CADCON STEEL CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING: Strong CADCON Builds on Quality Reputation

For 35 years, CADCON Steel Construction and Engineering has been building, creating, innovating and engineering unique and imaginative steelwork solutions for quality-conscious clients in South Africa.

As a brand, CADCON has developed significantly and is now recognised as an industry leader, capable of completing major projects for clients across all industries. From steel warehouses to distribution centres to shopping centres to aircraft hangars or mining storage facilities – CADCON has unrivalled experience comprising hundreds of completed projects.

Starting out as a garage project in 1987, when founder Gerhard Meiring established CADCOR, the company has always been about quality steel projects. In 1989, Barry Barnard joined Meiring to assist with growing the business. Through the early 90s, the company grew quickly and eventually took on its first major project at the BMW plant in Rosslyn. By the end of the 90s, Meiring had left the company and Richard Butler had taken control, increasing revenue and bringing onboard new customers including Mercedes-Benz in East London. In 2000, the company changed its status from a closed corporation to become a Pty Ltd and changed name to CADCON. The next decade saw aggressive expansion across multiple disciplines with more employees, more facilities, and more output. In 2007, Abri Barnard, Barry’s son, joined the business and today, heads up the Fabrication facilities, Quality and Safety. In 2011, CADCON was awarded ISO 9001-2008 certification and ISO 3834 Part 3 Welding accreditation, while entering a BBBEE deal. Today, the company is headed by an experienced team of four owner-directors with Managing Director Paul Rebelo driving growth with commercial clients. In 2018, when the ISO Quality Standard changed, CADCON was re-certified to ISO 9001-2015.

220 employees work across four workshops and a paint shop, and the company now fabricates around 600 tons of structural steel each month, delivered through a fleet of own and outsourced trucks. An order book boom has seen CADCON realise a record year for turnover in 2021, and this year is looking promising with many opportunities on the horizon.

“We are a big engine and sometimes it needs time to kickstart but when it gets going, you have to stand back and admire it,” smiles Rebelo. “We have great facilities here with automated machinery that prepares all the steel, and boilermakers that put it altogether before it goes through welding, cleaning, and painting.

“When we say we will deliver, we deliver,” he adds.

RECORD BREAKERS

CADCON operates a design and construct model, challenging clients in the planning phase to ensure optimal rollout further down the line. Responsible for some of the country’s most ambitious and heralded structures, this is an organisation steeped in quality. A major automotive parts factory for Thai Summit Group, an intricate data centre for Vantage, a largescale warehouse for Pepkor, a field hospital in East London, a retail centre in Waterfall City, a stadium roof in Free State, a complicated pedestrian bridge across the M1/M2 highway in Mauritius, and a range of other projects are all part of the strong portfolio which sees CADCON detached from others in terms of capability.

“If its structural steel and we know we can build it, we get involved wherever we can,” says Rebelo.

“Whatever we install on site, we will have fabricated ourselves. If there is architectural work, we are happy to get involved – if there is a feature roof in a shopping mall or a showroom, we enjoy that kind of work.”

Currently, CADCON is busy demonstrating not only its quality capability but also its scalability, working at the Eastport Logistics Park in Gauteng.

“We are busy with a warehouse for Pick n Pay – 3620 tons of steel and an aggressive timeline,” says Rebelo. “We handled all of the steel work for that structure. That is some achievement as the weight of the sheet, combined with the elements on the roof, make it a very challenging job – it was a feather in the cap of the South African construction industry in terms of what we can achieve.”

Guinness World Records came to the site to inspect the roof which was measured as the longest roof span covered by a single metal sheet at more than 280m, making CADCON part of an energetic, record-breaking team, smashing the previous standard by more than 80m.

The company has taken this energy into other industries, applying its ethos of quality delivery combined with innovation to produce another flagship project.

“We are involved with a number of structures on solar farms,” details Rebelo. “Right now, we are fabricating structures for a CSP plant with a 254m tall tower, and all the mirrors reflect to the focal point. We are involved with the balance of plant and that is two massive tanks that hold the molten product. We are spanning the tanks with two 50m long structure which are supported on concrete plinths and holds all the pumps, mixers, and other equipment. It’s around 1000 tons of steel for us and it’s very good to get involved in these types of projects as they don’t come around often. The last time there was a project like this in South Africa, we were also involved so I think we are seen as the go-to steel fabricators when it comes to something which is out of the ordinary and a bit of a challenge.”

Work like this is not an out-of-the-box solution and requires ongoing communication through an iterative process to come to an agreement with a client. Highlighting its experience and knowledge in the industry, CADCON is happy to challenge clients to adapt and advance plans for peak performance. “This is great,” says Rebelo “as when the project gets the go ahead, we are already involved.”

AFRICAN EXPANSION

With success ongoing in South Africa, and a construction industry expecting to realise a 9.1% boom in real terms in 2022, CADCON is confident in its pipeline in SA. With three big projects already secured, totalling 2500 tons, the company’s workshops will remain busy. Work in the commercial space will continue to dominate CADCON’s order book, with Rebelo suggesting ambition to work on an upcoming concert arena project. But outside of South Africa, development in the mining industry is important.

North of the borders, there remains major opportunity as a developing African continent searches for proven understanding of operating on the continent. Having worked successfully in Mauritius, Mozambique, Cameroon, and more, CADCON boasts an African portfolio and is actively looking to participate in projects where it can add value.

“If it is a South African contractor that we know, we feel a lot more comfortable going into Africa with a blue-chip client like a WBHO or Raubex. As long as that relationship is there, we have certainty,” Rebelo says, hinting at a different set of challenges faced across the various geographies on the continent.

“We are exploring central and sub-Saharan regions where there is a lot of mining activity. We are looking at opportunities on the commercial side with mining facilities. It comes down to relationships and we know those who are involved. There are engineers that we know here who are involved there, they know what we can do, and they ask us to venture in with them. It is sustainable type work and whether you fabricate for commercial or mining it is ultimately the same thing, maybe with some more stringent quality control. Steel is steel and we don’t compromise standards knowing that something will go to a smaller client. We put as much effort into our steel whether it is going into a petrochemical plant or a commercial shopping centre.”

This reputational advantage is something that is built beyond marketing budgets. It is about personal relationships and recognition of quality derived from informal discussions and teamwork. Without this, it would take CADCON much longer to underline its credentials in Africa. According to Forbes, personal relationships in business are more important than ever and help to build trust in brands. For Rebelo, the company is already a leader in structural steel and this is and will be, in part, down to positive relationships.

“We are keen to explore mining,” he reiterates. “We know that there is work outside of South Africa in the mining industry and there will be spin offs from those opportunities. The commercial guys at the mining houses – QS and Structural Engineers – are very familiar with what we do. If we can further build a reputation with the mining houses, then we will be in a good space. At the beginning of the year, we worked in the petrochemical industry for the first time, with a supply only contract. We saw an opportunity and there have been numerous enquiries coming in since then.”

NO SLOWDOWN

For many in construction, the start of 2020 was problematic as the pandemic created previously unimaginable challenges. Uncertainty was the only certainty and, with sites shut, many were forced to sweat it out, or close. Stats SA suggested that the industry could contract by almost 15% during the initial period of lockdown.

But CADCON was able to call on more than three decades of experience, riding waves in South Africa’s traditionally turbulent economy. The company was quick to act and nimble in its approach. There was not a major slowdown and the only real challenges came through the supply of material.

“ArcelorMittal shut down and when they brought the furnace back online, there was an internal problem – that impacted our ability to perform,” says Rebelo, highlighting a large expansion project with a major automaker in South Africa.

“When we started drawings, we went to market and asked for availability, then there were closures and non-committal sentiment, and it was painful. We were trying to move forward with an aggressive timeline but taking two steps forward and one step back. Choosing different products adds time as you have to go back to design to see if it will work and then you have to change the designs. It was frustrating but material availability is much better now. However, we are still having to import material into this country as there is no real demand for the sizes we are looking at.”

During the first five weeks of lockdown, the company’s offices and workshops were closed and the team worked remotely. At that time, CADCON remained active in its pursuit of work. “We continued to bid and we landed three contracts,” smiles Rebelo.

The result of this dedication and focus was a robust project base which others could not fulfil. CADCON ended its financial year 21 at the end of October breaking records yet again, this time in turnover. 

“We were fortunate to have two big projects at the time and they were fast tracked, accelerator projects, but we did have record turnover even with restrictions,” details Rebelo.

2022 will likely follow on the same successful route but slightly lower in terms of turnover as new projects come on stream.

HANDS ON

In the future, CADCON is setting itself for market-leading, industry domination, where others are not viewed in the same tier based on quality, delivery, and size. To do this, the company employs a top-down approach to work, where all are intrinsically involved in the success of the business.

“What sets us apart from our competitors is that we are four directors that own the business. We are all hands on – we don’t sit away from the business and let it run itself. Without this approach, the business will fail,” confirms Rebelo.

“There is certainty in delivery with CADCON and that is what a lot of our clients appreciate. We ensure we have a buffer of material in the workshops. Clients appreciate this about us and enjoy the conversations we bring around design.”

He explains that, as part of the solar project the company was involved with recently, some big steel sections were not available in South Africa, and would take time to import. Instead of further delaying the project, CADCON manufactured these parts locally from plate. With modern machinery, and quality draughtsmen, this was a unique solution that could not have been achieved by others.

Right now, there are no plans in the place for physical expansion with more facilities. The company’s capacity is providing room for growth without the need for additional capex. Rebelo and team are consolidating on what is currently a buoyant business, being highly selective over which projects are bid on, choosing only the best clients with exciting jobs.

Before CADCON, Rebelo was with Kentz, which became part of SNC Lavalin. Working on the Medupi Power Plant project, he was aware of CADCON’s quality reputation and this was enhanced as new standards were driven throughout the mammoth development.

“It became a game changer in South Africa in terms of quality of workmanship,” he remembers. “It brought European norms and there was a lot of quality and welding techniques that were accredited to EN specs. Today, when the guys clean the steel, that culture is still seen today. We have to tell the guys to not overclean as they have such a high standard around what they want to see. It’s a good culture to have.”

This culture continues to bring enquiries for the business and, as well as African ambitions, CADCON is excited about its opportunities in the tech sector, with high-spec data centres.

“A lot of it has come around because of Covid,” Rebelo explains. “Covid has changed the dynamic around how people do business. A lot of people are now virtual and that consumes data. In the past three or four years, we have seen a lot of data centres going up. On the other side, there is a lot of online purchasing and that requires big storage facilities that you must be able to manage in order to get goods from supplier to the customer as soon as possible. We have done a number of data centres and warehouses over the last ten years, but certainly in the past four years, the demand has been huge and we expect that to continue.”

Usually funded by major international technology and communications organisations, construction of data centres is only trusted to the very best. With intense specifications around thermal dynamics, structural integrity, security, and climatic protection, a data centre is far from a ‘regular job’.

Thankfully, CADCON’s ability is clear for all to see, and the management team is clear in its value: “With CADCON, certainty of delivery is a definite,” Rebelo concludes.