Western Cape's largest construction conference and trade expo

The third annual Cape Construction Conference and Trade Expo took place on the 12-13 of August 2015 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Now in its third edition, this year’s event had 5000 pre-registered visitors and the Western Cape’s most innovative exhibition for the construction industry.

Neal Serrao, Regional Sales Manager for TomTom Telematics had this to say about the trade expo, “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. Overall it has been great, we have loved it.” 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 subcontractors, suppliers to the main contractors, we have met everybody in this sphere.”

The Cape Construction Conference provided a two day CPD accredited 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 during the conference 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. David 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. 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. MEC 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.

The Cape Construction Conference provided a rare holistic look into the construction industry with a major focus on megatrends, solutions and opportunities. It placed a spotlight on all key areas of construction from procurement to energy efficiency to project cost efficiency. Together with the trade expo the entire event showcased all of the industry’s leading service and solution providers and how they bring value across the construction project life cycle.

 “We have to be at Cape Construction to represent ourselves in the industry and stand out as one of the leaders in the plant hire industry so we need to participate in this.” - Theuns Burger, CEO of Burma Plant Hire.

Cape Construction Conference and Trade Expo has truly become a must – attend event for the Western Cape construction industry.

For further information, please visit www.cape-construction.co.za