anderson vogt
feature
Structurally
Sound
South Africa Magazine profiles consulting engineering firm Anderson Vogt Consulting.
By Ian Armitage
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Anderson Vogt Consulting focus engineering
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nderson Vogt Consulting, a division of Engineering Design and Training, is a consulting Engineering firm well known for civil, structural, and geotechnical work, with offices in Dundee, Durban, Edenvale, Mtubatuba, and Pietermaritzburg. According to Ed Anderson, Principal Engineer, the company has built its reputation on an ethos of thinking “outside the box”. “The consulting firm Anderson Vogt and Partners, established in 1955, recognised that there was need for young engineering professionals, coming from a previously disadvantaged background, to enter into a consulting practice,” he says. “Engineering Design and Training (EDT) was founded to cater for this need. It did not take long to recognise that the young firm, with an unknown name and perceived unknown track record, was at a disadvantage. It was at this point that Anderson Vogt Consulting (AVC), as a division of AVP, was brought into being.” From its beginnings of being involved in small community-based labour intensive projects, the firm has, over time, grown, acquiring the necessary knowledge, expertise, experience, and confidence to take on the design and management of more complex civil and structural engineering projects. In this regard AVC has been taking over the reins from AVP in the last number of years. “AVC has been involved in some diverse and interesting projects,” Mr Anderson says. “The structural design work for the curved video display on the Radisson Hotel at the corner of Rivonia Road and West Street in Sandton was one such project. The videoscreen is made up of modular panels and the structure stands some seven metres high and 12 metres wide. We’ve also done structural inspections and strengthening design on numerous communication towers and masts for various clients. The design and project monitoring of the ground
Eskom’s Matimba Tower (2009)
stabilisation required at the Olifantsfontein water tower and reservoir complex for the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality was another of our projects.” Other projects include design work for a weir in the Suikerbosch River for Karan Beef and AVC is currently busy with the detailed design of the New Pentecostal Church’s Cathedral in Yoeville, Johannesburg. The impressive structure will have a seating capacity of 10,000 on completion, Mr Anderson says. The firm’s flagship project is the building of the new regional hospital at Edendale, near Pietermaritzburg, which includes the renovation of the district hospital on the same site. Mr Anderson is lead structural engineer and AVC plays a prominent role in the joint venture with two other structural engineering consultancies, Indonsa Projects and Young and Satharia Consulting Civil and Structural Engineers. www.southafricamag.com
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Artist’s Impression of the Edendale Hospital
“The Edendale Hospital, a well-recognised post-graduate teaching hospital, was originally established in the 1950s and was closely linked with the nearby Grey’s and Northdale Hospitals,” Mr Anderson says. “The district hospital currently has a capacity of 900 beds. When the current project has been completed, the capacity of the district hospital will be reduced to 800 beds with the new regional hospital also having a capacity of 800 beds.” The estimated cost for the complete project is R2.6 Billion, of which the structural component comprises about 30 percent. “Our out of the box ethos was critical in getting involved on this,” Mr Anderson adds. “An Engineer from the Department of Health contacted me and told me that he had a dilemma on his hands. Essentially, the Edendale Hospital had been condemned with the recommendation that it needed to be demolished. He wondered if I could I give a second opinion? On inspecting the structure I found that, yes, there were some structural problems but these could be repaired, at 4
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a cost substantially lower than demolition and rebuilding. These repairs were carried out, and the building is still carrying out its function of serving the local community. I feel that the loss of this hospital would definitely have had an adverse effect on the local community. “Although engineering is a science, it is also dependent on human judgement. Unfortunately the human judgement lets us down and errors in judgement are made and then failures do occur. In recent years I have been requested by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) to investigate some of these failures. We, as engineers, design structures which will be used by others and the safety of the user is critical. The need to investigate any failure is of utmost importance. The end result of these investigations has to be putting measures in place to reduce the risk of a similar failure occurring again. I must add that in doing these investigations, our engineers at AVC have become more vigilant to the possibility of errors causing
Anderson Vogt Consulting focus engineering
failures resulting in high degree of care being taken in their design and in their checking a colleague’s design.” AVC is living proof that with the right mindset, you can overcome any obstacle. “As to the business climate,” Mr Anderson continues, “we have anticipated a severe recession, and as a result been very conservative with expenditure and have even managed to build up some reserves. Fortunately the recession has not hit as hard as we expected. We have done very well, exceptionally well this year. There are a few reasons for this. First, the work at the Edendale hospital. Then, we were able to get some interesting work from the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Transport, for which we did extensive bridge inspections and some road design. The Edenvale branch has a number of projects with the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, among others the Kwa-Thema Fire Station and the Etwatwa Township Development. We have also taken on numerous small projects such as the structural design required by people building themselves a new home or even just wanting to extend their existing home. I think that the size of the firm puts us at a great advantage, as it allows us to tackle big projects by pooling the expertise of the different offices but still being small enough to give a home owner the personal touch that they require in building or renovating a home.” The future for AVC is bright. The firm is currently looking into the renewable energy sector, which has great potential for the future.
“We have also completed the prefeasibility studies for some major projects in Madagascar, these have been placed on hold due the current political climate but will be ready to move forward once the situation has stabilised,” Mr Anderson concludes. “The secret behind Anderson Vogt’s success is very simple. It is good service, which includes giving sound advice. Good service will bring repeat business from the larger corporate type client, and new business from the smaller home owner type client because they will relate their experience by word-of-mouth to friends and family.” END To learn more visit www.engdt.co.za.
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