8
NEWS
Talking tomorrow today
The role of ‘smart’ buildings in accelerating infrastructure
delivery in South Africa was placed under the spotlight at an
Innovation Day hosted by Johnson Controls.
Held under the theme of ‘Talking Tomorrow, Today’,
the event engaged a range of stakeholders to not
only make them aware of the complete solutions
available from the company, but to stimulate an
important debate about the increasingly critical role
played by technology.
Designed as a showcase of innovation, the event gave a
comprehensive overview of smart city technology, green
building solutions and energy efficiency, and infrastructure
and human capital investment. Here the focus was buildings
across the board, from hospitals to universities. “Our aim
was to engage with important stakeholders in order to
understand what is on their wish list in terms of benefiting
their end users,” says Archibald Makatini, GM for sub-
Saharan Africa at the Johnson Control MEA headquarters in
Isando, Johannesburg.
Smart cities are not only about ‘bright shiny new buildings’,
but must focus on developing infrastructure that caters to
the overall needs of society, according to Makatini. Born
in South Africa, Makatini’s 23-year career with Johnson
Controls has taken him from New York City to New Jersey,
Hawaii, California, and now back to South Africa. “What
brought me full circle was the opportunity. Africa is primed
for infrastructure growth across the board.”
Johnson Controls is ideally positioned to assist cities like
Johannesburg revive their dilapidated building stock, as it
grapples with a growing deficit of affordable housing. “A
lot of these buildings do not even have simple functionality
such as air-con. We as a company can assist in turning
Johannesburg around. We have the knowhow to turn those
buildings into liveable environments.”
Archie Makatini, GM Johnson Controls sub-
Saharan Africa.
A major issue faced by both national and local government
level is its capacity for proactive maintenance, which is
increasingly constrained by a lack of funding and the
necessary technical skills. “We have engaged with our
partners in order to demonstrate our capabilities in terms of
maintaining infrastructure and systems,” Makatini points out.
Johnson Controls, known traditionally as an HVAC company,
has subsequently moved away from its exclusive focus on
chillers and air-con equipment to completely integrated
smart building solutions. “In addition to our technology
and long-term R&D commitment, we are also an Original
Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). This means we can offer
a turnkey design-and-manufacture capability, guaranteeing
both performance and quality.”
This places Johnson Controls in a unique position to respond
to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for smart cities in his
State of the Nation Address last 20 June. The President
referred to his ‘dream of a South Africa where the first
entirely new city built in the democratic era rises, with
skyscrapers, schools, universities, hospitals and factories
… The city we build must demonstrate democratic spatial
planning; it must also be a smart city and illustrate that we
are in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.’
Alfredo dos Santos, senior cloud architect, Microsoft.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
@plumbingonline
@plumbingonline
@PlumbingAfricaOnline
January 2020 Volume 25 I Number 11