Working on engineering projects all over the country, and often further afield in Africa, Hatch Goba is now the go-to name for projects big and small. This is an organisation with almost unrivalled expertise and one which will continue to grow, throughout 2016.
Following the merger of Goba and Hatch in 2013, South Africa gained a multi-disciplinary engineering expert with a huge reputation. From the Goba side came the extremely talented group of people with local knowledge and from the Hatch side came international expertise and a commitment to quality. When the two became Hatch Goba, new markets opened up and the business in South Africa now operates primarily in the mining, metallurgical, energy, and infrastructure industries.
Goba was founded in 2001 by namesake Truman Goba; Hatch was founded in 1955 in Toronto, Canada and became Hatch in 1958 when Dr Gerald Hatch joined and renamed the business. Hatch Goba’s services include management consulting, engineering, process development, operational performance, environmental services, technologies and project and construction management.
After completing a host of high-value, high-importance projects, the company is now looking to the future and is making deals that will help to build the pipeline for the next three years at least.
SOUTH AFRICAN FOCUS
The company remains focussed on one of its core African markets – South Africa, after all, this is where Goba built its name and where major infrastructure developments are taking place on a more frequent basis.
The country’s National Development Plan (NDP), that aims to achieve a number of economic goals by 2030, has highlight infrastructure development as one of its key focus points and hence South Africa has adapted its strategy to include projects of this nature.
Hatch’s Global Managing Director for Infrastructure, Martin Doble recently told Creamer Media that the Durban–Free State–Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor as a primary focus because of its position as the country’s freight transportation backbone.
“We’re expecting a tremendous amount of investment to occur along that corridor,” he said. “It has taken a long time to reach this point, but we see it as one that will move ahead quite quickly.”
Hatch Goba Chairperson Trueman Goba, who was appointed by South African President Jacob Zuma to the National Planning Commission in 2010, also highlighted the importance of development corridors. “Fortunately, South Africa has a good core network of national infrastructure,” he told Creamer Media. “But there are challenges to maintain and expand [this infrastructure]; both addressing future demand and the needs of the country’s growing economy.”
One element of this development, in the transportation sector, is the Go!Durban transit system. It’s a massive project that Hatch Goba has been involved with from the outset, advising on overall strategy development and detailed feasibility study for Phase 1, which will develop the network’s first four corridors—one rail and three rapid-transit bus lines. Over the next 15 years, the current system will be replaced by 90 km of rail rapid transit, 330 km of bus rapid transit, 2200 km of road-based feeder services, 290 km of complementary rail services, 820 km of complementary bus services and a fleet of approximately 4120 vehicles.
Of course, alongside the ‘major projects’ that Hatch Goba undertakes, its day-to-day work on smaller projects that require ongoing upgrading and maintenance will remain prominent. Along with work in the construction and mining sectors, Hatch Goba also has extensive proven expertise in the energy and infrastructure industries. Through its work on the country’s roads, building freeways and bridges, Hatch Goba has built a close relationship with SANRAL and the Department of Roads and Public Works.
SANRAL sourced the expertise of Hatch Goba to be the lead consultant on the planning and preliminary design of N3, a section of the Durban Gauteng Corridor, stretching from Paradise Valley, just west of Durban, to Cedara, north of Pietermaritzburg. Because of the nature of the road, it has become something of an accident blackspot in the past few years but all solutions to upgrade or change the situation were not viable. The steep grades and sharp curves as the route descends sharply from the Midlands Plateau to the Coastal Plains of KwaZulu-Natal are what cause the issues so Hatch Goba has developed a new alternative route incorporating viaducts and a tunnel that addresses all the safety concerns while still achieving an acceptable rate of return on investment.
“SANRAL has been a key client for Goba, now Hatch Goba, for many years. We have developed a strong relationship with SANRAL and have successfully completed numerous high-profile appointments,” says project lead and sponsor, Freek Serton.
ENERGY SECTOR
The company’s work in the energy industry is vast and has involved projects on major power stations, major solar installations and other utility sites to name just a few.
In March, the company talked about its capabilities, saying that it would demonstrate a range of innovative technologies variousmining, petrochemicaland industrial projects in Africa.
Project Engineer from Hatch’s Jo’burg office, Cobus Schutte says the company is confident in a range of solutions including: thermal power generation (including conventional and advanced technologies), cogeneration, gasification (coal, biomass and waste), coal‐to‐liquids and gas quality control (including flue-gas emission reduction, syngas handling, treatment and carbon management). Currently, the company is active a long-term contract with Sasol.
“The engineering services that we are providing here on an ongoing basis include materials handling design, machine design and pressure vessel design,” Schutte explains. “Here Hatch is playing a key role in fine-tuning its gasification technology in order to boost its syngas generation and coal-to-liquids business over the next decade.
“If you want to talk power generation and energy projects in general, Africa is definitely the place to be,” Schutte comments. “While we are not aware of too many large-scale power generation facilities being erected, there is a lot of focus on own generation, such as remote mines or any kind of production facility.”
The company was an important player in the development of two 50 MW solar parks, one near Kimberley and the other near De Aar and in February last year, Colin King, Project Manager, Power Delivery & Integration in Cape Town detailed the impressive undertaking saying: “Our design review covered all of the 22 kV switchgear, cable networks, protection, control, measurement and SCADA equipment, and civil works for the solar panel terminals. Beyond the traditional OE services, Hatch’s in-depth knowledge of South African standards and legislation added considerable value to the design and construction reviews. We also oversaw specialist third-party testing services.”
EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY
Like any industry, engineering is one that is constantly changing but particularly in the last decade, the pace of change has increased thanks to the onset of technology. Communication is now instant and people want things done faster. Hatch Goba Regional Director – Eastern Cape, Geoff Mendelowitz explained more about how the industry has advanced when he spoke to 10minuteswith.com.
“The industry has evolved a tremendous amount,” he said. “Now, everything is instant – we email huge drawings across the world in an instant and all the technology jump and change has meant that we have had to jump and change as well. What use to take three weeks, must now be done in a day. We now expect to do a lot more with a lot less so we’ve had to adapt and change. What hasn’t changed is that we still need good, solid engineers to use systems and engineer the best solutions and find the most cost-effective solutions for clients – the fundamentals of engineering remain the same.”
Nick van den Berg, Manager of Structures – Eastern Cape, reiterated these points, saying: “Technology is the major factor behind the change in the engineering industry. Price is also a driver. People are looking more at the price of a product rather than quality and the longer term benefits, so we need to tailor our services to still offer high-quality while being competitive.”
With South African Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan announcing in his budget speech in February that the government will spend R865.4 billion on public infrastructure over the next three years, with a large portion of this going to energy, transport and municipal construction, Hatch Goba is perfectly positioned to ride the economic wave and prosper. The company’s expertise and international knowhow place this company at the forefront of the industry and it will remain there for some time to come.