Portland Group: Portland Remains Rock Solid amid Industry Trials  

A seemingly never-ending year, forever remembered with sadness and frustration; the impact of 2020 remains ongoing. Covid-19 wreaked havoc across the business community, and it continues to rage in South Africa. Re-entering Level 4 lockdown at the end of June, businesses are again restricted to working in a far from productive manner to help stop the spread of this unwelcome but all-too-present virus.  

South Africa’s Western Cape, with busy Cape Town at its heart, is the second worst hit area of the country behind only Gauteng. For those active in the province, working effectively has been demanding. Ensuring safety, maintaining contracts, delivering on promises – each has become more difficult than ever before.  

For Portland Group, a leading quarry and construction materials business based in Durbanville, the regular sounds of crushing, milling and machining was replaced during lockdown with an eerie silence as employees downed tools.  

The Heyns family at the helm of the business made full use of the three decades of experience under their belt to manage and mitigate.  

“Covid was and is horrific,” says Group General Manager Nicol Heyns, as he looks back at the period from 28 March 2020 when a severe lockdown froze work in the construction and development space. “We sat at home having hours and hours of online meetings to strategize and work on various recovery plans for the months coming after lockdown. There were major uncertainties, from working at home, to suppliers’ shortages, not to mention the difficulties of municipal plan approvals and lack of willing buyers on the development side.  

“Our main focus was based on the safety and health of our employees, suppliers and clients. We always keep a strict eye on cashflow which helped us tremendously through this period without any income. We had to juggle a few things to make sure we got everything sorted and we are proud of the courage and commitment our team showed throughout this tough time. 

“We started a social media campaign to drive interest and put our name out there. We got positive feedback and people would say to us ‘it’s great to see that you are still busy’. We are fortunate to say that we haven’t had to retrench anyone because of Covid and it was one of our first priorities to ensure that employees still received salaries throughout the hard lockdown. We are now appointing new staff with the eye on expanding the company and getting a bigger piece of the work available in the market and that is very positive for us.”  

The second-generation family leader is now looking forward with an appetite for growth as the diverse Portland product range becomes more attractive with construction once again picking up. While the country’s general building space has failed to reach previously inflated heights, there are major opportunities. The Afrimat Construction Index climbed 5.4% in the first quarter of 2021. Economists expect the second quarter to improve again, but with the length of the third wave yet unclear, predictions for 2021’s third quarter remain cloudy.  

Coming out of the initial curtailment of freedoms, Portland was quickly able to rebound as vital projects continued unabated.  

“We work on a three-year trade in cycle with most of our vehicles and construction machinery. At the end of 2019, we ordered 18 new ready mix trucks which were delivered right in the middle of the lockdown period. That was terrible timing with all employees being at home. After hard lockdown we were only allowed to work with 50% of our workforce for a few months that forced us to look at our efficiencies and how we could be more productive by using automation. We had to reduce the number of personnel on a shift but, by being more efficient, we managed to drive sales and utilise employees more,” says Heyns.  

“We are very fortunate and grateful that everything is running ok. Sales are down, but if you look at the average over the last few months since we came back after lockdown, we have had great months and bad months. All in all, things are not too bad.”  

STRONG & POSITIVE  

In May 2019, Portland was displaying its strength and Heyns told Enterprise Africa that there was enough work in the Western Cape to comfortably see the company through another decade.  

“Since then, we have opened another two quarries. Our quarry in Durbanville was established in July 2000. This is where we crush Malmesbury Hornfels material. We opened our Saldanha (Jacobs Bay) based West Coast granite quarry in partnership with Tip Trans in November 2019. Just after the quarry started running the pandemic hit. However, we had to push through,” he says.  

“We opened another quarry with Tip Trans in Worcester which is more of a crushing plant than a quarry, but we crush river stone into the same material specification as the other quarries and sell into the Worcester, Ceres or Paarl markets.” 

Portland’s ready mix division has also seen expansion with a new plant in Saldanha (Jacobs Bay) opening in 2020. Because of the industry’s closed period, this plant was not able to reach its full potential as fast as Heyns would have liked. This new plant will continue to bring the Portland guarantee of strength and workability. Alongside constructional concrete, the company also caters for decorative and special application products. While plants were closed, maintenance was the name of the game.   

“Our approach was to use the time wisely; push through and do upgrades, put up new plants, maintain our equipment, and whenever the work picks up make sure we are ready,” details Heyns. “It was a good strategy and just after the hard lockdown ended, we got our maintenance guys in, and we began building the plant on the West Coast before the work started picking up. In April 2021 we had an awesome month and we have been very busy.”  

In true entrepreneurial fashion, never willing to rest on laurels, Heyns and family quickly went about establishing plans to further advance ready mix capacity. Without revealing an exact location just yet, he confirms that a major upscaling is already underway.  

“We are opening up another ready mix plant around 25km from our current flagship plant. This plant will, potentially, become our new flagship plant. It’s right next to the N1 with easy access in all directions. We are very excited about this endeavour and hopefully by September it will be up and running.”  

PRECAST & HOLLOW CORE 

The precast, hollow core concrete market has many applications and in South Africa there is a gap in the market for an experienced player to dominate. Portland uses leading precast technology as an effective alternative to poured and traditional concrete methods. Hollow core is ideal for large, uniform building projects and allows them to progress quickly. Precast allows for largescale rollout of more detailed designs.  

“With precast and hollow core, things have been going well,” says Heyns. “Portland Hollowcore has been a business where we couldn’t get to a point where we get consistency out of it. Over the years of experience on the quarrying business, we got to a point where we know what we are doing and why we do it and it created consistency – we also have this with ready mix. We know what our strong points are and we have a good idea of how to approach our challenges. Over the last few years and with Covid contributing to the challenges we had in our Precast and Hollowcore business, this division of Portland Group was in a grey and cloudy space. Covid gave us the breathing space to build up some strategies and a different way of thinking inside the business and we are now back to a point where we have consistency in our hollow core department – that is really positive for us.  

“Precast is not a major item in South Africa yet and I think there are a lot of positives around precast. We have had meetings with engineers from big-name businesses about changing in-situ cast concrete in Cape Town to precast hollow core. It’s a big project and is very positive for us, even if we don’t get the project, we have delivered the positives of precast to one of the largest engineering and construction firms in the country.”  

Currently, precast products in South Africa are very detailed when compared to other international markets where cost and standardisation are key. Working alongside project managers, concrete specialists in the country design extremely complex products to suit different projects. Of course, this leads to challenges with pricing.  

“I don’t see that in other countries,” says Heyns. “It is the norm here to work on very detailed slabs that allow for every conduit and every pipe to feed wherever it is needed. From that point of view, we have to sell the detail of the slab rather than the slab itself. Since Covid hit, it has been tough on the industry so there is a price war in everything that you do.”  

There are larger projects that are well-suited for bigger, basic, mass produced slab products. High rise buildings, housing projects, bridges, infrastructure and more are perfect markets for Portland’s products. But for Heyns it’s all about getting in at the right price. 

“Best case scenario, you can install a hollow core slab for around R700 per square meter – if everything goes your way. That is very cheap – I have seen people buying tiles for more than this. This is why we started looking more into precast. If you can pick up a client with a vision for precast, then you are selling something special,” he says.  

Currently, the company is busy with a project for a number of high profile clients where Portland is supplying floors and other concrete infrastructure.  

“There is a lot of positives coming from hollow core, especially when looking at waste reductions and improvements in efficiency. In precast, concrete and steel are two of the most expensive input costs. By reducing costs and waste, there are major savings to be made if you put the effort into making it work,” explains Heyns.  

“My opinion is that there is a massive gap in the market for these precast products. Over the last two or three years, we have made good appointments in our precast division. We have brought engineers into the company in roles where it is not necessarily required. That is helping us a lot more than we thought it would, as they just have a different way of thinking. We have been expanding our variety of products for the market. We tender on big precast projects. Since 2019 we have doubled our precast factory and we have placed an order to double to the size of the factory again. Since 2019 to now, we have increased by 200% and that is really positive.”  

DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENTS  

Adding another string to the Portland bow, the Heyns family added Portland Beleggings to the group in 2015. This dedicated property development business comes as a natural progression after years of involvement in general building and construction. With other group companies able to support the business, Portland Beleggings has been an area of strength for the business.  

Having already completely the hugely popular 76 on the Beach and Asante developments at Blouberg beachfront, this innovative arm of the group is readying for more exciting work.  

“In Blouberg, we’ve done three projects recently and the last was completed in December 2020. We are starting another development in Langebaan where we will be putting up 88 units as the Nivica lifestyle apartments. The idea is to give it a resort feel. It has a swimming pool, under-roof parking, laundry facilities, and amazing views across the lagoon. This is a medium-to-large-sized development and will be completed in one phase. It represents a risk for us, but we are very excited about it. We recently ran a radio ad campaign in Cape Town which have seen a lot interest on the sales side. The civil works have been completed and we should start building in September 2021,” explains Heyns.  

The prime location of the Nivica Lifestyle Apartments will allow for easy access to the turquoise blue waters of the lagoon as well as the Club Mykonos Resort and Casino – regarded as one of the best family entertainment venues on the West Coast.  

These projects are exciting for all involved and the company will push forward with any opportunities that arise. The second Heyns generation is especially keen on further diversification in the group and working as a close-knit family allows decisions to be made quickly.   

“We love what we do – especially within our family,” admits Heyns. “With the younger generation coming in, we make each other crazy because we have an absolute passion for quarrying, ready mix and precast. We get excited when we talk about these things. We sit around at breakfast and dinner and talk business. We always talk about how we can improve and where the opportunities are. It usually starts with a conversation, a calculator, and then a spreadsheet. This is how our vision grows. There is an appetite for risk in the younger generation and we are always looking for gaps in the market.”  

Since Nico Heyns and Helenus Scholtz founded Portland Builders back in 1988, this proudly South African group has gone from strength to strength, always managing to find opportunities and positivity, even in the toughest of circumstances. In the future, this is a business that will grow, and the drive for expansion during these tough times is proof that Portland is a company with ambition.  

“With being consistent in what you do, you get the edge over the competition, and you are able to take market share. We want to be a brand that clients want to buy from. Client satisfaction is our highest priority because if you have that, you know you will have sales. Efficiency and productivity are vital and focussing on those helps us a lot. We get a lot of positive feedback on our performance. That puts us in a positive mindset when it comes to expanding the business and looking forward,” Heyns concludes.