Cosira takes top honours at 2008 Steel Awards

Steel construction on Soweto’s Maponya Mall wins Overall Award

5 September, 2008

At the Steel Awards Gauteng function, held on the evening of 4 September at Vodaworld, Johannesburg, John da Silva, CEO of the Cosira Group holds an Overall Steel Award for 2008, won by Cosira for their steel construction work on Soweto’s groundbreaking Maponya Mall.

In what was described by judges as the very first shopping mall project they had seen with the ‘wow’ factor, and as a project with which they could find no fault, Maponya Mall was praised for quality of design, superb workmanship and the highest standards all-round.

This was the first time a Soweto project had been entered into the Steel Awards, and the win sets a precedent of excellence for the area.

The project was so large it required a total of four steelwork contractors to make the scheduled completion date. Other members of the award-winning Maponya Mall project team included architects Bentel Associates, main contractor Grinaker-LtA and steelwork contractors Omni Struct Nkosi, SE Steel Fabrication and Van Driel’s Steel Construction.

“We are very pleased to have our corporate ethos of quality in everything we do, recognised in this way. We were privileged to be part of such a project and part of such a project team,” da Silva comments.

In addition to Cosira’s achievement in the Overall Winner category, the company was also short-listed for their innovative modular export project of the Skibbereen Bridge in Ireland in the Engineering and Bridge Structures category.