boidus focus - vol 1, issue 3 [sep 2011]

O I D U S F O C U S

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11 EDITORIALS >04

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COMMENTS >11

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BUILDINGS >06

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Interview with Larona Motlatsi Kgabo: The "Architect Queen"Debate: 'Local CI Firms Need to Look at Wider Africa for Opportunities'

The New Innovation Centre for Mascom Wireless BotswanaOfficial Opening of Molepolole Institute of Health Sciences

NEWS >03

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Award Ceremony Speech: Vincent B.W Moapare Guest Column: "Things are Falling Apart," by Jan Wareus

National Development Bank Property Sector Interactive SessionRIBA Stirling Prize 2011 Shortlist Announced

Images and Text © Fairscape

kind to be implemented in the shores of Botswana and is envisaged to bring modern and high class working and living environment into the country. The core concept is to integrate the corporate and private culture into one domain – where business meets with pleasure. The design and structure of the building is to accommodate pedes-trian movements and accessibility to the amenities of the precinct with a pi-azza forming the central (focal point of

PPC's 2011 Botswana No.1 Builder Competition Winnersby Boidus Admin

>>> CONTINUED PAGE 02


Codi Construction company and Stefa-nutti Stocks wins the 2011 PPC’s Botswa-na No.1 Builder Competition under the Building Construction and Civil Commer-cial contractor entries respectively.

Codi Constriction drove away a 7 tone truck prize for the construction of a resi-dential House in Phakalane while Stefa-nutti Stocks won a double cab Toyota van for its construction of the Mascom Data

FAIRSCAPE: A Mixed-Use Concept for Fairgrounds

BDC is in the process of undertaking a development of a mixed use pre-cinct property establishment - ‘‘THE FAIRSCAPE PRECINCT’’

It is located in the heart of the Show-grounds office precinct, which is the financial hub of the country boasting a combination of local and international companies. The site is strategically po-sitioned as it is approximately 3 kilome-tres east from the Government Enclave and the Gaborone CBD. It comprises of three consolidated plots owned by BDC, who are the promoters behind the project. There are two additional proposed accesses coming from the Riverwalk road and the old dumping

site that are to be constructed to im-prove accessibility into the area.

The iconic mixed use development was designed by the international Boogert-mann & Partners and Anderson & An-derson, a local team whose portfolio includes similar developments locally and internationally.

The proposed development will be unique and trend setting as it will be a mixed use development i.e. it compris-es of retail, office, hotel and residential units in one development, where res-taurants, offices, hotel and upmarket apartments/penthouses/shops mix . This mixed use concept is the first of its


Association of Botswana Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (ABCON) and Tshipidi Badiri Builders Association (TBBA); are arguably the oldest and most active contractors bodies repre-senting the interest of contractors in Bo-tswana, as Nic Janse van Rensburg, puts it, ‘ABOCN is the source and inspiration of all other professional association in

Botswana’. ABCON was originated back in 1977 when everybody was repre-sented by the organization, either big or small foreign or national. Chris Gofham-odimo, Chairman of TBBA on his part was quick to outline that TBBA was later formed to specifically advance the inter-ests of local contractors who at the time

Profiling Botswana's Oldest and Most Active Contractor's Associations: ABCON & TBBAby Esther Amogelang

BOIDUS FOCUSMonday 25 September, 2011

Local News

PPC's 2011 Botswana No.1 Builder Competition Winnersby Boidus Admin

Centre also located in Phakalane.

Codi Contractors saw off competition from Alberti, Western properties, Group 6 Holdings and China civil who came 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively. The runners up collected checks of 15 000, 10000, 3000, 2000 and 1000 pula respectively.

Under the Civil Commercial category, Stefanutti Stocks saw off challenges from Wharic, who were nominated for 3 awards, Murray and Roberts, Red Con-struction and FDS in that order. Stefanutti Stocks which has South African roots also has many previous projects in Botswana including the new SADC Headquarters in the CBD.

The judge’s panel was composed of rep-resentatives from Architects Association of Botswana (AAB), ABCON, TBBA, PPC and Quantity Surveyors association. In the search for the winning project, the judges awarded the bulk of marks, 60% to the views of the building client, with safety of working conditions taking up 30% while 10% was awarded towards projects appearances, especial attention to detail and quality finishing.

When giving the key note, AAB’s Vincent

Moapare, noted the key issues of good safety record, good finishing and atten-tion to detail, delivery on time and bud-get are pre requisite to quality and good building standards which are also the aspiration of PPC who were the event sponsors.

The competition was running on its sec-ond year, hosted by ABCON, TBBA and sponsored by PPC. Last year’s winners were, Wharic and KMP.

About CODI Construction: Codi Construc-tion was established in 1995 giving us 15

years of valuable experience. We are one of the leading construction companies and are mainly involved in high cost hous-ing and commercial developments in Bo-tswana. Read more: www.tocotex.com

About Stefanutti Stocks: Stefanutti Stocks is one of South Africa's leading construc-tion groups with over 12 000 employees and the capacity to deliver a range of projects of any scale to a multitude of clients in diverse markets. Building ac-tivities cover the full scope of traditional construction providing infrastructure including healthcare facilities, transport nodes, retail and parkade developments, residential, office accommodation, edu-cational institutions, stadia, hotels & lei-sure and industrial facilities. Read more: www.stefanuttistocks.com

>>> FROM PAGE 01

Profiling Botswana's Oldest and Most Active Contractor's Associations: ABCON & TBBAby Esther Amogelang

were besieged with multiple issues.

We sat with the two men of at the eave of their historic ‘Building Botswana Con-ference’ to first of all find out more about what this years event is all about and also

to get the chance to profile the two orga-nizations to the majority of the public who would not otherwise be aware of them.

In the first part of the interview, we talk-ed broadly about the two organizations and tried to build a profile of each:

>>> FROM PAGE 01

Association of Botswana Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (ABCON);Organizational Background: The organisation was formed in 1977 and some of its key aims and objec-tives are:• To represent the construction industry • To encourage industry knowledge and skills transfer

Key Achievements:Some of the organizations achievements include working with government and being represented in multiple influential bodies such as BOCCIM, BOBS, CITF, HLCC and other to influence government policy. The highest note in its efforts was working towards establishing of industry registrations boards for consultants and also the contractors registration board.

Structural Management: ABCON has an executive committee, with a full time employed director, Nic Vanreburg who runs the affairs of the organization. Ordinary members/com-panies pay membership fee which is used to run the affairs of the organization.

Membership& Affiliation:• Membership is open to everyone

Strategies and calendar activities:• They represent construction industry and contractors in general• They are using government committees, BOTA and CITF and others.• Evening nights for their members• They have a calendar of events.

Challenges:• Lack of funds• Lack of membership commitment

Tship id i Badir i Bu i lders Associat ion (TBBA) ;Organizational Background:Tshipidi Badiri Builders Association (TBBA) was established and registered as an association in 1983 making it the oldest association that has been representing and protecting the interests of the Citizen Contractors (CC), as well as promoting the betterment of the Construction Industry (CI) in Botswana.

Structural Management:• Executive Committee: Chairperson Person, Vice-chairperson, Secre-

tary, Treasure, Public Relation officer other additional members.• General Members

Mission:• Citizen contractor’s empowerment• Betterment of the industry

Aims/Objectives:• Specifically set up by citizens, all members to protect and look after

interests of citizens (empowerment).• Build dialogue and bilateral relationships with industry stake holders

and decision makers, especially government.

Membership & Affiliation:• open to everyone as long as they are citizens • But mostly they deal with reputable industry professionals

Strategy to Achieve their Mission:• to sell the organization• To built a dialogue between the association, government and people

from the construction industry.• assist with the skills or any problems in the industry.

Botswana Training Authority (BOTA) was also present at the just ended Building Botswana Conference at Ex-position to contribute in a number of ways that can be used to up-skill Batswana especially at artesian level.One of the issues that were at the cen-tre of controversy at the conference was lack of training in construction industry and with its Vocational Train-ing Funds, (BOTA) was calling upon all citizens to register for the training fund in order to appreciate the construction industry.

The VTF under the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs was created with its objective being to generate sufficient funds to support skills base at the work place. Its underlying goals are to motivate enterprises to train their staff, achieve a more equal share be-tween enterprises in financing train-ing activities, help to bring together supply and demand for training, cre-ate new opportunities in the training market and support the goal of cost-sharing in skills development in Bo-

tswana.

Some of the challenges as mentioned by K.Maikaelelo from BOTA that are faced with this Training Fund are slow uptake of Vocational Training Fund, No training needs analysis, No commit-ment by industry as well as Incomplete submissions.

Training Authority Funding Schemes in Constructionby Esther Amogelang

He mentioned that they are looking forward to host public education in a form of workshops, seminars, con-sultation to explore possible areas for utilization, Improve monitoring as well as benchmark with other countries for best practices.

He encouraged companies to train their own people saying it is relevant to vocational training courses that are accredited by BOTA or approve in ad-vance if they were carried out outside Botswana.

He mentioned Glass Manufacturing In-dustry in Palapye as one of the projects which benefited from BOTA Funds.

Another department which was pres-ent at the conference was Human Re-source Development Advisory Council (HRDAC) which aims to advice, regu-late, plan and fund as a way of building Batswana.

The Human Resource strategy was ap-proved by his Excellency Lieutenant Seretse Khama Ian Khama in 2009.


Local / International News

RIBA Stirling Prize 2011 Shortlist Announcedby Boidus Admin, text and images © RIBA

The beautifully simple Velodrome in London’s Olympic Park, the carefully crafted remodelling of the Royal Shake-speare and Swan Theatres in Stratford upon Avon, a highly imaginative London school on a tight urban site, an innova-tive and vibrant cultural centre in Derry, the transformation of an unremarkable 1980s office building in London into

an elegant new office and retail space, and the breathtaking extension of a significant museum in Germany, form the shortlist for the prestigious £20,000 RIBA Stirling Prize.

Now in its 16th year, the RIBA Stirling Prize in association with The Architects’ Journal and Benchmark is awarded to the architects of the best new European building ‘built or designed in Britain’. The winner will be announced on Sat-urday 1 October at Magna Science Ad-venture Centre in Rotherham and will be broadcast on a special edition of BBC

Evelyn Grace Academy, by Zaha Hadid Architects, Running Track view

Two’s The Culture Show on Sunday 2 October, presented by Kevin McCloud.

This year is the first time the shortlist in-cludes practices who have all previously been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize; and also includes two RIBA Stir-ling Prize winners: David Chipperfield Architects and Zaha Hadid Architects.

An Gaelaras, by O'Donnell + Tuomey, Interior view

The Angel Building, by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Folkwang Museum, by David Chipperfield Architects

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, by Bennets Associates

Olympic Velodrome London 2012, by Hopkins Architects

The six shortlisted projects are as follows:

• An Gaelaras, Derry by O’Donnell and Tuomey

• The Angel Building, London by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM)

• Evelyn Grace Academy, London by Zaha Hadid Architects

• Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germa-ny by David Chipperfield Architects

• Olympic Velodrome London 2012 by Hopkins

• Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Strat-ford by Bennetts Associates

Ruth Reed, RIBA President, said:‘The RIBA Stirling Prize celebrates ar-chitectural excellence and this year we have another outstanding collection of culturally significant buildings on the shortlist; projects that have each made a significant contribution to the evolu-tion of architecture.

Creative redevelopment is a strong theme in this year’s list, with a major museum extension, a remodelled theatre complex and the innovative retrofit of an old office building featured, showing how even with tight planning and building constraints, talent and imagination can totally trans-form existing structures and sites. From recycling to cycling: this year’s shortlist features the first Olympic venue, a beauti-fully clever exemplar for the UK’s Games. Another ‘first’ is a significant cultural cen-tre in Derry, Northern Ireland’s first build-ing to make it onto the shortlist. Finally I am delighted to see a brilliant academy on a tight urban site completing the list;

a school project that demonstrates what can be achieved when the architect and clients ‘think outside the box’. I look for-ward to seeing which project the judges select as the worthy winner.’

Previous winners of the RIBA Stirling Prize include: MAXXI Museum, Rome by Zaha Hadid Architects (2010); Maggie’s Centre at Charing Cross Hospital, Lon-don by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (2009); Accordia housing development by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios/Alison Brooks Architects/Maccreanor Laving-ton (2008); The Museum of Modern Lit-erature, Marbach am Neckar, Germany by David Chipperfield Architects (2007).

The shortlist for the RIBA Lubetkin Prize for the best international building outside the EU was also announced and is as follows:• Boston Museum of Fine Arts, USA

by Foster + Partners• Guangzhou Opera House, China by

Zaha Hadid Architects• Masdar Institute, AbuDhabi by

Foster + Partners• The Met, Bangkok by WOHA• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, USA

by Rick Mather Architects + SMBW

Builders Warehouse Opensby Boidus Admin

On the 22nd of September, a new kind of building materials shopping will be availed for the first time to the residents of Gaborone and surroundings. The new warehouse is located in the under con-struction ‘Airport Junction Shopping Cen-tre along the A1 highway to Francis town.

The shop which was opened for media and invited builders last week Friday offers a wide range of goods ranging from the smallest to supplies of sand concrete and cement. It will be the ulti-mate destination for a city where more and more of its residents are turning to building their own houses as a business alternative. It’s shinny inside and cleanly organized shopping allays couldn’t be cleaner. It is a shop that dads, mums are kids will sure enjoy going to for a buying

fitting out materials for the house.

Gone are days where shopping for ma-terials meant dodging trucks and tip-pers in the car park before getting into a cement dusty shop with no pleasant shopping experience at all.

The new warehouse has both quality experience and easy accessibility and parking. In addition to a good number of parking spaces out side, the warehouse is even located next to a first of its kind in Botswana Drive through fast food KFC.

Builders Warehouse is a part of Massmart Holdings and forms part of the Massbuild Division. Massbuild com-prises Builders Warehouse, Builders Ex-press and Builders Trade Depot.

NDB Property Sector Inter-active Sessionby Esther Amogelang

National Development Bank (NDB) host-ed a Property Sector Interactive Session at Maharaja Conference on the 7th Sep-tember 2011.

The event which was more of an infor-mative and interaction attracted many among others NDB members ,Boccim members, people from properties like Real Estates, Consulting companies, Ar-chitects, representatives from Botswana Defence Force, Botswana Police Service, media and people from private sectors.

The main purpose of the session was to gather inputs from different parties re-garding what NDB can do to assists/fill up any gaps that are amongst them.

NDB strategy aims to transform the Bank into a financial institution that has a posi-tive impact on Batswana by providing in-novative financial products and services in order to contribute towards economic development in Botswana.

Some of the loans that NDB banks pro-vide are Manufacturing, Commercial/Retail, Agriculture, Human Capital Devel-opment and Property which was at the centre of discussion.

When opening the programme Deputy Chief Executive Officer , Mr. Happy.O.Mogotsi said the session will try to deal with issues of knowledge around NDB.He said the purpose is to unearth in-formation on issues in property, customer expectations as well as varies financing.

On the other hand Research Product De-velopment Manager, Ms Zenzile Moesi clarified some of the fast tracking loans that NDB targets which are Nthuta NDB school fees, Bonno NDB home loan, Ntl-hatlhosa Kwa morakeng and Temo Boka-moso.

She further said since property is one of NDB mission, when financing them they consider and address things like: location, title deeds, and building contractors, ap-prove building plans, permits, and offer of sale for property.

The Bonno NDB Home loan caters for all Botswana citizens for all their financial needs, be it home improving, buying a house, plot or building a home.

The loan comes at a time when the coun-try is facing a problem of shortage of housing especially in Gaborone so since its stress-free, convienient, competitive and affordable at the same time it ben-efits everyone.

Meanwhile a new strategy has been set this year which is called THOBO 2014 which NDB is thriving to achieve.

Some of the Properties companies which were present include; MG Properties, Apex properties, Kwena, Home Safe In-spection among others.

When closing the session Acting Deputy Chief Executive officer ,Ms Baboloki Mojalemotho who was also responsible for facilitating discussions promised at-tendees that as a Development Financial Institution,NDB,will collaborate with real estates,Boccim,media,private sector to-wards building its mission of providing innovation financial products which pro-mote development in Botswana.


Editorials

Award Ceremony Speech: Vincent B.W Moapareby Boidus Admin, Text © Vincent B.W Moapare

On the Night of the PPC Cement Bo-tswana Number 1 Builder Awards Gala Dinner16 September 2011

Key Messages:• PPC Cement together with /AB-

CON/Architects Association/Tshi-pidi Badiri and other partners are spearheading quality assurance in building projects

• Quality is mandatory when it comes to infrastructural develop-ments

• This year’s entrants mark a para-digm shift towards attention to detail

• Judging criteria considered clients and judges’ reviews

Someone told me that this evening is all about excellence and achieving the best of standards and as such they wanted the likes of Barack Obama to present this opening speech. Others thought when there are good quality projects involved it becomes a spiritual matter and the charismatic Archbishop Desmond Tutu could have done a bet-ter job. Do you want to know why I am here? Well, just know that I didn’t ask for an appearance fee.

Members of the fourth estate our me-dia practitioners,Representatives of various corporates here present,Members of construction companies here present,Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

Our entrants for the PPC Cement Bo-tswana Number 1 Builder Competition, Thank you very much for making this night possible.

Our search for the Botswana Number 1 Builder which began in May this year reaches its peak tonight with the an-nouncement of the winners in two cat-egories:

• Building Construction;• and the Civil and Commercial con-

struction.

In our reviews of the numerous proj-ects we received from all over Bo-tswana as the judges, we came to one realization – the quality of our projects is getting better and better every year. There were good safety records, out-standing project management skills on site, impressive finishing and more at-

tention to detail compared to last year. Most projects were delivered on time and within budget.

Ladies and gentlemen one renowned engineer once said, “of course, there is planning, strategizing, conceptual-izing and more, but only performance is reality.” We adhere to this school of thought. It is only the final project which reveals the concept, the ideas and the amount of work that has been put to a project. When we continue to uphold industry’ best practice, unwav-ering in standing for quality we will see only the best in our infrastructural de-velopment fortunes.

In our assessments we considered the most important people in the decision making process – the clients - whose views contributed 60% of the over-all score. We all know that when we please our clients we are doing some-thing right, that is why their view was weighed in at 60%. Judges’ reviews contributed 40% of the score.

On the panel of Judges was a diverse group of experts who brought various critical aspects of the industry to the panel these were; the General Man-ager for PPC Botswana Mr Werner De Beer, a cement and concrete specialist. We had Mr Otshegeditshe Basiami, a Quantity Surveyor, who was represent-ing Tshipidi Badiri, and Mr Donavan Leach PPC Technical Support Manager, another concrete specialist.

Nic Van Rensburg from ABCON, on the other hand, who is familiar with stan-dards and regulations within the con-struction industry in Botswana also sat on the judges panel. I am an architect and I was representing the Architects Association of Botswana.

The judging criteria involved safety; we were looking to see the safety of the working conditions. This included looking into the number of accidents that occurred during the duration of the project, this contributed 30% of the overall mark. We also considered workmanship, by that we mean the quality of the work done, adherence to timelines, and whether the project was completed on time. We also looked at the quotations whether or not the project was over or under budget. This was weighed at 15% whilst the appear-ance of the finished project carried 10% of the overall result.

The PPC Cement Botswana Number 1 Builder Competition is open to all builders. The idea is to showcase the best building industry standards. Be-cause the completion covers the whole spectrum of construction projects we cast our net wide for all to participate as we encourage only the best in the industry. It was humbling to see what Batswana citizens and residents can do in these projects. All the judges said and noted in one voice that the future of Botswa-na’s development fortunes remains in the best hands –the strength and skill of our people.

I have a message to all that partici-pated in this competition – you are all winners. If you are rewarded tonight keep up the good work, only the best will come your way!

The legendary Gary Player, a renowned golfer used to say,“The more I play and practice the luckier I get.”

Nothing else could come closer to the truth. Like anything else in the world you live and learn by extending you knowledge, more practice and apply-ing yourself. Well done. Well done. Well done. Lekamoso. You are the fu-ture of this industry.

To other participants I say, our overall impression as judges was that a lot of good work was put into all the proj-ects that we reviewed. There is a lot of improvement from what we saw last year. Our competition entrants im-prove each and every dayand you can only get better. Let us be inspired to do more and more and yes hard work pays! You have another chance again for next year. Go for it!

Architects Association of BotswanaLadies & and gents allow me to give you a brief introduction about the Ar-chitects Association of Botswana or the AAB as we call it.

The AAB is the body representing ma-jority of Architects in Botswana.

Originally formed in 1989, some of its aims are as follows:• To promote Architecture in Bo-

tswana• To generate interest and assist

within the public realm for the profession

• To maintain integrity and stan-dards within the profession

• To encourage architectural educa-tion

In order to achieve these aims the Association runs a number of pro-grammes including:• Liaison with the Government, me-

dia and public regarding architec-tural matters

• Education links with universities, additionally Continuing Profes-sional Development (CPD) cours-es are promoted for Architects in mid-career - the most recent one being a workshop on the JBCC contract used in building con-tracts in South Africa.

• The Association assists members with documentation and the monitoring of issues which affect the practice.

• Regular communication is main-tained with members.


Standard Building Contracts: Which Is Which?by H. Killion Mokwete, ARB Registered Architect, RIBA Chartered Architect

One of the panel discussions at the re-cently held ‘Building Botswana Confer-ence’, featured a subject on ‘satndard contracts’ used in Botswana. Presenta-tions from BIDP and FIDIC representa-tives in Botswana, ERCB brought the fore standing question as to which standard set of contract documents is suitable for our local construction industry.

BIDP CONTRACTS: The presentation on BIDP’s set of con-tracts by David Young reaveled how the existing BIDP contracts from small works contracts and others are developed with or at the request of local minis-tryies and or parastalas to develop local industry relevant contracts which can easlity be applicable to our laws. Since its formation in 1978, the BIDP has been at the centre of developing standard contract documents which were origi-nally modelled around the british Joint Tribunal Contract (JCT) set of contracts. The BIDP contracts were later amended in 2006 and others introduced in 2008 through to 2010. The unanswered ques-tion however is how is it that the BIDP’S contracts have not grown to consolidate the local market since their introduction as early as 1970’s.

• Minor works form of contract• Without quantities form of contract• With quantities form of contract• Form of nominated subcontract• Form of domestic subcontract• Form of major works subcontract

for FIDIC contract• Architect's appointment • Consultant's appointment

The construction industry, from contrac-tors and consulatants alike still largely opt for other international contract docu-ments such as SAIA for consultants ap-pointment and FIDIC for contractors.

Arcording to Shadrec Kobole, presenting the FIDIC contracts, on behalf of the AECB who are licencced to sell FIDIC products in Botswana, FIDIC contracts promotes ‘best practice, high standards, quality service among others. He stressed how FIDIC is clear and coherent, fair and eq-uitable responsibilities.

THE FIDIC CONTRACT:The FIDIC contracts are currently predom-inatly used for engineering and constru-tion services across government projects, with DBES taking them as default con-tracts for most of their procured projects. This was later discussed by Ishmael….from DBES when discussing their standard completion as per FIDIC contract.

FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (the acronym stands for the French version of the name- The

Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseils (“FIDIC”) represents globally the consulting engineering industry and pub-lishes set of contracts which are sold and used world wide, in Botswana the AECB is the licensed body that sells these contracts.

Some of FIDIC four published Editions are:[From www.FIDIC.com]1. Short Form of Contract, which may be suitable for a small contract (say, under US$ 500 000) if the construction time is short (say, less than 6 months), or for relatively simple or repetitive work (say, dredging), irrespective of whether the design is provided by the Employer or the Contractor, and of whether the proj-ect involves civil, electrical, mechanical and/or construction works.2. Conditions of Contract for Con-struction ("the Construction Book" or "CONS"), which are recommended for building or engineering works where most of the design is provided by the Em-ployer. However, the works may include some Contractor-designed civil, mechan-ical, electrical and/or construction works.3. Conditions of Contract for Plant and Design-Build ("the Plant & E-B Book" or "P&DB"), which are recommended for the provision of electrical and/or me-chanical plant, and for the design and ex-ecution of building or engineering works. The scope of this Book thus embraces both old Yellow and Orange Books, for all types of Contractor-designed works.4. Conditions of Contract for EPC/Turn-key Projects ("the EPC Book" or EPCT"), which may be suitable for the provision on a turnkey basis of a process or power plant, of a factory or similar facility, or of an infrastructure project or other type of development, where• a higher degree of certainty of final

price and time is required, and• the Contractor takes total responsi-

bility for the design and execution of the project.

Using the right contracts for the right job is essential to avoid unnecessary con-flicts. It is however a big problem where contracts, which are legal documents are implimentated across a profession that is not regularised. Most of Botswana’s Con-struction professionals are still not regu-lated, such as Architecure, Engineering (ERB lately launched), Quanity surveyors, contractors and others. This makes apply-ing contracts difficult as these professions operate without legally binding ethics good and measure of good practice. This is the elephant in the room, were most of the industry’s problems such as incompe-tency, bad practice can traced to. Untill the professionals oprating in the indus-truy are regulated, enforcing any contract document will still rely on intervening from the courts, unfortunately a route that many clients can afford.


Editorials / Guest Column

A well known metaphor to architects (of my age) is – Architecture is Frozen Music. Unfortunately, today’s music is half melted stuff and not easily possible to understand in a lyrical metaphor. But there have been other times (and other musicians and architects).

In the beginning of the 40-ties, Duke Ellington presented “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be” – the New Deal in US was working fine and the en-ergy supply to people seemed forever unfailing.

Charlie Parker blow his “Now’s the Time” and meant that also a new music, different from the swinging lullaby’s of the 1930-ies and preparing for a new musical era.

But, already in the 50-ies, Jule Stein composed the evergreen “The Party’s Over” with some fore-sightand Frank Sinatra made it a hit. About the same time as the neo-liberalism was born – the economical regime we been living under since then.

The old musicians had a very good sense of the times! Now it is unfortunately a completely com-mercialized music industry that only provides “lullaby’s”. Mostly rapping and unbelievable non-sense!

Where are the Bob Marley’s and Fela Khuti’s of today? The likes of Ellington, Parker and Stein that could “freeze” music to everlasting comments on contemporary times?

Some questions:• Where are the critical architects and town

planners of today?• Can we learn something and prepare our-

selves to meet the future clients?

We “innocent” people are inside a big glistering bubble of temporary over-consumption and too spoilt to understand that. We have seen small, hardly noticeable writings about it in our papers and media, but mostly it goes unnoticed. Why – well, papers and most media is owned by big corporations today and even small papers are de-pending on “advertising”.

Meaning that we should not read and understand real problems – just go on consuming – this is well known today. “Don’t Upset Advertisers” – DUA it is called by media pundits. Get your information from the ones that run the show! People should go on consuming over their salary limits on loans. So should countries and nations. Nations are now going bankrupted in an ever increasing degree. Band Aids are put on but, in fact, won’t help in the long run. Reason being that “help” is also loans! Tax money is our money and that is what is used for bailing out the banks!

T h i n g s a r e F a l l i n g A p a r tby Jan Wareus, Architect / Town Planner

Most flashy cars we see are also on loans. Hun-dreds of insiders in the financial circus are saying – get rid of loans, quickly! Referring to nations and individuals the same. Despite this,we are go-ing on with the dance around the golden calf – it’s surreal!

Fortunately, for the time being, we have an “open” media – Internet. Some people have found a way of getting unbiased information from there. I recommend internet and use it for as long it is allowed to be “free”.

So where are we today in our developments?

Let’s see what the architects in our country pro-pose, for a start.

What we see is a kind of Disneyland of many un-connected buildings, standing side by side as ask-ing for a dance at some fancy dress party.

Most “designs” are cut out of some flush maga-zine where they were attributed by the modern architecture pundits to some kind of interesting -ism. So we have a bunch of imitations – a kalei-doscope of recent isms with no relation what-soever with each other. This is a laughing matter for genuine architects visiting this country – I re-member Ralph Erskine’s visit in 1992! The small developments (by then) made him caution us for what’s coming if not regulated (by ourselves – the architects and town planners).

That’s only the aesthetics of it – a laughing mat-ter! Let’s look at the sustainability of it in a less energy abundant world!

And that’s more serious – architects and town planners are the client’s confidents and respon-sible agents for the future of his building!

Now buildings are much more expensive than necessary, more energy consuming than neces-sary and not sustainable to a world of less abun-dance! I will pursue this issue next time.

How Fast Are Things Falling ApartTo be honest, there are disagreements among en-ergy and economic scholars about the pace of the breakdown of the over-industrialized era (and its dependence on cheap energy) but not the inevi-table results.

There simply won’t be money enough to pay for further growth – nationally and individually! Countries burden by too many debts will go bank-rupt and who will bail nations out in the long run – when our tax money is depleted?The time margins now discussed are, however, just one decade, for some scholars just one or two years, but we are facing it.

And what we build and construct now has a lifes-pan (on paper) for more than 50 years! All devel-opment plans I have been involved in talk about a 25 years lifespan. So called “blind” futurology (rather with blinkers) – extrapolating unsustain-able trends into the future! We should know bet-ter...

Why am I writing about a bleak future? Well, hav-ing survived a number of smaller bursts, I have to prepare myself and my colleagues for what’s coming – it will be worse and we in the profession

GUEST COLUMN Have your say...Submit essays to [email protected]

AAB is affiliated with the International Union of Architects (UIA) and the Com-monwealth Association of Architects.

Ladies and gentlemen, as you may be aware, through the media, our indus-try has been under the spotlight on a number of issues mainly pertaining to poor quality of work produced by some amongst us; cost overruns and project delays. We are also greatly concerned about this state of affairs. Hence, we find it very commendable that PPC, as a stakeholder in the industry has had the courage to taken the initiative to promote and engender a culture of quality workmanship amongst Bo-tswana’s builders. This is a step in the right direction and we urge all of you to emulate this initiative in whichever way you can. We believe this will go a long way towards contributing to the realization of quality infrastructure in Botswana.

That is why as AAB we have found it fit-ting and important to participate in this event, as we believe we can achieve more as a united front.

Ladies and gents, in view of that, the Architectural profession is making great strides towards regulation of the profession.

The architects’ registration act has been enacted by parliament. Presently an Interim Working Committee, sup-ported by Task Force groups, all com-prising of members of the association, is in place to oversee the transition process towards the establishment of the Architects Registration Council (the ARC). Once in place, the ARC will be responsible for registration of archi-tects and regulation of the profession. There is no doubt that this will ensure that only people who are qualified and registered to practice as architects will do that.

Remember, the future of our industry lies in our ability to uphold standards; defend them, defend them and de-fend them hard. It is only when we are hard on ourselves that everything else around us becomes easier. We are get-ting there bagaetsho we are getting there. The reason we see further and beyond is because we are standing on shoulders of giants. Our forefathers or principals of this industry who dared to dream and see beyond their time laid down strong foundations on which we now stand.

In conclusion, I leave you to ponder this quotation by Billy Graham who once said, “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened”.

Let us have the courage to better our industry!

>>> FROM PAGE 04

Vincent B.W Moapare Speechmust prepare!

Let me for short give you some quotations from my internet sources:• Massive worldwide economic growth of the

past two centuries was enabled by the new-found ability to exploit cheap, abundant en-ergy of (finite) fossil fuels – Heinberg (www. post carbon institute)

• The oil world has changed – and this means a power shock to the energy system, coincid-ing with a seismic shift in the world’s eco-nomic and financial systems – Heinberg

• If the oil stops flowing in recent quantities, global trade as we know it grinds to a stand-still – Heinberg

• Unfortunately, there is a desire to hope for the best but we have to prepare for the worst – Hugh-Smith (www.oftwominds.com)

• Growth depends on energy but we are learned that it solely depends on capital, production and labour – forgetting resources –Martenson (chrismartenson.com)

Indeed - Thing’s ain’t what they used to be!

A few voices among many on the net! Others are “Chomsky.info” and John Michael Greer on “www.The Archdruid Report” – read them!

Yes, there are some whistle blowers! Seldom any official, government based reports. No, actually, there are even a few such ones but never quoted in the papers, as media today are “privatized” and reluctant to upset us. They are more for scandals around the dolls in their strings!

BUT – this year the International Energy Agency (IEA), the adviser to both OPEC and about 23 ma-jor governments around the world, had to admit:

“Crude oil output reaches an undulating plateau of around 68-69 mb/d (million barrels per day) by 2020, but never regains its all-time peak of 70 mb/d reached in 2006” – So it goes and IEA has for many years tried the best to keep consum-ers and nations sleeping nice, a fact according to whistle blowers from IEA.

Following graph is the “most optimistic scenario” for the coming years from IEA – note that it is bas-ing the outlook on the fact that OPEC, the own-ers of the oil, will cut down their own use to a high degree – is that why Western countries are implementing the Carter Doctrine (securing oil for the West – Libya, Egypt, Iraq and Iran are OPEC members).

(source: chrismartenson.com)

And, honestly, our global free trade system needs an increase to more than 90 mb/d in the next yrs to keep the current (2010) growth.

So, why do I bother to mention this? I feel that - Now’s the time – toadjust to new facts.

I’m not a self-torturer – but I want to know what’s behind the bend of the road! How can we as ar-chitects and town planners prepare for an era of scaling down growth expectations and save en-ergy?

We have to discuss this in all sincerity and I will start in next column.


Buildings

The New Innovation Centre for Mascom Wireless Botswanaby Boidus Admin / Images and Text © AXE Developments

Mascom is one of two companies to establish, maintain and operate a GSM Mobile network in Botswana. The Mascom network was launched five weeks after licensing, establishing a reputation of credibility and has been the market leader in Botswana from then on. ISF-Axe approached OneZero Consulting to design the electrical and electronic infrastructure for its new

Innovation Center in Phakalane. This facility will serve as Mascom’s main Technical Center. It comprises a state of the art Data Center (540sqm), with full N+1 redundancy Energy Center ca-pable of sustaining the facility in the case of a power failure or abnormal power conditions from the local supply authority. The design required a full upgrade path from 800 W/m2 to 1400

W/m2 without any significant changes to the existing electrical and mechani-cal network. This was accomplished by designing future requirements into the current design which will be seamlessly implemented without effecting current business operations. The development also includes an Office administration block, comprising all the amenities required by a world-class GSM service provider.

Project Information:The New Innovation Centre for Mas-com Wireless Botswana is located in Phakalane just outside of Gaborone. This facility will serve as Mascom’s main Technical Centre. It comprises a state of the art Data Centre, with full N+1 redundancy, an Energy Centre ca-pable of sustaining the facility in the case of a power failure, and an Office administration block.

Current Status Construction PhaseStart Date March 2010Completion Date August 2011

Project Specifications:Total Project Value R 220,000,000-00 Square Meters: Data Centre 806m2 UsableOffice Block 532m2 UsableEnergy Centre 2682m2 Usable

Codi Construction completing another housing project in Phakalane. – During 2009 we will complete construction on eight villas in the Phakalane Golf Es-tate. These villas are all 3 bed roomed, two bath roomed with open plan liv-ing, dining and kitchen areas together

http://axedevelopments.com/

with a guest toilet, double garage, ser-vants quarters and swimming pool. All of the villas were sold prior to the start of the project. This will be the second turnkey housing development that we have completed within the Phakalane Golf Estate.

Residential House in Phakalane Golf Estateby Boidus Admin / Images and Text © Codi Construction




http://www.tocotex.com


Buildings

Official Opening of Molepolole Institute of Health Sciences

The multi-million pula project comprises of academic building 1 and 2, Administra-tion, Student Hostels, Maintenance and service buildings, Library, Multi-Purpose Hall, Auditorium, Canteen and Sports and Recreation. Phase 3 of the project which will comprise of more staff houses, swim-ming pool is still to come.

Molepolole I.H.S projected started in September 2007 and was completed in June 2011 at a cost of P295 million.

Client Representative: DEPT. OF BUILD-ING& ENGINEERING SERVICES User Ministry: MINISTRY OF HEALTHContractor: CAITEC BOTSWANA (Pty) Ltd Architects: MOSIENYANE & PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL Civil/Structural Engineer: ARUP BO-TSWANAMechanical Engineers: KVN ASSOCIATES (Pty) LtdElectrical Engineers: EMC CONSULTING Quantity Surveyors: MWITUMWA & AS-SOCIATES

by Boidus Admin Francistown Airport Opens

by Esther Amogelang

Francistown International airport, built at the tune of P562 million by Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB) opened its doors last Thursday last fol-lowing a tour by the Minister of Trans-

port and Communications.

Minister Frank Ramsden told journalist during a press briefing that the state of the art facility would enhance air traffic

which was in line with the government’s objectives to efficiently link the coun-try’s main urban areas to the global vil-lage. He said the new airport will make it easy for big aircrafts like the boeing 737 to land .

The Airport project had three pack-ages, including airfield pavements, airfield ground lighting and the termi-nal building, which has been designed for the traffic forecast up to 2025. The building has Commercially Important Person (CIP) lounges in both the do-mestic and international departure lounges. It also has a VIP lounge. The new structure has openings for car rentals, a restaurant, shops and a bank. Botswana Tourism Board office is in the mezzanine floor, in the termi-nal building.

Rail Park Mall Opening to the Public September 2011by Esther Amogelang

A P350 million project by Murray & Roberts which started last year is on its final lap and expected to open officially by September 27, 2011.

The project which is getting all the at-tention from passersby along the Rail line is one of BR Properties’ projects in partnership with Tredinnick Botswana (PTY) Limited as their developer and Botswana Insurance fund Manage-ment (Bifm).

The mall has approximately 115 ten-ants who are expected to all be in oc-cupation of the space by the time the mall opens.

A reliable source from one of the con-sultants confirmed that the mall is proceeding its original budget of close to P350 million and is expected to be the same until the project is finished, something which can be seen as a posi-tive development.

The Rail Park, which will serve mainly as a retail outlet and feature a small portion of office buildings is expected to address the issue of congestion in the area, improve infrastructure in and around the town, and create employ-ment, thereby improving the lives of

Batswana as well as the splendor of the bus rank.

Expectation from the public was that the building of the mall was initiated as a result of plans for the Passenger (Blue) Train to come into use; the said source could not comment on that but said it’s built along the rail line because it’s a communal land and everyone is free to pass by therefore this develop-ment does not include any spaces for the railway stations.

According to Treddinick, the new bridge is designed to carry the substan-tial numbers of people that currently cross the railways line at that point as compared to the existing bridge which was designed for 5,000 people a day but currently carrying close to 50,000 of people a day.

The car park which occupies a signifi-cant part of the mall has 905 parking spaces on the surface as well as a lot of shops including Choppies and Food Lovers, among others.

Upon completion, the mall will cater for Gaborone West residents and for people working at the CBD and the general public, on a 24 hour basis.

The KB Mall which is just opposite the bus rank is the recent construction and one would wonder if it is going to be a competitor to The Rail Park Mall; how-ever it is not seen as an obstacle as KB is a smaller mall.

The Rail Park Mall, which is inspiring awe with its quick progress, is going all the way from the rail line along Gabo-rone Hotel up to Supa Save Supermar-ket.

Developments that BR Properties will undertake in the future will not only contribute towards the cash flow of investors, but will also improve the quality of towns, create jobs, promote opportunities to empower citizens, attract private sector investment, op-timize the use of land and property resources as well as facilitate skills de-velopment.

PROFESSIONAL TEAM:Main Contractors: Murray& RobertsDevelopment Managers: TreddinickT/A: JTTM Properties (Pty) LtdProject Promoters: BR Properties (Pty) LtdArchitects in Association: ArcSwana ArchitectsQuantity Surveyors: Mmile Mhutsi-wa& AssociatesCivil/Structural Engineers: Lesedi Con-sulting EngineersElectrical & Mechanical Engineers: QED Consulting Engineers


Advertising

THE NEW PRODUCTS FROM PPC CEMENT INNOVATION HUB HAVE IM-PROVED TECHNOLOGY:

PPC Launches New Products at Building Conference 2011by Esther Amogelang by Boidus Admin

Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) last week announced an enhancement of their products at Boipuso Hall at the just ended Building Botswana Conference and Exposition 2011.

PPC Cement’s OPC (CEM 1) product will change to a 52,5N classification (Previ-ously 42.5N) and PPC Cement Sure build has been upgraded from 32,5R cement to 42,5N cement. On the other hand, New Botcem 32.5R is set to be launched soon.

PPC new products have the effect of reducing concrete costs whilst allowing builders and contractors to produce 15 percent more concrete of equal or high-er quality than what have been used to in the past.

These new products will also benefits builders and contractors in number of ways; they float faster and finishing of concrete floors, faster strength develop-ment, quick removal of formwork all of which result in optimal use of labour in construction plant, therefore resulting in significant downstream savings.

According to General Manager for PPC Botswana, Werner De Beer, they are launching these exciting products as a way of valuing infrastructural develop-ment in line with the country’s vision of building a better Botswana by 2016.

“This will see a reduction cost of ce-ment per cubic meter, guarantee better quality control and higher compressive strength for builders,” he said.

For brick makers, the new products will increase production yield, require less yard space and a reduction in breakages whilst builders will get to enjoy quickie settings and improved quality of work-manship.

A media release from Customer Execu-tive at PPC indicates that a project us-ing 100 bags of normal general purpose cement to cast floor slabs in a house would now yield 70metres square with the newly 42.5N Surebuild,the same project with the same number of bags will allow the builder to produce at least 10.5 meters square more.

These products are made for them to be possible for builders and contractors to achieve best results in their respective projects to ensure that PPC maintain ex-cellence in Botswana.

Some of them landmarks that were in the past done by PPC are Ministry of Health building, Attorney General Offic-es, Technology Centre Botswana, Fran-cistown Stadium, SSKA, Game city, River Walk and Sebele Mall among others.

These products had been recently launched in South Africa and there was a positive response as customers were more than excited and hoping to benefit from the products.

PPC’s new products OPC and Sure build are now available to the public. The NO.1 Builder Competition award cer-emony was ending the products launch.

THE EXPOSIT ION CONSUMERS:(15-17 September 2011)

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AND REACH YOUR CUSTOMERS

ADVERTISE WITH BOIDUS HERE

Boidus Pty. Ltd.P.O. Box 50097, Gaborone

WHY BOIDUS? • the consumer of the built environment needs to be in a position to access information regarding what the architectural in-dustry is up to • a platform for discussion and discourse needs to be created where open, earnest discussions on important issues take place

. . . Exposit ion stal ls


Advertising

by Boidus Admin

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PHYSICAL ADDRESS >Ko-i-nor House, Office 11Main Mall, Gaborone

BOIDUS FOCUS Expo Team:H. Killion MokweteEditor

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Boidus partnered with ABCON and TBBA to publish this BOIDUS FOCUS event special, detailing events of the 'Building Botswana Con-ference & Exposition 2011.'

For more info visit us at:www.boidus.co.bw


Feature Project

Images and Text © Fairscape

FAIRSCAPE: Premier A-Grade Office, Retail/Res-taurant, a Boutique Hotel & Exclusive Penthouses

>>> FROM PAGE 01the precinct) having an array of shops and open cafes, hence providing a vi-brant “street architecture’’ where lo-cals and visitors can mingle.

The design and construction will incor-porate modern green building status, which will render the development to be environmentally friendly and ener-

gy efficient. Dependant upon the final mix the total development will extend around 23,000 square meters, compris-ing of a fifteen tower building with pent-houses occupying the uppermost floors and four other surrounding buildings consisting of a four/five star hotel and office space. It is planned that this will be completed in phases and phase 1 to be completed by second quarter 2014.

The initial plans show this as comprising;• 18,000 + sqm office precinct• 4,000 sqm of retail space, com-

prising of upmarket restaurants, coffee bars, boutiques, craft shops etc

• 13,000 sqm phase 2 office/retail space

• 3 level Basement parking/open parking

FAIRSCAPE PROFESSIONAL TEAM:

Developers: Botswana Development Corporation Limited / Commercial Holdings (Pty) Ltd.Architects: Boogertman + Partners / Anderson + Anderson InternationalProject Managers: Brydens BotswanaQuantity Surveyors: Davis LangdonCivil & Structural Engineers: Pula Consultants / WSP Structures Africa / AR EdwardsFire Consultant: Specialised Fire Technologies


Education

Larona Motlatsi Kgabo: The “Architect Queen” is Back from Brazil by Esther Amogelang

WHAT IS THE BUILT ENVIRON-MENT?The Built Environment (BE) is a term used to give a broad defi-nition to all that takes to form a built up human habitat. This can be either in man made landscape, buildings, civil structures and any other built structures. Although the term cannot be directly be equated to the term ‘Construction Industry’ the two are often used interchangeably.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT PRO-FESSIONAL FIELDS EXISTING UN-DER BUILT ENVIRONMENT?Many professions exist under the built environment. These range from the obvious such as archi-tecture, engineering, quantity sur-veying, project management and others to specialist services serv-ing specific research needs to the industry.

WHERE CAN ONE GET INFORMA-TION ABOUT POSSIBLE CAREERS IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT?In Botswana, the BE information unfortunate is not as easily acces-sible. You can either get the basics from your school’s career office (depending what level you are) or do your own research online if you can access internet. Places such as RIBA, SAIA and other professional bodies do carry useful career in-formation.

Your questions answered:

Student Portfolio:

STUDENT: Larona Motlatsi KgaboSCHOOL: University of Botswana

Bakgatla Bolokang Matshelo – Completed Shell Struture by Dalhousie University Students in Mochudi

David Livingstone Historical Heri-tage Center, Kolobeng (Thesis)The thesis sets out to engage the study of a nature and how that particular nature begins to inform the birth of an architec-ture that communicates a sense of belonging through heritage, a sense of oneness with the given, being nature.

Boidus Media had an opportunity to talk with Ms Larona Kgabo who went to represent Botswana at the just ended Miss Universe 2011 in Brazil.A former Architectural student from University of Botswana shares with Boidus Re-porter on how she paved her road until this year becoming the first from archi-tecture to be crowned Miss Universe, Botswana

BF: Who is the real Larona Kgabo?

KL: If there is one thing I cannot do is to talk about myself without mentioning God- my maker, who is the reason for everything that I am and all that I have achieved in my life today. He has given my life a meaning and a purpose for liv-ing through the many wonderful peo-ple He brought into my life- my family, my friends, my teachers, my leaders, my Pastors and even total strangers. Yes I am Miss Universe Botswana 2011, I am an architect, I am beautiful, striv-ing and many other things but at the end of the day, what truly defines me is my relationship with God and I like to refer to myself as God’s last born child because of how He continually spoils me with blessings…lol!

The greatest blessing of them all is the opportunity to impact the lives of women, men and young people in my country through the Miss Universe platform! BF: What inspired you to join the just ended Miss Universe 2011?

It was a great honor and privilege to represent my nation Botswana during the just ended Miss Universe 2011 and my participation in the international pageant was as a result of my title as Miss Universe Botswana 2011- a beau-tiful experience indeed which I will forever treasure in my heart! To join the pageant locally, I was enticed by the platform it offered for one young woman to be a role model to the entire nation. I am convinced that I am one of the young personalities in Botswana

whose lives are a story of hope and in-spiration to other people. I am of the generation which sets out to give back to my country and I am so going to be that agent of change through Miss Uni-verse!

BF: Before going out to present Bo-tswana at Brazil you were working as an architect, Do you want to share with readers if your intentions is to go back to your work or you having greener pastures somewhere?

LK: I love architecture- it inspires my creative faculties every day and yes I am continuing with architecture. The good thing about architecture is that, just like music, it’s also a universal lan-guage so I would fit perfectly anywhere in the universe. It’s inevitable that with such exposure, comes opportunities, for example, I got a 20% tuition schol-arship into the New York film academy which is fabulous but it is not some-thing I am planning on pursuing any time soon. It’s safe to say that I will be right here in Botswana…there is work to be done here!

BF: An architecture graduate from University of Botswana. Can you tell us your experiences as an architecture student and do you consider it as a thorny course as people perceive it?

LK: I would like to thank our gener-ous Government and the University for making it possible for me and a lot more other Batswana to get education which I believe is the biggest invest-ment any nation can make towards its future. Because of that, I too can take pride in being a young educated Motswana graduate.

About my experiences as a student, the first thing that came to my mind was the countless sleepless nights that made up a good percentage of my life at varsity and secondly, “the crits”…lol! Nevertheless, I learnt a lot more from all that and it has made me the strong architect that I am right now. I was also blessed to have mentors, lec-turers and supervisors who believed in my architectural abilities and therefore were very supportive throughout my training and are still supporting me in my career, to them I am so grateful and humbled!

BF: You were one of the best students back then in school. How will you ad-vice someone who is interested in join-ing your path of career.

LK: Architecture is a beautiful course

and I would recommend it to anyone whose take on life is to always think outside the box. It gives the freedom of expression and the opportunity for invention to anyone who wants to pur-sue it- in architecture there is no right or wrong. One of my former lecturers, Essy, would always tell us not to be afraid of mistakes because they too, could be the answers to our struggles in design. Nevertheless, all this re-quires hard work, an inquisitive mind, a self-driven individual, focus and a lover of the environment because all tech-nologies are taking the ‘green’ route including architecture. You should be prepared to make the sketch pad your closest acquaintance. And I think we ought to have more women taking it up in our nation because they possess all the above mentioned qualities just as men!

BF: Your last words to Batswana for the support they have given you.

LK: I would need the whole day to an-swer this one so for the sake of time I will try to make it snappy. Miss Universe has been a success and will continue to be a success because of the remark-able support we got as an organization and me individually. I am so grateful to God for the following people- for their generosity before and throughout my reign thus far; Ministry of Infrastruc-ture, Science & Technology- DBES and Ministry of Youth-BNYC for sponsor-ing our trip to Brazil, MosSyde group- the organisors, Capital Bank, Chop-pies, Gaborone West fitness Centre, Woolworths Stores, Clover Chemicals, LaRoche Boutique- thank you Aunty Joyce, Dow Associates, LeshSeddy De-

signs- I consider you more of my sister than my designer, House of Leroy- the time is now, Ntirelang for allowing me the privilege to play your segaba, Bayei National Costume Cultural society, BLW Campus Ministries- keep your swagger for Christ, the Saints at Christ Embassy Church- you are the best, my Pastors- God demonstrates his love for me through you, my family- I love you so so much, my friends- you are God-sent, fellow national contestants- I miss be-ing with you, all my prayer partners- I’m so humbled, all those who voted for me or sent me messages of encour-agement and those who made it pos-sible for my mother, my aunt, my sister and my designer to go and watch me in Brazil- I am so humbled and so excited about continued relations with all of you! God bless you. Le kamoso…!

UB's Visiting Students from Dalhousie Universityby Boidus AdminStudents of Dalhousie University from Canada, showcasing some of their work at the University of Botswana’ school of architecture.

The students are here as part of their outreach school work with local NGO’s reaching out to communities affected with HIV aids. Dalhousie has a long rela-tionship with Architecture development in Botswana stretching back some 20 years ago.

Over the years many local practicing architects and even today’s lecturer’s at University of Botswana graduated from Dalhousie. In preparation fro their 6 weeks study outreach visit here, the visiting students also revealed to have studied previous Botswana graduating

thesis as preparation.

Opening the event, acting HOD Pro-fessor F. Kalabamu encouraged such exchange in knowledge and sharing as something to be built on and celebrat-ed.

The students will be building an outdoor free standing domed ‘leobo’ in Mochudi for a local NGO.


Housing / Property

Gaborone Housing Profile:Interview with Kim Berkker

Boidus Focus recently sat down with one of Botswana leading real estate agent, Kim Bekker, a Director at Seeff Properties Botswana to try and map out a ‘Profile’ of the Housing Market in Gaborone and especially in view of the recession and other industry develop-ments. Here is what she has to say:

BF: What is the current housing market profile in Gaborone taking into con-sideration the recession and economy slowdown?

KB: The housing market in Gaborone is achieving the highest prices ever in sales. When international property prices plummeted the market in Gabo-rone didn’t even dip. There has been a slight downturn in rentals but this has not affected sales.

BF: Have there been any dramatic ef-fects…if yes/no why do you think this is?

KB: The effect of the recession has been that Batswana working abroad have continued to invest their hard earned Dollars and Pounds in the local market looking for properties back home to in-vest in. Foreign buyers looking for safe havens have considered Botswana as we have a stable political and economic track record.

BF: Could this be said to be good or not in the long run? (Are we likely to see a housing bubble burst due to this..?)

by H. Killion Mokwete, ARB Registered Architect, RIBA Chartered Architect

KB: People far more qualified than I, such as Economists have said that the bubble must burst. However we have seen no indication that the prices are going to come down. Finance is still readily available for Batswana wanting to purchase a home and the availability of serviced land is still scarce.

BF: If one wants to buy a house in Ga-borone, what is the best area to buy? Also what type of a house is good to buy as an investment? (high cost, low-cost?)

KB: After the announcement in the papers this week that DTC are moving the Diamond Aggregation to Gaborone I would say that Block 8, Block 3 and Phakalane must be good areas to buy in. There is a saying that better to be the smallest house in a good area than the largest house in a bad area – Loca-tion, Location, Location are important. Close proximity to Shopping Malls and Schools is always a sought after area. That is why Ext 11 and 9 are popular – within walking distance of Thornhill and Northside School and the Mosque and Gabs Sun!

BF: Is it good to buy a house or land as an investment? Taking into consid-eration the current high material and development rates?

KB: I think it is still a better bet to buy an existing house than buy a plot of land and build because with building the cost may start out at 500k and finish at

On the 7th September 2011, National Development Bank hosted a Property Sector Interactive Session at Maharaja Conference, where main purpose of the session was to gather inputs from different parties regarding what NDB can do to assists/fill up any gaps that are amongst them. At this event, NDB, presented its latest loan/products presented by its Research and Product Development Manager, Zenzile Moesi. Below is an extended abstract of her presentation which is a useful window into what the bank has to offer and its requirements for loan access:

National Development Bank Background: 1. National Development established under an Act of Parliament in 1963

for promoting economic development in Botswana.2. A 100% Government owned institution 3. Operating under the control of a Board of Directors, appointed by the

Minister of Finance & Development Planning4. Certified under the ISO 9001:2008 Management System Standard in 1998.5. The Bank aims to provide a varied range of financial services to Bo-

tswana business sector; Small, Medium and Large in capacity.

TYPES OF LOANS/PROJECTS THAT QUALIFY FOR FINANCING:• All Agriculture including game farming • All Industrial, Manufacturing, Processing & Mining• All Property Purchase & Property Developments• All Commercial/Service Industry & Tourism• Human Capital Development

Property Purchase• Owner occupation for trading or manufacturing as per other sectors• For term leasing (shopping centers ,factory units, commercial residen-

tial units etcProperty Development • Owner occupation for trading or manufacturing as per other sectors• For term leasing (shopping centers ,factory units, commercial residen-

tial units etc

Points for consideration for property:• Location is important • Title Deed• Valuation report of immovable property offered as security • Building Contractors quotations • Professional team architects, quantity surveyors, building managers

and Supervisors • Approved building plans and building permit • Offer of Sale for property purchase • Lease of Agreement, rental space and rental charges

OWNERS CONTRIBUTION/EQUITYMinimum contribution of 15% of the total project cost to be spent on the project; • Cash or in-kind

INTEREST RATE: Fixed and floating rates. Interest rates are determined by the pricing model depending on the risk profile.REPAYMENT FREQUENCY: Depending on the projects/clients repayment ca-pacity, loans are payable monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, annually.REPAYMENT PERIODS: Business loans: 1-15 years max depending on pur-pose, magnitude of loan, project’s repayment/cash generation capacity

ASSESSMENT AREAS FOR PROJECT FINANCINGPURPOSE OF LOAN: Intended use of loanFINANCIAL VIABILITY: Repayment capacity, profitabilityMANAGEMENT: Competent management personnel for projectMARKET: Reliable market for productsCOMPETITION: Project competitive advantages ECONOMIC: Project sustainability, employment creation, import substitu-tion, foreign exchange earningsSECURITY: Movable or immovable assets.

FAST TRACK LOANS1. Nthuta NDB School Fees Loan2. Bonno NDB Home Loan3. Ntlhatlosa Kwa Morakeng 4. Temo Bokamoso

Loans/Products Available at NDBFor more information visit: www.ndb.bw

PROPERTY your questions answeredON PROPERTY FINANCING

ORDER FINANCING PROJECT FINANCING BRIDGING FINANCING

Loan Range P10,000 - P4,000,000

P10,000 - P4,000,000

P10,000 - P4,000,000

Repayment Period

1-12 months 1-36 months 1-12 months

Cover Purchase Orders Tenders Short-term acquisition of assets

Who is financed

Customers awarded tenders

Customers awarded tenders

Legally registered Companies/Partner-ship/Joint Ventures

800k and at least with an existing house you can look at it, have an engineer look over it and you know what you are buying. Building standards in Gaborone continue to be atrocious.

BF: What is the difference between tribal land and freehold land?

KB: Today in Botswana Tribal Land com-prises 71% of the land area, Freehold 4% and the balance is State Land. Tribal land is distributed and administered by the Tribal Authority and the landowner leases it for a period of time during which he has the rights to use and build on it. Once he has developed it he can sell it to a fellow citizen. Tribal land is Mogoditshane, Tlokweng, Ramotswana and Oodi.

Freehold Land is mostly agricultural land and land in the main cities, ie. Ext 9, 11, Village in Gaborone, Phaka-lane, Gabs North and Notwane. A non citizen can purchase and own Freehold land and is owned indefinitely by the registered owner and can pass to his/her heirs. BF: Which of the two is easily available and or affordable to buy?

KB: Tribal land is more affordable as it is limited for sale to citizens. Freehold land is more expensive and areas such as Gabs North have doubled in the past 18 months because of the likelihood that it will become fully serviced land.

BF: How much should one expect for say, a typical low-cost house, typical 1 bed & 2-bed flat, and high cost house?

KB: It depends entirely on the location• Typical low-cost house: In Block 3

from P400 000.00, Oodi P300 000• Typical 1 bed-2bed flat: BHC in

Block 7 – P700 000• High cost house: BHC High Cost

house in Phakalane 2 bedroom – being marketed at P950 000 Entry level Phakalane Golf Estate P2,7 Million

BF: Recently there is a lot of movement with multi residential housing. How do you see these contributing to the hous-ing demand in the city?

There is still a Motswana aspiration to own ones own yard and until intermar-riage with other nationalities waters it down this concept will not take off! Also the standard of multi residential housing is more to house as many peo-ple as possible under one roof instead of looking at high quality concepts as well.


Comments

I am with BG News and get an opportunity now and again to go through your articles. I must say this particular installment is deficient coming from a scholar of your repute.

I have no beef with the need for our local CI to venture into Af-rica for opportunities, but it is rather simplistic to suggest that local private investors should abandon the lucrative domestic market with its mega-projects dominated by foreign firms and take flight to foreign countries. Rather as a scholar I expect your column to challenge with authority, the current procure-ment methods that block our firms out. Why are they not able to access funding from our local banks, including our financing institutions such as CEDA, VPB, NDB etal? Why are they unable to take advantage of the strong local currency, and do show

Hi EM - Thanks for reading my essays and most importantly thanks for getting back to me with your take on my essay on ‘CI must venture into Africa’. I really do appreciate feed back especially informed and robust as yours.

But let me first say I agree with you in general that our lo-cal current local procurement methods are not conducive to our local contractors. I agree that a hell lot more needs to be done to ensure local companies benefit from our ‘lucrative CI’. In fact I have here, before using this column argued the very same points and also pointed out that even our parastat-al bodies need be reviewed to ensure they have fair vetting process and clear policies and can benefit our local industry economy. This discussion on these issues remains open and you can be sure I will return to it.

But I would like to stress that even if there was a fair and clear process of awarding government and parastatal work here in Botswana, our local CI industry is relatively very small and of-fers limited opportunities compared to what the wider African economy can offer.

I believe we live in a globalised world where our professionals should be able to compete and source work not only in our limited economy but sell their expertise to wider global mar-ket. This is not a subject of patriotism and black empowerment as championed elsewhere. I personally don’t think our profes-

We bring you this third publication of Boidus in a month characterised with a lot of exciting events in the industry. The past month has seen the usual skeletons and scandals of the CI problems tumbling out in the open, but what is encouraging is that the month also saw a first of its kind in five years a building conference at the Ditshupo hall where contractors gathered to discuss issues that besieged the industry. The programme had discussions ranging from contract issues, projects supervision and the contribution of the Chinese contractors to building Botswana (although the Chinese did not turn up).

It is high time that the industry not only started talking among itself to introspect, but also proactively provide forums to discuss industry issues with stake holders instead of always waiting to do its dirty laundry through the tabloid press. We need Ministers responsible for pubic buildings and or any issues to do with the industry to come clean with issues they face to discuss and get ideas from the industry. Days of hiring consultants to solve problems that require collective action should be gone. The indus-try’s problems are too big for one consultant to try and resolve.

We at Boidus will continue to do our part to provide a platform to nurture dialogue, critic and also celebrate our very vibrant and lucrative Built En-vironment. We will continue to showcase outstanding projects that are coming up across our landscape and offer our building consumers an ex-tend view of these.

We however hope that both our readers and stakeholders in the industry play their part to ensure we take back our industry from the abyss of cor-ruption, malpractice and sheer consumer exploitation.

VISIT OUR WEBSITEFor more information on Boidus, or to see where it all began, visit us at www.boidus.co.bw

BOIDUS IS ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND FLICKRFollow us on these social websites to keep up to date; FACEBOOK: “BoidusBW”TWITTER: twitter.com/BoidusBWFLICKR: “Boidus Botswana”

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The Construction Industry Should Not Do Its Dirty Laundry in Publicby H. Killion Mokwete

Comments & Letters

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B O I D U S F O C U SBotswana’s Architecture Design & Urban Landscape Newspaper

> EM on ‘Local Construction Industry Firms Need To Look At Wider Africa for Opportunities’ [www.boidus.co.bw]

> Killion, in response to EM on ‘Local Construction Industry Firms Need To Look At Wider Africa for Opportunities’ [www.boidus.co.bw]

what the benefits of a strong currency are for a local firm.

Investment is also not a culture in Botswana, and this is ap-parent from the lack of any meaningful foreign investment undertaken by any one of our fat cats, big guns, millionaires etal. Why is this so? What can the CITF do to exert the inde-pendence of the local CI firms from over-reliance on govt. tenders? Please interrogate these and related issues in depth to inform our citizen economic empowerment policy. In new democracies like South Africa and Namibia they already have Black Economic Empowerment Act, but with our four-decades self-rule we don’t even have a policy, but a raft of inhibiting pieces of policies and laws designed to lock the citizen out.(www.boidus.co.bw)

sionals need ‘preferential treatment’ as in SA and or Namibia, where there is a complex history compared to us, I think what we need is to be offered equal opportunities and I also feel we have to go out there and make our own opportunities while we fight for fair systems at home. As I highlighted on the essay in question; ’in order to survive, our local CI needs to begin wean-ing itself from government tenders and venture into other Af-rican markets.’

Even on a fair system of procurement, our CI needs to venture out and compete with other globalisesd industries. Frankly I will be very happy to see our companies doing well in boom econo-mies such as Dubai, West Africa and even competing in Scandi-navian countries where profit margins in the industry are high.

We currently won work in Ghana and it’s an opportunity of designing a township which I have to say that opportunity can only exist once in while here in our market.

So again, I would like to point out that the essay is not meant to urge local companies to abandon our local market for for-eign firms but of course fight the system while also embracing wider markets, competing internationally, being independent of government tender for survival and in the end that’s what will build the mantle of our CI.

Thanks again for you arguments.(www.boidus.co.bw)

EDITORIAL built environment issuesIN FOCUS

DISCLAIMER: Please note that the views expressed in 'Comments and Letters' are neither those of Boidus, its management, nor its advertisers.

Fascinating to read all this. I arrived in Lobatsi by train in May 1955 from Cape Town, stayed in the Lobatsi Hotel owned by Sid & Doris Milner. My father Taliesin Richards came to take over from a Mrs Gunter as headmaster of the the Lobatsi Govern-ment European School. He did a wonderful job and was loved and respected by Europeans and Bechuanas. He served with Bechuanas during the war and was very fond of them and their country.He became Secretary of the Teaching Service in 1965 in Gaberones. Some of his teachers: Miss Chepe and Quet Masire went on to hold high office. I knew Russell and Sheila England very well and the Germonds and most of the other

> Michael Richards on ' Lobatse – A Town of Oddities and Contrasts'characters in the Lobatsi of the 50′s and 60′s, Dusty Rhodes, Izzy Hill,Gavin Lamont(Geological Survey) Dennis Sturgeon (Director of CDC), Doctors Van Rooien, Gemmell and Oliver & Vin Malan BP Police. My mother taught in both the European and Indian Schools. I played my first round of golf on the golf course/runway behind the school hostel which I think is now the Mental Hospital. Tonsuls taken out in the Athlone Hospi-tal in 1956.(some of the spelling may be incorrect) I have very much enjoyed McCall Smith’s books as they evoke many won-derful memories of the people of Bechuanaland/Botswana.(www.boidus.co.bw)


Professional Practice

Procuring Building Services & Understanding ConsultantsStarting a construction project can be a very stressful encounter for first time clients. A house can be the biggest in-vestment for most clients, and this could be the only time they get to build from scratch. Even for those who have done it before, it can always go wrong. Here we have put together a detailed article on steps to ensure successful completion of construction projects. Most clients will

Once you have acquired land, you need to put together a team for the project.

a. ARCHITECTThe architect is responsible for drawing up the plans for the house and submitting to the council for approval before construction can start on site. For small projects, a smaller firm or individual Architect can be sought. Also in instances where the plots are small, there is not much design or artistic influence that can be obtained by going for a large firm of Architects. For projects on larger plots, or of value more than a P1m, then an Architect will be of benefit to the client.

You will need to meet your Architect with details of what you want in your house. They will then turn your aspirations into plans for the house. It is helpful to come to the architect with an idea of what you want, either houses from magazines, or take photos of similar buildings that you want.

b. ENGINEERSFor double storey houses, you will need an structural engineer. Also for projects more than a P1m, it is advisable to get advice from engineers, it can be with light-ing, air-conditioning, or the structure itself. In some areas it is advisable to get a soil engineer to do test on the soil. This is always advisable on areas where there few other buildings, and the profile of the soil is not kwon.

c. QUANTITY SURVEYORMost lenders will require a Bill Of Quantities (BOQ) for the build. BOQ is a struc-tured estimate for the construction of a building project. It is used by lenders to evaluate the quotes submitted from contractors to make sure the amount pro-posed by contractors is enough to complete the project. Clients should look for Quantity Surveyors who understand the residential market in Botswana. Building houses is normally done by smaller construction companies, so the pricing is differ-ent from large projects done by big companies.

OBTAINING CONTRACTORS QUOTEIt is always advisable to obtain 3 quotes from construction companies. The client should make sure they go with the 3 contractors to view what they have done before. It is always advisable to ask the current client permission to look inside the house. Some contractors can park in front of a beautiful house and tell you they have done it. You will need to be comfortable with the contractor, since you would be dealing with him for more than 6 months on a daily basis.

The following are things to look out for when acquiring quotes from builders;1. Make sure they have resources, in terms of money and personnel2. Make sure they understand your aspirations for the build. They should be

able to read the plan, and advice on changes if any are required.3. Make sure they do not have a lot of projects running at the same time, as this

would affect your project.4. If you are getting a mortgage, make sure the contractor understands the pro-

cedure for claiming for payments from banks.5. Contractors should be able to produce a quote that is easy for the client to

understand. 6. Try and spend time with the builder before you start the project. If you are

uneasy about them, even just their behaviour or communication, then you might choose a different builder.

Contractors can give 2 types of quotations;

LABOUR ONLYIn this instance, it means the client will have to provide the material for the build. The client will still need to know how much the total build estimate for the project. Clients usually obtain quotes from hardware stores, but this will be only about 80% of the material estimate. It is always advisable for the contractor to give you an es-timate broken up into material and labour, even if you only doing labour only. The client will need to have resources to buy materials and claim for the money back at the completion of each stage.

LABOUR & MATERIALThis is the preferred quote format for most lenders. This is what some people will term turn-key construction, where the contractor provides for labour and materi-als for the whole project. This is a stress free way of construction for most clients, especially where one is working full time during the build process. The client needs to make sure that the quote includes for everything needed to complete the proj-ect, and especially look out for finishes including, tiling, kitchen, ward-robes, and sanitary ware.

The client needs to have an agreement with the contractor at the beginning of the project for finishes, as these always leads to problems. The contractor could provide a cheap kitchen at the end of the project, and always insist that is what they have always allowed for. We always advice clients that they should know the budget allowance for kitchens, wardrobes, and tiling, and they can look for these items for themselves, make their own choices, within the agreed budget.

Process of Acquiring a House

One of the biggest hindreses to people building their own houses in Botswana is the acquisition of land. Land in rural areas tends to be available in abun-dance, but there are problems with acquiring land in Urban areas. There are two ways to obtain land in Botswana;1. Allocation by land-boards2. Buying free hold

ALLOCATION BY LAND BOARDSThis is the cheapest way of acquiring land, but the waiting period in urban areas is more than 15 years. In Botswana Government land cannot be sold with no development on it. If you want to get land, you will have to do some developments on it first, before you can change the title dead on to your name. All lend-ing institutions will not give a mortgage on a devel-opment on which the title dead is not on the clients name. Clients should seek advice from the councils on what will be a suitable to structure on a land so they can change the title dead. There are some instances where clients buy land privately, and construct some structures so they could change the title dead, and often some of these are deemed to be unsuitable.

FREE HOLDFreehold is land that can be bought and the title dead

Acquiring Land to Build

by Tumi Mogwe, TEMO Construction Services, BSc (Hons), QS

The process of procuring a building from conception to completion is long, costs money and requires tough decision-mak-ing along the way. Being either a client in any form comes with immense responsi-bilities, especially where large amounts of monies are in question. By definition a building client is ‘any individual/group or institution with the task of procuring a building project’. A president or CEO, a board of directors, a designated project manager, a building committee, or even various stakeholders who ultimately inhabit the project can all be clients to some degree. The decisions made by any of these individuals or groups of indi-viduals still have long lasting impart on a project, meaning the success of a project to a certain extent depends on how good a building client one is. Although there is no template for what one has to do to be a ‘good client,’ there are essential prin-ciples of project procurement that are worth noting:

Getting professional advice: Building consultants such as architects, quan-tity surveyors, engineers and others are there to offer professional advice which as a client you will need when procur-ing a building. If you are not an industry professional, chances are you will not be familiar with a lot of process and proce-dures involved in building procurement, therefore it pays to solicit advice from reputable professionals who will give you valuable advice; these will of course cost money and as such be prepared to pay

How to Be a Good Client in Building Procurementcompetitively to get the best (treat this as investment). Having paid to get ad-vice, be willing to be advised rather than being a dictator client who always wants their way. Of course as a client your word carries ultimate weight, but if you pay for professional advice and you don’t take it in consideration, then you will be short changing yourself and worst stifling the best out of your consultants.

Don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know (that’s why you’ve assembled a team of experts to help you). Hire the best talent, use the best technology, set the bar high, and be innovative in your approach. Then let the team do its job. After all, design is inherently a value-added enterprise, and if you think strate-gically and act accordingly, you’ll always get your money’s worth. (Scott Simpson, AIA)

Clients who don’t take this advice into consideration usually end up making de-cisions that affect the scope, the sched-ule and ultimately the cost and viability of the project.

Know your rights and exercise them: Be-ing a client gives you ‘contractual rights’ that you have to know in order to get maximum benefit for your money’s worth. These ‘contractual rights’ are many across each consultant and some should be annexed in your contract agreement to safe guard your invest-ment as a client. For example, as a client

obtain a mortgage from lenders to un-dertake their projects, and they need to understand the steps to follow from start to completion of the project. Often we have seen clients who have spend a lot of money obtaining reports from consul-tants which might not be required.

Different lenders have different require-ments and list of preferred consultants,

from Valuers, soil engineers to Quantity Surveyors. Clients should seek advice from their preferred lender before they embark on the construction process to avoid abortive costs.

Based on our extensive knowledge of the residential market in Botswana, we are able to walk the clients through the whole construction process. Some cli-ents have problems in understanding construction drawings, and where we think there are discrepancies, even if the plans have been approved, we can advice on changes to make sure the building works.

changed immediately. In Urban areas it is available in Gaborone North, Phakalane, Mokolodi, Notwane farms, Molapo Estate & Gerald Estate in Francistown. You can obtain a mortgage to buy the land, and build a house at the same time. This is always an attractive obtain, but freehold land is not easily available, and the prices tend to be high to obtain the plots. Also the land tends to not be serviced, so the construc-tion costs tend to be high, for electricity, water, and sewage.

TYPES OF BUILDING PROJECTSNormally when clients embark on a project, the works can be divided into 3 categories;1. New Build2. Refurbishment3. Extensions

Refurbishment will normally not require council ap-proval, unless if it involves new roof or a big altera-tion of the structure. All house extensions will require council approvals. Clients will need to agree with the contractors if the extension of refurb requires the cli-ent to move out of the house. If the client decides to stay in the house, the contractor needs to allow for protecting the clients furniture and utensils dur-ing the works.

by H. Killion Mokwete, ARB Registered Architect, RIBA Chartered Architectyou should actively pursue the ability to be presented with options through your scheme development or to be briefed regularly on the progress of the project by being represented or party to any critical project milestones. These could be in the form of client briefing meetings and progress reports. Where deliver-ables have been outlined in the contract agreement, then you are entitled to re-ceive these as per the contract.

Honour Your responsibilities as a client: Importantly of course is also being aware of your responsibilities as a client. Clients responsibilities are many and some are collateral in contract and could jeop-ardise your project if not met. Key to some of these is your responsibility as a client to provide project information that could jeopardise health and safety, or payment of consultants within the stipu-lated time in the contract. In Botswana, especially in Government projects, con-sultants have been known to complain of instances where they go unpaid for months on end. The repercussions of this seemingly singular issue could have criti-cal effects on project delivery.

Clarity and passion about your project: One of the best clients to work for is one who has clarity or is willing to at-tain enough clarity on what they want and are ambitious and passionate about what the want. This is of course very subjective, but world class projects have been developed not only through finan-

cial muscle or economic soundness but also for clients who have belief in what they want to achieve. This usually be-comes a bonus to consultants, especially where creativity is called for, to work cohesively with a client to attain his/

her project vision. Crafting such a cli-ent vision becomes a joy that designers and creative people thrive on. Of course there are many more aspects that could make one a good client, but the above should be a good start in that direction.


Products / Advertising

by Otsisitswe Fedrick Semarite, Managing Director, Nature Studios

We would like to welcome our readers to the materials and their proper-ties column which will focus on materials used in construction throughout Botswana. It is here that we shall introduce how these materials are used in daily construction projects, availability within Botswana and discuss the structural/technical aspects of such materials. It is also here that we shall discuss issues such as environmental aspects and sustainability of materials used in construction throughout Botswana. The column will provide design-ers, those who own buildings or proposed buildings, and those who build the opportunity to evaluate and select the appropriate materials for their construction projects.

How your proposal is going to be erected, what materials are going to be used, where to get this materials and the construction budget (total build-ing costs) are some of the issues a client will normally discuss with his/her architect. The behavior and performance of buildings materials when used in different types of construction differs. You as the client need to ensure that from the drawing board in your architect’s office to actual erection of your proposal by your contractor, clear knowledge of any material to be used, how it is going to be used, and cost implications are items which are fully ad-dressed well in time to ensure value for your money in your investment.

MATERIALS value for your moneyIN YOUR INVESTMENT

Materials and their Properties



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What is there to know about Clay Face Bricks?

Many people are unaware of the great advantages of Clay Face Brick. Most of us are made to be-lieve that a brick is a brick and yet this is very far from the truth.

Here is some information for those whom are unaware of the benefits of Approved Quality Clay Bricks.

1. The Botswana Bureau of Standards has developed a Standard for Burnt Clay Masonry Units (BOS28:2000). This is a world class standard through which the quality of the Clay Brick is regulatedthroughout the whole of the production process. It is important to choose bricks that are BOBSAccredited for the safety of the people and for your own peace of mind.

2. The initial cost of building with Clay Face Bricks could be the same as building with stock brick.There is no cost of plastering or painting and, in the long term, Clay Face bricks require nomaintenance and we all know the Hassle and Cost involved in having to repaint every five years.

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4. Choosing the right brick is probably the most important part of building a house. The totalspend on the bricks accounts for as little as 5% of the overall cost. Yet if you make a mistake inchoosing the right brick, this 5% can’t be replaced without breaking down the other 95%. Somake sure when it comes to bricks you Always Buy the Best!

5. Clay Face Bricks are exposed to temperatures of around 2000 during the two weekmanufacturing process. It is through this process that approved clay bricks achieve their HighStrength and Density with the water absorption rate being less than 15%. The high density iswhat assures that the thermal expansion and shrinkage of Approved Clay Bricks is far less thanany other building material. Therefore greatly reducing the chances of cracks appearing in thewalls.

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The conclusion therefore is that Clay Face Bricks are Sustainable, Cost effective, Maintenance free and Environmentally Friendly.

boidus focus - vol 1, issue 3 [sep 2011]

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