Cape Construction event a success

"Cape Construction has been great; it is a focused market space that we came to join and we have found it to be very lucrative," said Neal Serrao, regional sales manager for TomTom Telematics.

Sean Pienaar from Enderstein van der Merwe shared the same sentiments. "Cape Construction is a great place to meet up and coming contractors, whether it is from the sub-contractors, suppliers to the main contractors, we have met everybody in this sphere."

Business opportunities

The Cape Construction Conference provided a programme which educated attendees around business and project opportunities in the region and garnered intense discussion around the relationship between the private and public sector.

A major theme addressed was how the relationship between public and private entities could be streamlined for the greater good of the province without compromising the key objectives of the public and the private sectors bottom lines.

Some of the conference highlights included the comprehensive presentation by David Metelerkamp which looked at megatrends and opportunities within the industry. He highlighted that, although the country is facing tough times economically, the Western Cape will experience growth with the majority of it coming from the construction industry with major highlighted growth by property development and private building.

Shortage of houses

During the high level plenary session, MEC for Human Settlements, Bonginkosi Madikizela highlighted that now more than ever government needs to start looking at the process that they have in place and to adapt to the times. Madikizela also stressed that the private sector, especially financial institutions, need to also step up to help address the shortage of houses.

Another conference highlight was the highly informative presentation by Adrian Booysen, director at CommuniTgrow and Alastair Rendall, managing director of CommuniTgrow, who provided an in-depth look at property development with regards to the feasibility of a project like WesCape and the intricacies of a project to this magnitude.

They also explored the financial aspects of property development and the role that financing plays in the operating model of most construction businesses. They highlighted that there is a need to actively seek opportunities as opposed to waiting for business to available.