Clinkscales Maughan-Brown certainly has a decorated past. Exec Digital investigates the history of the 50 year old consulting, mechanical and electrical engineering firm
By Ben Lobel
Clinkscales Maughan-Brown has been in existence for over fifty years and undertakes
work covering the whole spectrum of Consulting Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. The firm currently has offices in Port Elizabeth (head office), East London, George and Cape Town, and is in association with the CMB Namibia Office in Windhoek.
But where do the roots of the firm lie? Well, the foundation for the firm was laid through hospital work in the Cape Province and later in Namibia. Among the projects are the Windhoek State Hospital and the world renowned Grootte Schuur Hospital.
The mark of the success in this field was the award of the prestigious South African Association of Consulting Engineers (now CESA – Consulting Engineers South Africa) Engineers Award for excellent work for the firm’s part in the Frozen Food Kitchen at the Windhoek Hospital Complex. This work included all mechanical and electrical services.
From there, the firm expanded into industrial and commercial buildings as well as electrical distribution networks in residential and commercial areas, which includes overhead lines and substations up to 66 kV.
The electrical reticulation work provides for full consulting services to Municipalities/Supply Authorities, which includes tariff analysis, supply by-laws, safe working procedures, guidelines to operate and maintain the systems, etc.
Over the last 15 years the firm has also been extensively involved in the design and contract management of electrical reticulation networks for golf course estates such as Goose Valley and Turtle Creek near Plettenberg Bay, Oubaai and Lagoon Bay near George, St Francis Links near St Francis Bay, Wedgewood at Port Elizabeth and the very prestigious Villas Valriche in Mauritius.
But the list of projects doesn’t stop there. Other projects of note, reveals Managing Director Pierre Conradie, are a soccer stadium in Port Elizabeth in which CMB are responsible for the electrical services for a 46,000 seat multi-purposes stadium for the 2010 Soccer World Cup – the value of which is R50 million.
Other works include the R55 million Aspen Pharmacare mechanical and electrical services and various projects for Daimler Chrysler in East London including a new paint shop for the new C Class Mercedes and a 27 MVA intake substation.
Currently, a unique project that CMB is busy with is a mechanical maintenance project for the Eastern Cape Department of Public Works, where the firm is in joint venture with another firm of consulting engineers responsible for the contract administration and consulting services for a 36 month maintenance contract, as well as maintenance upgrades of 40 hospitals in the Eastern Cape to the value of R235 million. Services under this maintenance programme include boilers, hot water systems, laundries, kitchens, air conditioning, and standby generators.
CMB is also involved in international ventures such as catalytic converter plants in India
and China to the value of R20 million. This includes mechanical and electrical design work of material preparation areas plus the complete production area, with CMB supervising the work and commissioning the plant.
Also, the 300 luxury villas mentioned before at Villas Valriche in Mauritius around a golf course is on the agenda. Work includes the electrical reticulation, emergency generators, streetlighting, fibre optic data cabling as well as the HVAC and electrical
installation and data cabling in the villas.
CMB is very proud of the fact that two of its past Managing Directors, Dudley Clinkscales
and Craig Clarke, were the National President of CESA . Several directors have also served as chairman of local branches of CESA .
On the mechanical side of the operation, CMB offers alternative energy studies, Boilers and Steam reticulation, Compressed Air plant, Fire Protection systems, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, Lifts and much more. There is no doubt that a wealth of services are offered.
On the electrical side, services include Access Control, Security, Communications and Computer systems, moving through to Electrical Transmission and Distribution, Reticulation, Building services, Standby and Prime Power generation, Telemetry and SCADA and street and area lighting.
But what of the economic downturn? CMB anticipated the troubles in the economy and during the last year steered its marketing efforts from the private to the public sector where the firm believes there will still be a strong flow of work for a number of years to come.
This makes, inter alia, provision for maintenance and operation, building services and
infrastructure upgrade work.
CMB has been expanding its market and in particular the international market. Most contacts presently come from local clients who also have international projects. Through the work it is already doing overseas, attending international conferences and by means of the internet, the company should further expand its international work.
And that work centres around clients for whom CMB has worked for a long period of time and who award new appointments to them as and when new projects are embarked upon.
Overall, CMB is still a “family business” where humanitarian and ethical values are very important and take precedence over just chasing a financial profit. It also discourages financial competition between offices to facilitate working together as a team and assisting one another when the resources need to be spread. This team will surely
go on to bigger and better things.