With an infrastructure pipeline worth R152bn, including 52 investment-ready projects, the province is positioning itself for further development. However, sustaining this momentum will depend on more than investment and project opportunities.
Developing skilled workers, strengthening emerging contractors and building business capacity are becoming increasingly important to ensuring the industry can deliver infrastructure safely, professionally and sustainably.
“Companies increasingly recognise that operating successfully in construction requires more than simply winning work,” says Chandré Abrahams, vice president of the Master Builders Association Western Cape (MBAWC). “Businesses need access to industry knowledge, representation, networking, professional development and a better understanding of the regulatory and operating environment.”
For Abrahams, sustainable growth depends on businesses being able to operate professionally while navigating contracts, regulation, employment requirements and the broader construction environment. Compliance and ethical conduct are not simply administrative requirements, but part of building trust and maintaining standards across the sector.
This is an area where industry associations can play a role by helping businesses understand their obligations and develop the capability to meet them. MBAWC represents around 400 member companies, whose work accounts for approximately 70% of Western Cape building activity, and provides support around contracts, labour relations, occupational health and safety, regulatory requirements and industry standards.
But capacity also depends on developing the people who will build and manage the industry in future.
MBAWC supports training and education, trade development, occupational health- and safety initiatives, bursaries, student support and programmes exposing young people to construction careers. Its initiatives include the OHS Cadet Programme, Go for Gold, bursaries and trade training.
“All the initiatives have a compulsory site component for on-the-job practical training to bridge the gap between academic or theoretical knowledge,” says Petra Devereux, executive director of MBAWC. “This is critical especially in construction where exposure to real site conditions allow learners to apply their theoretical knowledge, develop practical competence and understand the safety, productivity, teamwork and workplace discipline required in the industry.”
The need extends beyond individual workers to the businesses employing them. Through its Entrepreneurship Programme with the University of the Western Cape, MBAWC provides 30 emerging contractors each year with training in the fundamentals of running a construction business and meeting compliance requirements. Participants can subsequently apply for candidate membership and access mentoring and other support.
That focus is increasingly relevant as the province seeks to broaden participation in its construction economy. For emerging and township-based businesses, access to opportunities needs to be matched by the capability to sustain them, from compliance and business management to delivering quality work and competing in the wider market.
“For me, growth is not only about growing turnover. It is about building businesses that are sustainable, professional and capable of creating opportunities for others,” says Abrahams.
The wider challenge is one of capacity. Turning a major infrastructure pipeline into completed projects requires artisans, supervisors, technical professionals, project managers and construction businesses with the capability to deliver.
“Our industry relies heavily on people. While technology and AI will undoubtedly transform the way we work, they cannot replace the skilled people who physically build our homes, infrastructure and cities with their hands,” says Devereux.
As the Western Cape builds out its infrastructure pipeline, the ability to develop those people and businesses alongside the physical projects could prove just as important as the construction itself.
