Elsie Snyman (CEO – Industry Insight)

There is a global shortage of skills for engineers, plumbers, and electricians, among others. So no, I don’t think we have overcome our skills dilemma, and no, I don’t think we are taking ownership of skills development. There are great initiatives taken by the private sector, but as an industry, and here I have to refer to the Construction Education & Training Authority (CETA), there is much work still to be done.

However, skills development is a process that takes years to implement and has to be sustained on a continuous basis. The challenge is to deploy skills where they are needed, and to have sufficient data to understand “where the demand is, and where it’s going to be” and what the available skill pool is.

Many people may be looking for work in one concentrated area (like Cape Town or Johannesburg), while there are initiatives that focus greatly on rural development. We are busy looking at the Integrated Development Planning (IDP) documents of the Western Cape area, to see exactly what the plans are (or should be) for the next three years.

Mike Upton (CEO – Group Five)

Jobs are being shed, but the industry has upskilled during the delivery of the projects that were timed around 2010. However, the level of skills is still sub-optimal, as is the quantity of experienced technical and managerial personnel. But I feel the extreme shortage that was felt a few years ago has abated.

Mike Wylie (Chairman: WBHO)

I feel there is something of a logic problem here. Five years ago, before the World Cup, everyone said we didn’t have the skills to build the stadiums. But now that the stadiums have been built, I don’t understand why ‘skills’ is still on the table.

Everything learned through building the stadiums can be transferred into the areas where we need them now. All the elements of construction are the same, including the skills. It’s simply the combinations that vary with each project. I honestly don’t feel there is a problem with skills.

The only big problems we had were with specialists like electricians and IT technicians, but we got through it. We felt the strain on specialist skills but we pulled them in from all over the place, and combined with our continuous training programmes, we made it happen.

It will be a long time before we have that demand on our specialised skills base again, and even if we do, we‘ve proven we can get through it. Skills must simply be put in the hands of the people doing the job. It is our responsibility, as contractors, to deliver a job and to deliver it to the right quality. Therefore, the responsibility for skills is upon us. So we’ve shown our ability to overcome the skills shortage.

When we started those stadiums, not only were there shortages in the artisan level, but the engineers had left the country as well. Between England, Ireland, Dubai, and Australia, everyone was pulling our skills away. With virtually no international interest and severe economic conditions, along we came with five stadiums, finished with six months to spare – produced better than anyone else in the world.

Think about it. Wembley Stadium was finished 2 years late and is still embroiled in legal battles, while the Millennium Stadium bankrupted John Laing plc, and almost the Welsh Rugby Union as well. Yet South Africa comes along, with its specialist skills spread across the world, and we achieved the impossible.

Polokwane Stadium was built entirely by black engineers, black foreman, and black artisans. Everyone was black, save for two or thee white faces. It’s a pity people don’t understand that.

But make no mistake; it’s going to be very tough going forward. We’re concerned about 2011 and 2012. I think there‘ll be more capacity than work delivered, and Government contracts are going to come slowly.

As always, we’ll have to operate very effectively and very efficiently, without any waste. The bigger companies will be bolstered by international projects, but for the local South African construction company to survive in this market its managers will have to be pretty smart.