The following members have been elected as Executive Committee Members.

Niel Lombard – President

Niel has been involved in the Built Environment for almost forty years; four years of which has been in his own partnership company, Brainwave Projects.  His focus is on architectural and civil projects as well as project management.  The highlight of Niel’s career is his involvement with the Viking Building Saxonburg project.

He is a family man and a proud grandfather of his first grandchild. Niel is an active member of his church’s council. One of his hobbies is to collect beer mugs from all over the world.

Megum Reyneke – Vice President

Megum has been involved in the building industry for a number of years and has an established practice, MRP Architectural Solutions.  She focuses on additions and alterations, town planning and project management.

Megum was involved in the re-design of Cambridge Junior School in East London in 1987.

She has served as an Executive Committee Member of SAID for many years.

Megum is an active member of the Pinelands Rate Payer Association. She is a member of the Miniaturist Guild and has a talent for flower arranging.

Quinton Damstra

Quinton has been involved in architecture since the 1990s, two years of which was spent working in London.

Since returning to South Africa in 1999 he started his own practice, QJD Design Studio.

He is also a chief examiner for the Department of Education.

The highlight of his career is his Erxcell concept, showcased earlier this year by The Buckminster Fuller Institute of the United States of America.

Quinton has been an active Executive Committee Member of SAID for a number of years.

He enjoys beach combing and relaxation.

Carol De Beer

Carol has been involved in the Built Environment for a number of years in Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town. She has her own practice in Cape Town and her focus is on domestic dwellings and she specialises in Liquor Licence applications.

Her view is that everyday, every client and every project is a “highlight.”

She is active with Tai Chi and enjoys gardening.

Carol has served as an Executive Committee Member of the Institute for a few years.

Maureen W Gerrans

Maureen has her own practice, Creative Design Workroom, and has been involved in the Built Environment for many years. Her experience ranges from architectural, civil, project management to mechanical draughting.

She has been and is currently the Executive Secretary of SAID, as well as serving as an Executive Committee Member.

Maureen is registered with both SACAP and ECSA. She serves on the SACAP Council and various SACAP committees. She fights tirelessly for the rights of the draughtsperson and has been very involved with disabled draughtspersons.

Her passion is travel, photography and reading.

Mike Simmonds

Mike has worked in the architectural field for more than twenty years. He has his own practice, Architectural Plans and Designs (APD) and specialises in residential architecture.

The highlight of his career is the alteration and extension to the Methodist Church in Edgemead.

He relaxes by going to the gym, windsurfing, martial arts and watching motor cycle racing.

Carlo Ghisolfo

Carlo started his own practice sixteen years ago, Eye for Design. His expertise includes both mechanical and architectural draughting as well as project management.

He regards his greatest achievement to have been in the process design of Cortona Wine Cellars for the Antenori Group in Cortona, Tuscany, Italy. The project extended from 2001 to 2005 and comprised nine wine cellars in total.

He enjoys radio-controlled aircraft and playing golf.

SAID Co-opted Committee Members

Izak Geldenhuys and Rowan Smith have volunteered to serve on task groups.

A synopsis of the presentation by Quinton J Damstra on the Draughting Profession in South Africa.

Draughting is a very broad based discipline, of which architectural draughting forms a small part.

The Institute of Draughting is not only recognised as a Voluntary Association of SACAP, but also recognised  as a VA by the Engineering Council of SA (ECSA). This is unique in South Africa.

A draughtsperson used to start their professional journey on the workshop floor. They would then be invited into the drawing office, if  showing the correct aptitude.  Draughting chose you, unlike today where people choose the carreer of draughting.

In the case of architectural draughting, they would trace existing architectural plans. They would then trace examples of all the disciplines; electrical, civil, mechanical, structural steel details and piping.  This experiential progress could take years!

As I maintain to my students – one can only get 20 years experience in any field by working 20 years – no shortcuts to experience. After being exposed to the various draughting disciplines the draughtsperson can now choose which discipline best suits their passion.

One of SAID’s  many challenges to date, was that  most of these other draughting professionals felt architectural draughting is an easy discipline – and they all dabble in it, part time!  SAID’s architectural draughting representatives’ job was to educate these draughting individuals that we should all stick to our professional draughting portfolio.

SACAP has helped immensely with preventing this across the board draughting by preventing these individuals from submitting plans to local authorities without being registered with SACAP.

At SAID we want to give credibility to our brand – when industry sees the SAID logo advertising an individual or product we want that to be the mark of approval and we also want to be able to validate the placing of that logo.

Our architectural industry has its very strange anomalies.  When you speak to an architect about draughtspeople or technicians they are very vocal and passionate about the fact that draughtspeople and technicians do not know how to design and they should not design.

When you speak to draughtspeople and technicians they say that certain architects do not know how to draw and their sketches and certain of their designs are illegible.

So there is a lot of eyeballing.  All of us in our own compounds; a kind of professional xenophobia.

Our aim is not to have our draughtpeople be engineers without the qualifications, or architects / architectural technologists without the necessary experience.   

Our aim is to promote the advancement of the skill of draughting.  The skill or communicative language we all use in our architectural profession.

SAID wants to change the perception that draughtspersons are under qualified.

Draughting is an exciting field to ply ones trade whether you’re an architectural draughtsperson, electrical draughtsperson, structural steel detailer, mechanical draughtsperson, civil draughtsperson, or, if you are proficient in one of the CAD packages and are a CAD driver.

Draughting is multi-faceted and its draughtspersons will continue to prop up architectural and engineering practices with their tireless work ethic.

Here is to a productive future with SAID and may we progress as we have been over the last half century.