2008 EXCELLENCE IN BUILDING AWARDS
With their "take no prisoners" attitude, the adjudicators for the KZN Master Builders Association Building Excellence Awards are a highly professional, if not somewhat daunting team. They are, Carl Mouton, a retired architect who managed one of the largest architectural practices in South Africa, and Peter Ridl and Andrew Stewart, both past presidents of BIFSA (now MBSA) and thee KZN Master Builders Association (MBA).
A record 41 entries were received this year - of these, the adjudicators unanimously agreed that, except for "one or two cheeky" entries, the overall standard ranged from very good to amazing. "It is not easy for example to compare a R15 000 contract to a R1.5 billion contract, but applying the standard rating criteria, our judging is generally not very far apart," said Stewart. "While we visit the projects together, we judge separately and then meet to reach a consensus."
This year's awards were unusual in that the adjudicators chose two overall winners. These were the standard bank Regional Offices and Banking Hall in Kingsmead (G Liviero and Son Building Pty Ltd) and the Pearls of Umhlanga (Group 5 KZN Pty Ptd / Pandev JV).
"In both projects the workmanship was consistent in every aspect - absolute quality from top to bottom which is what we are looking for," said Stewart. Mouton remarked how "mind boggling" it was that given tighter completion deadlines, the award-winning builders were not comprising on quality.
"There is no doubt in our minds that the MBA Building Excellence Awards are becoming more of a status symbol," said Stewart. "Going into our fourth year, we are confident that more builders will want to be associated with such a prestigious event." | |
