the port authorities in developing, upgrading and expanding the ports.”
“We have also been fortunate enough to be involved in the ports project, building new infrastructure, and adding to existing infrastructure,” adds Pillay. “In addition, one of the new projects that we are working on is a multi-product pipeline, which enables product, mainly fuel products, to travel between Durban on the coast to Johannesburg.”
Landmark projects
As well as a number of projects in the heavy engineering industry, Davis Langdon has also completed a number of landmark projects, such as the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.
“This has been a 10-year project,” says Pillay. “We are just finishing off the entire residential marina and the last building is being handed over now. “The spend is in the region of R1.2 billion,” he says.
Other notable projects that Davis Langdon’s parent company, Davis Langdon Seah International, has worked on include the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai, the Tate Modern in London and Beijing International Airport.
The changing landscape
Alongside the V&A Waterfront, Davis Langdon is involved in a number of mixed use projects. These include three large projects in Johannesburg; one which the company is definitely involved with and the others it is shortlisted for.
“We are also involved with three projects in Cape Town which are similarly mixed use,” says Sessions. So the landscape in South Africa is certainly changing? “I think the landscape is going to be changing quite rapidly,” says Pillay. “Things move rapidly in South Africa and we’ve had a swathe of apartments, especially in Cape Town. We have probably been involved with 25 apartment blocks in the last five years.
“It moves fairly quickly from one sector to the next. The current economic downturn is affecting everybody but I think as we come out of that there are going to be a lot more hotels. There is a lot of interest from international hoteliers and probably office space, are the next two sectors that are going to grow,” he explains. “I think the exposure that 2010 is going to give us is going to be the catalyst for tourism, which has been increasing very rapidly over the past 10 years.”
Opportunities for growth
But where does Davis Langdon see itself moving forward? “I think our business future lies in capitalizing on the opportunities in the rest of Africa,” says Pillay. “We have aligned our business to make sure we capture these opportunities and I think now is the right time to go ahead into the rest of Africa.
“Southern Africa is our core business region but opportunities to grow into the rest of Africa are our future,” he concludes.