News & insights

After months or years of planning and construction, you might expect the most anticipated image to be the renders or the completion photographs. It isn't. The picture every client should be waiting for is the Occupation Certificate.

It may not be glamorous, but this document confirms that the building has been approved for legal occupation. Insurers, financiers and future buyers may ask for it as evidence that the building meets statutory requirements.

That's why we plan for compliance from day one. Obtaining an Occupation Certificate takes the whole project team: plumbing, electrical and glazing compliance certificates, municipal inspections during construction, approved plans and the completion of every statutory requirement.

A beautiful building should also be a compliant building. If you're facing compliance challenges on an existing project, we'd be happy to help.

An expanded edition of the book adds further projects and material that Aziz Tayob wished to include. About the book.

On Father's Day, 16 June 2024, we launched Going According to Plan – The Architectural Journey of Aziz Tayob at the office. The book traces his journey from the 1940s: growing up as a person of colour under apartheid, studying and working under the same system, and still realising several hundred projects.

Watch the interview with Polity · Buy at Iqra Books

The South African Institute of Architects conferred Life Membership on Aziz Tayob, recognising his dedication to excellence and commitment to advancing the profession. At the time he graduated, the same institute had no place for members of colour.

The documentary In Plain Sight: 5 Decades of Aziz Tayob was screened in association with Tshwane University of Technology. It was followed by the exhibition Telling Our Stories at TUT, featuring Aziz Tayob, Muhammad Mayet and Linda Mvusi, founders of the Association of Black Architects.

Many of our client relationships last decades, so projects go through several phases over the years. We can call up a drawing from more than 18 years ago and bring it into today's CAD/BIM software with a few tweaks.

We aim for buildings with a low life-cycle cost and little maintenance, that respond to climate and site and use materials sensibly. The Darus Salaam mosque is cooled entirely by air drawn over a fountain, with no mechanical cooling.

We use EcoDesigner, integrated with our CAD software, to calculate energy requirements and compare materials, openings, shading and orientation at any stage. As the saying goes: "Doing something will cost a bit… doing nothing will cost the earth."