Knight Piésold was founded in South Africa and expanded globally. How important is the African continent for the company today?

Established in South Africa in 1921, Knight Piésold takes immense pride in its rich African heritage. In Southern Africa, we maintain a strong presence in South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, the DRC, Eswatini, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Lesotho. We also have a well-established office in Ghana, which serves as a gateway to northern, eastern and western Africa. 

Can you highlight some key projects Knight Piésold has worked on in Africa to give our readers a sense of your expertise and footprint? 

We have three main divisions: Our mining division specializes in tailings facilities, as well as providing broader civil infrastructure services for mines; our infrastructure division focuses on road, rail, bridges and other related infrastructure projects; and water and power, which handles some of the largest and most complex dam and hydropower projects across the continent.

On the infrastructure side, we are currently the engineers on a major section of the greenfield Wild Coast Toll Highway project on South Africa's East Coast. This multi-billion rand highway involves intricate engineering, as it crosses untouched mountain and valley regions, connected by large bridges.

In the water and power sector, we are leading the design team as part of a consortium on the Polihali transfer tunnels within the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. This multi-billion-dollar project is a remarkable engineering feat, involving drilling through mountains to build tunnels that connect to a dam and transfer water over hundreds of kilometers.

Another award-winning project is the Kikagati Hydropower Project, a run-of-the-river initiative on the Kagera River, which forms the border between Uganda and Tanzania.

In mining, we have extensive operations in the DRC, working with Glencore on the KCC and MUMI mines, as well as MMG at Kinsevere. In Zambia, we work with Vedanta’s Konkola copper mines and Mopani copper mines. A strong growth area for us in the past decade, in particular, has been our diversified expertise to support multiple infrastructure needs on mining sites - from tailings to structural works, road realignment, dams, on a wider scale, yet from a local basis. 

While projects eventually come to an end, the real legacy lies in the training, development and skills transfer they leave behind. This enables local workforces to replicate the work, empowering communities and strengthening local expertise.

What is your perspective on the role of new technologies, including AI, in the field of engineering?

Technology enables us to work faster and more accurately, but engineering still requires people-based decisions. We integrate the latest technologies, such as advanced software, drones, satellites, telemetry and AI, into our projects, as expected of any major engineering firm. However, for me, it’s about bringing our clients the solutions they truly need in a practical way, rather than forcing new technologies into a project unnecessarily. 

To what extent is climate change factored into the engineering design of mining projects?

Climate change is a key topic in engineering today. Historically, engineering design has relied on the ability to predict future conditions based on past events. However, climate change introduces uncertainty into those predictions. We must now build climate-resilient structures that are safe not only today but also in an unpredictable future.

This means going beyond traditional standards based on historical data and considering a broader range of future possibilities. These designs can be more expensive, so we need to strike a balance, using science-based evidence to justify the added costs when necessary.

Do you have a final message for our readers?

I believe Knight Piésold's success over the past 100 years, while operating in some of the world's toughest economies and political environments, stems from our commitment to making a lasting impact and building long-term relationships with our clients, some of which have lasted 50 years or more. We haven’t shifted to fit passing trends. My message is simple: think about what remains after the work is done.

Africa's population is booming, projected to reach 2.4 billion by 2050. This growth will drive significant infrastructure development and increase the continent’s importance on the global stage. While Knight Piésold is already over a century old, we see this as just the beginning of our journey. We are committed to playing a key role in Africa’s future development, doing our part in line with the Ubuntu philosophy.