The Civil Engineering Contractor March 2018 | Page 33

PROFILE
C
hris Campbell, CEO of
Consulting
Engineers
South Africa (CESA), is no
newcomer to the long and hard road to
achieving one’s goals and aspirations.
From his humble roots in Newclare
‘coloured township’, Johannesburg, he
matriculated as a scholarship student
from St Barnabas College, then located
next to Sophiatown in 1980, one of the
few non-racial schools at that time in
South Africa’s history.
Campbell started his journey as a
draughtsman in 1981 and went on
to obtain a National Diploma and
National Higher Diploma in Civil
Engineering from what is now known
as the University of Johannesburg, in
the mid-eighties.
After almost 10 years in the consulting
engineering industry as a senior
technician, he went on to graduate with
a BSc Civil Engineering degree (summa
cum laude) in 1995 at the Florida A &
M University in the US, having been
awarded a scholarship through a USAID
programme. He has been registered
as a professional engineer since 1998
and has subsequently also obtained
various certificates and diplomas in
management and leadership.
Over his 36-year career in
engineering, he has worked in
various capacities in many consulting
engineering companies; spent several
years at Transnet, both in its Rail and
Capital Projects business units; and has
even ventured into the precast concrete
manufacturing business in an executive
capacity with the Infraset Business Unit
of the Aveng Group, both locally and
internationally.
His institutional involvement too, has
been in various capacities over the past,
ranging from Gauteng Branch chair
for the South African Black Technical
and Allied Career Organisations
(SABTACO), vice-president of the
South African Institution of Civil
Engineering (SAICE), vice-president of
the Engineering Council of South Africa
(ECSA), vice-president of The World
Federation of Engineering Organisations
(WFEO), and past president of ECSA.
He is currently chair of the Built
Environment Professions Export
Council (BEPEC), board member of the
Construction Sector Charter Council
(CSCC), as well as a board member of
Business Unity South Africa (BUSA).
What is CESA’s main focus?
CESA provides member firms with
a great deal of industry-related
information, from guidelines for
professional practice to advice
on contractual and procurement
matters. CESA provides industry-
specific training through the School
of Engineering (SCE) and publishes
valuable directory information.
CESA champions the professional
and business capabilities and interests
of member firms and ensures that
the industry identifies with the
dedication and credibility of those
firms who are members of CESA.
Meeting membership requirements,
CESA members commit themselves
to the upholding of engineering
and professional standards and the
maintenance of quality. We represent
fairness towards our member firms and
provide support in this respect, while
also ensuring that members do not
bring our industry into disrepute.
Our current focus is to drive efforts
towards a partnership between
industry and government in realising
the aspirations of the National
Development Plan in Infrastructure
Development.
Within the South African context,
what are CESA’s challenges?
We find that because we strive to
ensure a healthy industry that can
provide quality services to its clients,
many major clients in the public sector
who seem to have different motives
where we see things going awry, avoid
contact with us and are not receptive to
the partnership that we offer to assist
in meeting the infrastructure delivery
challenges in the national interest.
What is your view on what
the civils sector will look
like, come 2018?
In our recent Biannual Economic and
Capacity Survey conducted for the period
January to June 2017, we noticed that
industry confidence levels have raised
from 85% in the six months prior to
96%. This is probably since projects
such as the Lesotho Highlands Water
Project Phase 2 and several other
SANRAL projects bids were either
invited or awarded during these periods.
We are also aware that within some
of the large