Master Builders South Africa stated in early December 2010 that South Africa's building industry is in a crisis. A Building Industry Crisis Summit was held in Kempton Park, Gauteng on 9 February 2011 to address the crisis. A small working team has been appointed to refine the resolutions put forward by the meeting and to drive the process.
Summarised Summit Decisions
To investigate the establishment of a multi-representative Industry Forum that would meet 2 to 3 times per annum
To promote building as the Engine for Growth, nation building and wealth creation (through home ownership) by way of effective communication with leaders in all the economic sectors
To establish a Task Force to unpack the R846 billion infrastructure budgets and investment for all public sector work, including affordable housing; to determine the impediments to the delivery thereof; to ensure a constant work flow and uphold quality standards, measured against annually assessed programmes, and to explore and prioritise the effective implementation of national infrastructure maintenance strategies.
The formation of an inclusive forum to analyse the 8 000 projects within the Department of Human Settlements
To unlock discretionary grants for the benefit of employers exempt from contributing skills development levies and to actively promote the training of apprentices to create skilled artisans
To involve Youth in the vast amount of work to be done
To create a process for the production of accurate statistics/indices. An appeal should be made to The Competition Commission to again publish Cement Statistics as per the previous format
To maximize employment opportunities by correct retro-fitting of existing buildings; maximize reduction of carbon emissions, and pursue green best practice approaches for engineering services in line with "green building"
In preparation for the Summit, the members of the Master Builders Associations were invited to participate in a survey to access the real economic conditions around the Country. A copy of the report is available for download. Click here