South Africa

Durban Harbour is Africa's busiest container port and harbour with over 5,000 ships visiting each year. We were part of the team which delivered the award-winning 500m long tunnel carrying services under the harbour

With an emerging economy and the enormous development taking place, South Africa presents the potential for diverse prosperity. We have been helping provide solutions for government and organisations across a range of sectors, including transport, education and health, buildings, energy and communication.

Transport

Our expansion in South Africa was spring-boarded through our joint venture with Hatch and local engineering consultancy Goba working for Transnet, a state-owned transport organisation. Transnet embarked on a Capital Expansion Programme comp-rising all nine of the country’s freight terminals and an 850km railway freight line. As part of this joint venture we are programme managing the upgrade of all facilities – totalling approximately R100 billion (US$10 billion).

Also alongside Goba, we provided soft-ground tunnelling advice for the completed Durban Harbour Crossing Project, which comprises a 515m new tunnel. So far the project has won three awards – two for technical excellence and another for construction techniques.

Education

We have been working with teachers and education authority staff to improve curriculum planning, teaching and academic performance in primary schools across Limpopo ProvinceA huge challenge South Africa faces is improving its education infrastructure. The Khanyisa Programme has supported the Limpopo Province Department
of Education’s work in implementing its strategic plan for improving curriculum planning, teaching and academic performance in primary schools across the province. Our specialists at Cambridge Education were instrumental in its success.

Meanwhile, BMB Mott MacDonald, our management consultancy specialising in social sector development, managed the Imbewu Programme. Its main purpose was to enhance the performance of 600 disadvantaged schools in the Eastern Cape.

Communications

Bringing simple, affordable communications to some of the world’s poorest people is the challenge facing our team supporting an innovative start-up operation called SMILE. We have been involved from the early stages, building the business plan, securing funding, procuring the network, helping to secure licences and providing programme management.

Health

We provided technical assistance and managed a R446.2 million programme funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to support South Africa’s response to HIV/AIDS through its Multi-sectoral Support Programme. Ultimately, the goal of the programme is to reduce the number of new HIV infections and mitigate the impact of this disease in South Africa.

Buildings

Mbombela Stadium – a major venue for the World Cup 2010One of our roles, on behalf of Goba, involved designing the lightweight roof structure for Mbombela Stadium – one of ten venues hosting the 2010 soccer World Cup.

The 43,500 seat stadium will also be used for multi-sports, concerts and exhibitions.