President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Government's eagerly awaited economic stimulus package at a briefing in Pretoria on Friday aimed at driving economic growth. While CESA applauds this bold move by our President aimed at kick-starting our economy and creating jobs, with the limited public funds that are available the organisation believes that it is critical that these funds are used responsibly to gain true ‘value for money’.

In a night lit with glitz and glamour the who’s who of the Built Environment, hosted by CESA and sponsored by Aon South Africa, celebrated excellence in engineering at the 2018 CESA Aon Engineering Excellence Awards - Creating Legacies and Honouring Legends. This year close to 50 submissions were received and in celebration of Nelson Mandela’s Centenary year CESA expanded the Award’s categories to include ‘The Lifetime Industry Achievement Award’.

The goal of the Job Shadow Initiative is to expose and entice school learners into the engineering field, but more specifically to the specialised field of Consulting Engineering as a career of choice. This year CESA would like to congratulate Knight Piésold who were announced winners of the 2018 CESA Job Shadow Initiative with UWP Consulting as the 1st runner up and Hatch as 2nd runner up.

The Business of Consulting Engineering (BCE) Certificate Ceremony was held during the Rainbow Party at the YPF Imbizo on the 14th August this year. The BCE’s successful 2017 graduates were presented with their certificates at this ceremony. CESA congratulates you on your success! Registration for the 2019 Programme is now open – space is limited for this prestigious Management Development Programme with a specific focus on the Built Environment!

The Annual Young Professionals Sustainability Imbizo took place in Midrand, Gauteng on the 14th and15th of August this year. The Imbizo with the theme of ‘Sustaining the Future of Engineering’ provides networking opportunities and engagement that encourages dialogue for Young Consulting Engineering Professionals.

CESA has been a member of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) for some time now. CESA is happy to share with you the positive news on BUSA stepping up to the challenge of accelerating the vital partnership between Business and Government to grow our economy, reduce unemployment and drive more inclusivity in the economy. BUSA Members in the Financial Services Sector have already committed support to the various programmes proposed by Government through President Ramaphosa.  As an industry we look forward to more clarity on the R400bn stimulus package targeting infrastructure development over the next three year.

The 33rd CESA Annual Relay – a fun sports day where staff from member firms compete against other member teams in fun events – cycling, running, walking, tug-of-war and volleyball was held at the Riversands venue on the 15 September this year. With a strong focus on Wellness and Teambuilding this year the excitement and enthusiasm generated by this popular event was once again evident as competitors, family and friends enjoyed a day out in the countryside. The event is run on a non-profit basis with costs being covered by entry fees from participating firms and sponsorship opportunities offered to interested companies.

CESA is about to embark on the updating of our Practice Notes. We currently have 91 Practice Notes. This is an extensive exercise that would require a significant budget if use was made of a service provider to complete the project.  However, the task could be reduced to ‘bite-size chunks’ and easily accomplished, if volunteers from the CESA membership each revised/updated one of the Practice Notes.