BSc Quantity Surveying (Honours) graduate, Avuyisiwe Kovu, together with her supervisor Professor Gerrit Crafford, received the Best Paper Award in the Sustainable Cities category.
Their paper, “Reviving the Forgotten Heart of Gqeberha, South Africa: Adaptive Reuse Challenges and Opportunities in Urban Regeneration”, stems from Avuyisiwe’s honours treatise.
The research explores the challenges of adaptive reuse in Gqeberha’s Central Business District, — ranging from regulatory hurdles and structural deterioration to financial barriers — while also demonstrating its vast potential to deliver affordable housing, create jobs, improve safety, and preserve cultural identity.
The findings indicated that adaptive reuse is shaped by a complex mix of regulatory, technical, and economic factors, offering significant socio-economic benefits despite numerous challenges.
Outdated zoning, rigid parking requirements, and slow heritage approvals hinder development, while technical issues, such as structural degradation, outdated services, and poor natural lighting, make residential conversions costly.
Economically, hidden defects, high compliance costs, and low rental returns further reduce feasibility, especially in heritage buildings.
Yet, professionals emphasised its value in improving safety, creating affordable housing for students and young professionals, and generating jobs in construction and property management.
The findings position adaptive reuse as a strategic tool for sustainable urban regeneration, dependent on supportive policies, municipal enforcement, and community-aligned development.
Avuyisiwe is currently working as a Candidate Quantity Surveyor at Multi Quantity Surveyors, a QS firm based in Cape Town. She is gaining hands-on experience by supporting senior quantity surveyors across various stages of projects, currently mainly focused on residential apartment developments.
“This recognition, following our 2024 SEEDS award, places Mandela University and its Quantity Surveying programme firmly on the international stage, contributing a South African perspective to global debates on sustainable cities and demonstrating the power of student-led research in shaping more resilient urban futures,” says Prof Crafford.
2024 SEEDS Conference
In 2024, Quantity Surveying student Ziyanda Siteto, received the award under the theme “Ethical Dilemmas in Ecological Engineering: Navigating Sustainability’s Moral Landscape” for her paper “Under the Concrete Cloak: Exposing the Construction Mafia's Hold in South Africa's Eastern Cape Industry.”
Supervised by Prof Crafford and co-supervised by Shemondalay Jonas (also presenting the paper), this study exposed systemic corruption and unethical practices by the construction mafia, including intimidation, job manipulation, and contract interference. It also critiqued regulatory shortcomings and called for stricter enforcement, greater transparency, and community involvement.
The award recognised the study’s academic rigour and its significant contribution to ethical and sustainable practices in the construction sector.