Haw & Inglis Civil Engineering (Pty) Ltd


A climate of support
WeÔÇÖre used to hearing about innovative management styles emanating from the premier league of industrial countries, but as Alan Swaby learns, smaller countries also throw up new ideas, and South AfricaÔÇÖs Haw & Inglis Civil Engineering is a good example.
Haw & Inglis Civil Engineering is based in Cape Town, South Africa, and from the outset itÔÇÖs clear that H&I is different. Rather than a downtown glass palace for its headquarters, H&I operates from a disused quarry that has been turned into a farm, cultivating its own boutique range of olives and wines under the brand name Hillcrest.

This year the business celebrates its 25th anniversary. ItÔÇÖs been through countless cycles in the economy, and in the early years it actually thrived when times were tough. ÔÇ£Prior to South AfricaÔÇÖs 1994 democracy, government spending was heavily focused on the military in defence of apartheid,ÔÇØ explains commercial director Francis Chemaly. ÔÇ£Infrastructure upkeep was ignored during South AfricaÔÇÖs isolation, and the construction sector suffered 15 years of stagnation and contraction. H&IÔÇÖs independence and cost focus helped it survive this taxing economic environment, and yet the company never stopped investing in the development of its people during these years.ÔÇØ
These days the government has upped its spending on infrastructure to 20 per cent of GDP, resulting in a 35 per cent compound year-on-year growth for H&I, taking turnover past the R1 billion per annum level. ÔÇ£Perhaps itÔÇÖs time for us to catch our breath and consolidate,ÔÇØ says Chemaly. ÔÇ£Soon, transport networks and stadia for the 2010 world soccer tournament will be completed, whereafter the industry is eagerly awaiting governmentÔÇÖs direction in terms of its stated push on infrastructure spend.ÔÇØ
H&I takes on all manner of roadworks, from brand-new virgin highways to patch and repair. It has expanded the companyÔÇÖs capacity and expertise by acquiring a specialist concrete construction company, which immediately opened up more opportunities to tackle a greater variety and complexity of projects. ÔÇ£With this acquisition we have gained valuable expertise in ÔÇÿhigh-techÔÇÖ concrete structures,ÔÇØ says Chemaly. ÔÇ£One of our flagship projects post this acquisition is a marine quay wall and boat yard for the countryÔÇÖs special forces. We also have a building company which has established a reputation for quality work in the hospitality industry.
The business also has its own crushing facilities, with five mobile crushers producing gravel. South African road pavement technology has developed designs which employ high specification graded crushed stone layers, which are overlain with thin layer asphalt, or stone chip surface dressings. Chemaly says that road surfacing technologies have been developed in South Africa which can be as thin as 15 millimetres, thus making road construction far more economical for this cash-strapped country.
At present, all stops are out completing three major road projects in time for the World Cup next year. The Hospital Bend upgrading project is particularly challenging, as it entails the upgrade of one of the busiest interchanges in Cape Town, but without any disruption to that traffic. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs tantamount to performing open heart surgery on Cape TownÔÇÖs traffic aorta, comments Chemaly, which strangely enough is adjacent to the famous Groote Schuur hospital where the worldÔÇÖs first heart transplant was performed.
Visitors to next yearÔÇÖs World Cup will be looking forward to taking in some of the popular tourist destinations around Cape Town. Haw & Inglis is feverishly installing upgrades to the rockfall protection and remediation measures on one of these attractions, the world famous ChapmanÔÇÖs Peak Drive. The road around ChapmanÔÇÖs Peak dates back to the early 1900s and was built around the coastline by prisoners of war. Just like Robben Island, ChapmanÔÇÖs Peak is a tourist must, with unparalleled vistas of the peninsula. Unfortunately, the road was built on the back of a mountain with steep, unstable slopes. Four years ago H&I completed restoration work which called for the worldÔÇÖs largest concentration of alpine safety nets and catch fences supplied by the Swiss firm Geobrugg. At times, the only way the fencing could be installed was through the use of helicopters and abseiling (rappelling) construction workers.
But Haw & Inglis seems to relish challenges. In fact, it deliberately sets out to keep the business on its toes with major structural changes happening every five years or so. Before his present role as commercial director, Chemaly was responsible for managing projects. ÔÇ£When you are asked to take control of an area outside of your expertise,ÔÇØ he says, ÔÇ£it calls for much personal introspection, but it also leads to fresh ideas being adopted. There is nothing worse for a business than to stagnate.ÔÇØ
There is consequently no such thing as dead manÔÇÖs shoes at H&I. Senior managers reaching their middle 50s in age, voluntarily ÔÇ£move overÔÇØ and let the next generation assume control. They are still bound to the business, but act as mentors in a ÔÇ£grandfather role,ÔÇØ rather than full-time hands-on managers.
In fact, every manager in the business is charged with finding and grooming his successor. ÔÇ£We found our best growth came when we had a long-term people development plan,ÔÇØ says Chemaly. ÔÇ£The grandfather philosophy we employ means there are visible opportunities for our younger staff. Anyone with drive and talent can move up through the ranks.ÔÇØ
Everyone at the business also shares in the companyÔÇÖs profits, thanks to the H&I Broad Based Empowerment Trust (HIBBET). After two yearsÔÇÖ service, staff become members of HIBBET, which owns 14 per cent of the company, making it the single largest shareholder. Because it has the same voting rights as other stockholders, it has a real voice in how the business is run, and has a seat on the companyÔÇÖs board. Collecting the same dividends as other shareholders, beneficiaries of the trust have enjoyed earnings enhancements in excess of 20 per cent of their annual pay over the past few years.
A final word about health: HIV/AIDS is a real problem in South Africa, where it is estimated that one in four people is infected. H&I is working hard to de-stigmatize the problem, not only encouraging employees to make it known if they are HIV-positive but also providing voluntary annual screening tests to detect its presence. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve had cases of intimidation,ÔÇØ says Chemaly, ÔÇ£but when that happened, the intimidators were dismissed from our employ.ÔÇØ
H&I is a leader in the patient management of employees afflicted with this dread disease, and provides drugs and counselling free of charge to employees living with HIV. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve managed to virtually halt HIV related deaths in our company over the past four years, and we were particularly encouraged when out of 300 core employees, we only detected one new infection since our last testing phase three years ago, proving that the disease can be stopped. ItÔÇÖs a problem affecting the whole of the country, and we all have to have a positive strategy for dealing with it. ItÔÇÖs a matter of attitude and getting on with it,ÔÇØ says Chemaly.
Compared to many organisations operating on a climate of fear, itÔÇÖs encouraging to learn that a supportive environment can also be a very successful one.