JG Afrika demonstrates innovative ability and technical excellence at SAICE Regional Awards

JG Afrika, a leading engineering and environmental consultancy, outperformed at this year’s prestigious South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) Western Cape Regional Awards programme.

Richard Emery, a JG Afrika Executive Associate, was nominated “Technologist of the Year” and Associate, Bobby Jarratt, “Young Engineer of the Year”.

Richard Emery, a JG Afrika Executive Associate, was nominated “Technologist of the Year” and Associate, Bobby Jarratt, “Young Engineer of the Year”.

The company won awards for the best projects in the Community-based, Environmental Engineering and Water Engineering categories, while Richard Emery, a JG Afrika Executive Associate, was nominated “Technologist of the Year” and Associate, Bobby Jarratt, “Young Engineer of the Year”.

SAICE’s Regional Awards Programme builds up towards the high-profile national awards programme, which recognises excellence in the profession and those projects that have truly showcased the art and science of the civil-engineering discipline to the general public.



JG Afrika’s Richard Emery and Viola Milner receive the Divisional Award – Environmental from Emmanuel Akampurira, the SAICE Western Cape Chairman.

JG Afrika’s Richard Emery and Viola Milner receive the Divisional Award – Environmental from Emmanuel Akampurira, the SAICE Western Cape Chairman.

JG Afrika took top honours in the Community-based project category, as well as the Divisional Award – Environmental category for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Phase 2 project. It entailed developing a strategy for South African municipalities to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases from landfill sites by enabling the establishment of informal recycling sectors. Importantly, JG Afrika adopted a co-operative and interactive approach to ensure valuable skills transfer and local applicability, which included taking the unique needs of communities into consideration.

The project was undertaken on behalf of the South African National Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) as part of its Near-Term Priority Waste Management Flagship programme. It was funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and is being implemented by the GIZ in partnership with the DEA.

Emery, a specialist integrated solid waste engineer and strategist at JG Afrika, again led the South African team of engineers, environmentalists and waste specialists who worked on the second phase of the project. He was supported by the firm’s Stuart Gower-Jackson, an Associate and specialist waste and environmental scientist, as well as Jefrey Pilusa, an Associate, biomass-to-energy champion and process engineer.

Notably, the first phase of the GIZ project was awarded the best Environmental Engineering Project and the Most Outstanding Civil Engineering Project for Environmental Engineering at SAICE’s 2017 National awards programme. It was also the runner-up in the Environment & Climate Change category in the 2018 Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa and the Consulting Engineers of South Africa Excellence Awards.

Winner in the Division Award - Water category was the Stellenbosch University (SUN) Greywater System wherein JG Afrika designed and is implementing innovative means of reusing campus wastewater in “fit-for-purpose” applications.

One of the largest installations of its kind in Africa, the system will significantly improve campus water supply resilience once both installation phases have been completed. The network will flush more than 1300 toilets that are used by about 25 000 university students to meet between 20% and 30% of campus water supply and supplement campus irrigation.

Shower greywater is isolated and collected from selected residence buildings and distributed to a centralised treatment plant and storage area. Thereafter, treated greywater is pumped to a campus header tank and gravity supplied back into a non-potable network. This treated greywater network is plumbed into numerous buildings to supply toilets. The existing municipal supply to these toilets is disconnected. Excess treated greywater at the plant not used for toilet flushing is directly injected into the irrigation network.

JG Afrika’s winning team …. Back row: Terri-Ann Kruger, Owen Davis , Byron Mawer, Fareed Ismail and Wimpie Krügel. Front row: Viola Milner, Zama Mdlalose, Richard Emery, Bobby Jarratt, Benjamin Biggs, Andrew Clothier.

JG Afrika’s winning team …. Back row: Terri-Ann Kruger, Owen Davis , Byron Mawer, Fareed Ismail and Wimpie Krügel. Front row: Viola Milner, Zama Mdlalose, Richard Emery, Bobby Jarratt, Benjamin Biggs, Andrew Clothier.

These latest awards from a leading industry association again showcase JG Afrika’s innovative ability and technical excellence in the South African engineering industry.

For more information please contact:

Charmagne Denny, Marketing & Communication Manager, JG Afrika

Tel: +27 11 231 2200 Fax: +27 11 807 7006 Email: DennyC@jgafrika.com