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Our Culture

Our Culture

Culture shapes outcomes. We value clarity and collaboration over hierarchy. Listening is as essential as leading, and discipline is as vital as creativity. By pairing rigour with openness, we foster an environment where ideas are challenged, refined, and delivered with confidence.

Project Leadership and Quality

SVA International provides confident project leadership, guiding multidisciplinary teams to deliver coordinated, high-quality design outcomes. We manage complex projects with clear governance, defined roles, and structured processes from concept to completion.

Our work is underpinned by robust quality management systems, ongoing design reviews, and disciplined information control. Through proactive coordination and risk management, we ensure every project meets performance, compliance, and client expectations.

The result is reliable delivery, technical excellence, and enduring value at every scale.

Leadership Team

Leadership at SVA is collective. We don’t operate through a single voice — we operate through shared expertise.
That depth allows us to move with confidence across sectors, scales and geographies.

Richard Vries

Board Member

Paul Symondson

Board Member

Fatima Essa Morojele

Board Member

Vishaal Lutchman

Board Member

Mohammed Mayat

Board Member

Luis F. Hernandez Ruiz

Executive

Ilse Danev

Executive

Taryn Landman

Executive

Alex van den Berg

Executive

Paul Symondson

Executive

Lyall Dukes

Executive

Giovanni Dolph

Senior Associate

Rudolf Esterhuyse

Senior Associate

Kevin Egnos

Senior Associate

Melinda Chidau

Associate

Shadley Ravat

Associate

Stacy Schnablegger

Associate

Johan Van Den Berg

Associate

Tony Danev

Associate

Richard De Klerk

Associate

Gordon Barnard

Associate

Lebohang Monyai

Associate

CSI and Bursary Initiatives

At SVA International, social impact begins with people. Our Corporate Social Investment (CSI) and bursary initiatives focus on creating meaningful opportunities through education, mentorship, and skills development within the built environment.

We support students from underrepresented backgrounds through bursaries, practical workplace exposure, and internships. Beyond financial support, our programmes build confidence, capability, and long-term career pathways. Many bursary recipients have grown their careers within SVA, reflecting a sustained commitment to developing talent.

Through these initiatives, we contribute to more inclusive communities and a stronger, more representative future for the profession.

Ready to join our team?

Let’s build something that matters

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Richard Vries

Richard Vries is a Director and the Chairman of the Board of SVAI. He is the Group Chief Executive Officer of the GIBB Group of Companies. He also serves on the boards of the other subsidiaries of the GIBB Group of Companies. An engineer and business leader with more than 20 years of experience, Richard’s industry experience covers Water, Transport, Mining, Power, Property and Project Finance.

He has served on various industry bodies including being the Chairman of Consulting Engineering South Africa (CESA) Marketing Portfolio, Chairman of the Black Business Council (BBC) Infrastructure Committee and the Presidential Business Working Group Infrastructure Task Team. He still serves as a member of the Black Business Council in the Built Environment and the South African Chapter of the Infrastructure Working Group of the BRICS Business Council.

Paul Symondson

Paul studied Architecture in the United Kingdom where he completed his undergraduate BA(Hons) degree and post-graduate diploma at the Oxford School of Architecture before registering as a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1989.

His career started in the London based commercial practice of Richard Seifert & Partners with early involvement in pioneering commercial projects in the London Docklands, before joining the renowned retail design studio of Leslie Jones Architects where he expanded his specialist knowledge and experience in retail architecture.

Having decided to relocate to South Africa, he joined ‘Stauch Vorster Architects’ in Pretoria in June 1996 where he was appointed as an Associate in the Pretoria office to lead a rapidly expanding retail team.

Following restructuring within the company, he was later appointed as a Director in the Stauch Vorster Architects Gauteng and SVA Mauritius practices, playing a key role in the expansion the company’s footprint throughout the rest of Africa whilst continuing to lead the Johannesburg office of the practice.

In addition to expertise in retail and commercial projects he has gained substantial knowledge and experience in a diverse range of projects, currently including hospitality, healthcare and residential developments.

He is an advocate of strong team leadership, always maintaining an open and enquiring mind, and believes that a passion for engagement with clients, fellow professionals and stakeholders is essential in the pursuit of optimal project solutions.

Fatima Essa Morojele

Fatima Essa- Morojele is an Independent non – executive director serving on the Board of SVAI. She has been in this role since 2014.

Fatima is the chair of the Social Ethics & Transformation committee and a member of the Audit & Risk Committee. Fatima has exposure to a wide range of industries. In particular, her work has focused on the property industry, where she has served as Business Development and CRM Director for Excellerate Services. She remains active in the property industry through her roles as Chairperson on the Board of the Hope Social Housing Company, SVA International and Gibb Holdings Pty Ltd.

Vishaal Lutchman

Vishaal Lutchman is a Director on the SVAI Board. He is the Group Chief Executive Officer of GIBB Holdings and serves on the boards of the other subsidiaries of the GIBB Group of Companies. A civil engineer and business leader, he has garnered more than 27 years of experience in leadership and management of infrastructure-related businesses.

He serves on various advisory boards and committees, including the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), the Industry Advisory Board of the University of Stellenbosch and the Advisory Board for Smart Mobility at CSIR. He is also a Fellow of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineering (UK).

Mohammed Mayat

Mohammed Mayat is a Director on the Board of SVAI. An accomplished and results-driven Group Chief Financial Officer of the GIBB Group of Companies who also serves on the boards of the other subsidiaries of the GIBB Group of Companies. With relentless commitment to best practice and an innovative approach, Mohammed is highly adept at developing and implementing policies, programmes and frameworks that manage business risks and secure sustained revenue and reputation.

Mohammed is a Chartered Accountant with 30 years’ experience whose success lies in his perceptive decision-making intelligence, strong ethics, active workplace involvement, forecasting and strategic business acumen and robust relationship building talent, combined with the natural aptitude to lead multi-cultural teams.

Luis F. Hernandez Ruiz

Luis, an Executive based in our Johannesburg studio, joined SVA in 2011 and serves as one of our Practice Principals. As a Professional Architect registered in both Colombia and South Africa, Luis boasts over 23 years of experience. His educational background includes studies in Sustainable Buildings (GBCSA 2023-2024) and Architecture and Urban Design (B.Arch. UPC, Bogota, 2000), other architecture studies (Carleton University, Ottawa, 1999), along with a Postgraduate Diploma in Planning and Management for Social Housing (UPC, Bogota, 2001).

Luis is an Accredited Professional for the Green Building Council South Africa, specializing in New Buildings and Major Refurbishments (GBCSA Academy, 2024). He is a leader for Architecture & Urban Design, with extensive expertise in BIM processes and applied construction technology.

His journey with SVA began when the “Long Beach Luxury Resort” project in Belle Mare, Mauritius, was nearing completion in 2011. This short exposure ignited his initial interest, which has since evolved into a passion and involvement in international hospitality projects. Luis has contributed significantly to various domains, including hotels, resorts, conference centres, mixed-use developments, offices, residential spaces, airport design, and urban planning.

As a Colombian national who has also lived in Canada, Luis now brings international work experience to our projects across the African continent and the Middle East.

Ilse Danev

Ilse joined the SVA Port Elizabeth office in 2015 and was appointed as an Executive in 2018. She holds a Masters of Architecture from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and has more than 12 years of architectural and project lead experience covering a variety of fields from high end residential to large scale government projects in Port Elizabeth and the greater Eastern Cape region.

Ilse has been heading up the Port Elizabeth region for a number of years and has proven to be an excellent leader with strong management skills and is always up for a challenge. She has a specific focus on growing her valuable support team and leading by example in the Port Elizabeth office. Ilse is passionate about a strong focus on excellent Client service delivery that hold unique solutions for each specific project.

Taryn Landman

Qualifying as architect in 2001, Taryn has over 20 years of professional experience, and worked with a variety of architectural practices in Johannesburg before joining SVA International in 2007. She worked in the Johannesburg office for 9 years before joining the Cape Town office in 2017. Taryn completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Property Development and Management at Wits in 2008. She serves on SVA’s Transformation Committee and is currently providing mentorship to Emerging Architectural Enterprises.

Taryn has a passion for design and detailing and loves working on a variety of projects across various sectors. Her architectural and project experience therefore covers a wide range of sectors including master planning, commercial offices, retail, hotels and resorts, motor showrooms and mixed-use developments as well as memorials, museums, luxury apartments and high-density residential developments and student housing.

Taryn has played a lead role in various projects located across the African continent and has successfully delivered numerous complex projects. Her career highlights includes receiving the Afrisam Innovation award for BCX in 2018 and the SAPOA Property Development Awards for Innovative Excellence in Retail Development – Small Boutique Category for Constantia Emporium in 2020.

Alex van den Berg

Qualifying with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1998, Alex van den Berg is an Executive and Head of the Health + Science Unit at SVA International. He brings over two decades of experience in the design and delivery of healthcare and science infrastructure across South Africa, the UK, and several African countries.

Alex began his career with the renowned UK-based healthcare specialists Nightingale Associates, where he gained international experience and quickly rose to become the firm’s youngest Director. He returned to South Africa to establish Nightingale’s first international studio in Cape Town. Following the firm’s withdrawal from the region in 2013, Alex continued to lead specialist healthcare projects through his own practice, VDB Architects.

After a successful collaboration between his former practice and SVA International, Alex formally joined the company in 2024 as an Executive.

At SVA, Alex leads a dedicated Health + Science unit, delivering landmark projects ranging from tertiary hospitals and forensic mental health precincts to university medical campuses and pharmaceutical facilities.

He is highly experienced in traditional, design & construct, and public-private partnership models, with project highlights including the African Medical Centre of Excellence (Nigeria), Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (UK), the Valkenberg Forensic Mental Health Precinct (South Africa), and transaction advisory services for the proposed Kenyatta National Hospital PPP project (Kenya).

With a focus on clinical planning, master planning, and interdisciplinary design, Alex is committed to creating environments that advance care, research, and community wellbeing. His leadership continues to position SVA as a trusted partner in health and science infrastructure across the continent and beyond.

Lyall Dukes

Lyall is a graduate of the University of Natal, Durban (1985). He is a professional Architect registered with SACAP, the South African Institute of Architects and is an accredited professional with GBCSA. Post-graduation he has worked in London returning to South Africa to set up a practice of his own which became involved with “Stauch Vorster Architects” which lead to him joining the practice in 2008 as an Associate.

He currently leads the Commercial sector and has been responsible for a number of large scale Commercial and Head Office projects in Africa. He has also been involved in projects from inception to procurement in Hospitality / Convention, Luxury Residential, Educational, Industrial, Logistics and Pharmaceutical Production and Warehousing.

Lyall has an extensive range of Construction and Design experiences across wide range of Architectural Design sectors and has worked in a number of West, East and Southern African countries over the past 8 years.

Giovanni Dolph

Giovanni joined the Cape Town offices of SVA International in 2005 when the practice was located on the highest floor of the tallest building in town, and commanded an unrivalled view of the Cape peninsular. Giovanni’s ambitions were equally high, resulting in him moving up from a dedicated team support technician to a team leader, an Associate in 2015, and since October 2017 a Senior Associate responsible for leading a national business development unit.

He has an extensive skill set and is experienced at delivering a range of building types, including retail centres, educational, mixed-use, offices, residential and industrial buildings. Giovanni has a keen eye for detail design and appropriate use of materials, while continuously grasping the design intent at larger scales. For him, design is an iterative process between designing the whole while simultaneously considering the design of the detail parts.

He has proven himself as an adaptable professional, able to focus on the project in hand, and with a clear understanding of the challenges embedded in delivering projects, whether the site is located in Cape Town, Lagos, or other African locations. Since his promotion to Senior Associate, this flexibility of mind has benefitted the SVAi business as a whole.

Rudolf Esterhuyse

Rudolf graduated from the University of Pretoria in 2001 and joined SVA International in 2006. He was appointed as associate in 2013, heading up SVAi’s Production Cluster before completing the UCT Graduate School of Business’s Property Development Programme in 2017. He has since been active in business development and project delivery in the both public and private sectors.

Rudolf has a strong track record in a wide range of property development sectors including Education, Healthcare and Transport Oriented Architecture, Convention Centers, Heritage Buildings, Commercial Offices and Retail. Rudolf has a passion for the success of those for and with whom he serves, and he enjoys the creative, interactive, and consultative nature of architecture.

Career highlights include winning the 2017 SAPOA Property Development Programme’s team project, and receiving the overall SAPOA Award for CTICC2 in 2018.

Kevin Egnos

Kevin joined the SVA family in 2015. He is a Professional Architect, registered with SACAP and has more than 10 years of experience in the profession. Kevin obtained his Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 2010. Since then Kevin has worked on numerous developments across the board with key experiences in Retail, Mixed-use developments as well as Residential and Medical design.

Kevin is currently an Associate at SVA international focusing on the Retail sector. Kevin lived in London and has had international exposure to projects in Europe, Russia and across Africa.

Melinda Chidau

Melinda joined the SVAi (then Stauch Vorster Architects) team in 2007 as an Architectural Technologist. She later pursued her post-graduate studies for two years while working during holidays and completed her MArch(Prof) degree in 2009, returning to SVAi as a fully qualified Architect from 2010.

She is now a Professional Architect, registered with the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP), with over 15 years of experience. She has experience across various sectors, including Retail, Hospitality, Interiors, and Commercial projects, and has worked on projects in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius, Qatar, and the United Kingdom, among others.

Melinda enjoys the process of developing a design from concept through to construction, particularly seeing drawings being transformed into real spaces on site. She has been involved in developing SVA’s typical detail library and other interventions that have made the company’s production processes more efficient.

Shadley Ravat

Shadley joined the Cape Town SVAi office in 1996 and advanced to the role of associate in 2001.

His tenure at this firm is more than 25years in the making, with experiences across various sectors including retail, offices developments, educational buildings and training facilities. Shadley’s technical skills, together with his intrinsic ability to resolve detail design problems, brings tremendous value to his projects and clients. This skill-set is selflessly shared with newly appointed recruits and seasoned staff alike.

Shadley’s goal is continuously to deliver exceptional outcomes, from project inception through to completion of all architectural work stages. Associated challenges are approached with clarity and purpose. He is a stern yet modest team leader, and will always acknowledge the efforts and contributions of support staff on his team, as well as the larger circle of SVAi team players.

Stacy Schnablegger

Stacy Schnablegger joined SVA International in March 2013 and currently holds the position of Associate, a role she has held since December 2024. She graduated Cum Laude from Nelson Mandela University in 2008 with a Master of Architecture degree.

Stacy is passionate about architecture’s dynamic nature—each project offering unique challenges and opportunities for creative problem-solving. She thrives on translating complex ideas into tangible, functional spaces that reflect thoughtful design.

With extensive experience across both public and private sectors, Stacy has contributed to projects ranging from educational and healthcare facilities to retail, commercial, residential, and mixed-use developments. She values the collaborative essence of architecture, enjoying the interdisciplinary nature of architectural projects and the shared pursuit of delivering high-quality, client-focused solutions. Her meticulous attention to detail and commitment to client satisfaction are hallmarks of her work.

Johan Van Den Berg

Johan joined SVA in 2006. He is a Professional Architect, registered with the SACAP. Johan has 28 years of experience after completing his studies in Architecture and Urban Design (B.Arch) at the University of the Freestate (Bloemfontein, 1997). Johan is currently an Associate Architect for SVA international, and his key experiences include: Healthcare, Hotels & Resorts, Mixed-use developments, Offices, Residential, Retail and Urban Design.

He has had international work experience taking part and leading projects in Namibia, U.K, Angola, Botswana, Nigeria and Uganda. Johan has a strong interest and skill in Building information modelling and collaboration.

Tony Danev

Tony joined SVA in 2017 and was promoted to Associate in 2021. He’s a registered Professional Architect, Heritage Practitioner and Candidate Project Manager.

Having graduated Cum Laude from Nelson Mandela University with a Masters of Architecture in 2007, Tony has since gone to form a diverse portfolio of work including high-end residential, commercial, educational, Government as well as hospitality developments. He also heads the Heritage Services division at SVA and is involved with number of associations including APHP Western Cape, SACAPCMP, SAIA Eastern Cape, Mandela Bay Heritage Trust – Chairman, as well as ICOMOS.

His strong design ability has seen him deliver number of complex project of varying scale, some of which have been published locally as well as internationally. Tony prides himself on utmost efficiency in the design process from conceptual development through to project close-out, in turn delivering excellent Client service on time and on budget.

Richard De Klerk

Richard joined SVA in 2011. He is a Professional Senior Architectural Technologist, registered in South Africa, with 26 years of experience. He is a member of the South African Council of Architectural Professionals as well as the South African Institute of Architectural Technologists. Richard is also registered as a Certified Greenstar Accredited Professional.

Richard’s key role is project Lead Architect & Technical Lead and work experience includes mixed-use developments, offices, residential, industrial, commercial and airport terminal buildings. Richard spent 2 years working in the UK and has both local and international work experience including South Africa, England, Senegal, Guinea, Angola, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Gordon Barnard

Gordon completed his architectural studies at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2012, thereafter joining the Port Elizabeth office of SVA International in July 2015, and was promoted to Associate in September 2019. He is involved in both public and private project environments, and has demonstrated strong adaptation and problem-solving abilities in both these sectors. Gordon has extensive knowledge of the education sector, and also services a number of SVAi’s esteemed retail clients.

Recently his focus has expanded into industrial projects, adding new skills to the growing SVAi industrial business sector. He continues to be involved in the delivery of bespoke private housing developments. In the office, Gordon is passionate about people and their development. He served on SVAi’s Transformation Committee and is currently providing mentorship to Emerging Architectural Enterprises.

Lebohang Monyai

Lebohang Monyai joined SVA International in 2013 as an Architectural Intern, later taking on the role of Architectural Technologist. After completing her MTech Architecture (Professional) degree in 2017, she returned to SVA as a qualified Professional Architect.

Registered with the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP), Lebohang has over seven years of post-registration experience and more than thirteen years in the industry. Her expertise lies in Commercial projects, with a strong focus on Student Accommodation. She is passionate about all phases of the architectural process, particularly bringing design concepts to life and creating spaces that positively impact communities.

Lebohang also contributes to SVA’s strategic growth as an active member of the Marketing Committee, helping to strengthen and promote the SVA brand.