Corobrik upbeat on building industry
Brick manufacturer Corobrik is upbeat on prospects for 2015 following an increase in
government infrastructural spending since the May general election. Corobrik managing
director Dirk Meyer says that added to infrastructural spending there has been a 15% increase
in sales due to a modest recovery in the residential market. In the first three months of the
current financial year, the group has sold more bricks into dwellings than in the past few years.
“While growth is slow, it is steady and we are confident there is sufficient building activity in the
market for Corobrik to successfully gain an improved shareholding in the walling and paving
arenas. A key to 2015 will be growing organically as the group implements internal capital
projects aimed at competing for more market share,” he says.
Meyer’s comments come as the industry recovers from some of the worst years experienced;
particularly after the 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament once the infrastructure demanded for
that event had been completed.
While experiencing a slow resurgence in residential and building activity, the Western Cape
has picked up significantly. Meyer says several projects that had been suspended, were back on
track and developer activity in this area, which had halted following the economic slump and a
resultant glut of residential stock, was also showing recovery. “Many of those properties were
built as second homes or as speculative ventures and, when this money dried up, the stock had
to be slowly absorbed into the market. The uptick in residential demand has seen this supply
accommodated and now developers that survived the slump are robustly building units,” he
says.
In July last year Corobrik appointed Musa Shangase as national commercial manager and he
became commercial director in January 2014. Shangase is specifically tasked with extending
Corobrik’s reputation and influence in the public sector to achieve preferred status as a reliable
supplier of superior quality clay and concrete masonry materials.
Corobrik has identified four entities, namely government, the building material suppliers,
contractors and end-users or beneficiaries, as being the significant players in them being able to
achieve their goal for greater influence in the public sector. Government facilitates building and
construction of schools, hospitals, clinics, houses and roads; building material suppliers supplies
the materials to contractors building facilities on the government’s behalf and communities
receiving quality houses and schools. “Each entity has a role to support one another so the
chain will not break,” Shangase says.
Meyer says in the past year Shangase has played a significant role in taking Corobrik’s
sustainable argument to decision-makers, particularly in securing government contracting
work. AD
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