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Fatima Essa Morojele

Board Member

Fatima Essa Morojele

Board Member

Mohammed Mayat

Board Member

Mohammed Mayat

Board Member

Tinus Van Der Westhuizen

Board Member

Tinus Van Der Westhuizen

Board Member

Bheki Vilakazi

Managing Director

Bheki Vilakazi

Managing Director

Richard Vries

Board Member

Richard Vries

Board Member

Fatima Essa Morojele

Board Member

Fatima Essa Morojele

Board Member

Mohammed Mayat

Board Member

Mohammed Mayat

Board Member

Tinus Van Der Westhuizen

Board Member

Tinus Van Der Westhuizen

Board Member

Bheki Vilakazi

Managing Director

Bheki Vilakazi

Managing Director

Richard Vries

Board Member

Richard Vries

Board Member

Fatima Essa Morojele

Board Member @ SVA International

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.

Mohammed Mayat

Board Member @ SVA International

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.

Tinus van der Westhuizen

Executive @ SVA International CT

Tinus completed his architectural studies at the University of Pretoria in 1999. His search for perfect weather and mountain roads led him to Cape Town where he joined the Cape Town branch of SVA International in the year 2000. He enjoys the freedom of Africa, to influence change, and design to make things better. He honed his skills in retail design and is a firm believer in specialization. He does not believe that there is only one answer to a design problem, and enjoys working with clients to come up with appropriate tailor-made solutions. He sees his clients as partners and his co-workers as family.

Bheki Vilakazi

Board Member @ SVA International

Bheki has a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the Netherlands Business School. He holds a B.com Economics and Insurance degree from the University of the Witwatersrand. He holds an Executive Development Programme (EDP) from Wits Business School. Furthermore, Bheki completed a program on Corporate Governance conducted by Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) in conjunction with the Institute of Directors and Ernst & Young. He completed a highly regarded and intensive Construction Management Programme (CMP) with Stellenbosch University.

Bheki has extensive experience in the residential space, particularly Social Housing. He has dealt with Social Housing Institutes and Other Delivery Agents resulting in the delivery of some of the flagship Social Housing projects in South Africa.

He has more than fifteen years in strategy design, execution, national and international expansion. He also has more than ten years at Executive level of sizeable and blue-chip Companies. Bheki is currently the Managing Director of SVA International – an Architectural Company. He has extensive experience in the built environment, having worked in the Construction, Property Development (Social Housing and Student Accommodation), as well as currently Professional (Architectural) Services Provider space.

He was previously the Managing Director of Enza Housing. He served as Deputy Managing Director and Board Member of Stefanutti Stocks Building Business Unit (BBU). A Business Unit responsible for all construction top-structures within the Stefanutti Stocks Group. He sat on the Group EXCO representing the BBU. His responsibilities within the BBU span within SADC Countries and he was responsible for implementing the Business Unit`s strategy.

Richard Vries

Board Member @ SVA International

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.

Lyall Dukes

Executive @SVA International JHB

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.

Luis F. Hernandez Ruiz

Executive @ SVA International JHB

Luis joined SVA in 2011. He is a Professional Architect, registered in Colombia and South Africa. With 21 years of experience and studies in Architecture and Urban Design (B.Arch) at the Universidad Piloto de Colombia (Bogota, 2000), other Architectural Studies in Carleton University (Ottawa, 1999) and Postgraduate Diploma in Planning and Management for Social Housing (Bogota, 2001). He is also a member of the Colombian Society of Architects.
Luis is currently the Head of Hospitality Sector for SVA international, and his key experiences include hotels & resorts, convention centres, mixed-use developments, offices, residential, airport design and urban design.
He has taken part in projects in Colombian national, he also lived in Canada, and now as a South African resident, he has had international work experience while taking part and leading projects in Colombia, South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Latvia, Nigeria, Oman, Senegal, The Seychelles, Trinidad & Tobago, UEA, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Adriaan Mentz

Executive @ SVA International CT

Adriaan is an executive in the Cape Town offices of SVA International. He has more than 20 years’ experience in various architectural practices in Johannesburg, London, Pretoria, and Cape Town. He joined SVA International in 2005. He holds a post-graduate Masters in City Planning and Urban Design (MCPUD) degree from the University of Cape Town (2007), and an M.Arch. (Cum Laude) degree from the University of Pretoria (1999). In 2008 he completed the SAPOA Property Development Programme, hosted by the UCT Graduate School of Business. He is the current head of urban design at SVAi, and has a keen interest in human settlement making and residentially-led mixed-use developments. He has illustrated his design skills at various scales, including spatial development frameworks, precinct planning and design coding, place making and building design. In the SVAi Cape Town office, he remains involved in architectural project initiation and concept design, as well as managing and delivering urban design projects. During his career as architect and urban designer, he has worked in the several countries including: Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Ghana, Zambia, Nigeria, DRC, United Kingdom and Malaysia. He is a qualified and registered professional architect (SACAP) and professional urban designer (UDISA). He is currently the vice-chair of Urban Design Institute of South Africa.

Paul Symondson

Executive @ SVA International JHB

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.

Jacques van Tonder

Executive @ SVA International JHB

After completing his M.Arch degree at NMMU, Jacques joined SVA in 2006 in Port Elizabeth and relocated to the Johannesburg office in 2013. He is a Professional Architect registered with SACAP, an Accredited Professional registered with the Green Building Council of South Africa, and a member of various industry organisations.
Jacques is experienced in a variety of building typologies, including Commercial Offices, Hospitality, Industrial, Interiors, Residential, Retail and Master Planning.
In addition to managing and leading projects in the practice, he serves as Chairman of the SVA International MANCO and is responsible for coordination of national Business Development initiatives.

Ilse Danev

Associate Executive @ SVA International PE

Ilse joined the SVA Port Elizabeth office in 2015 and was appointed as an Associate 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.

Giovanni Dolph

Associate Executive @ SVA International CT

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. He is currently the national lead of the company’s Production Forum, ensuring efficiencies through policy and protocol development and implementation, staff training, and continuously monitoring the quality of output from production teams.

Taryn Landman

Associate Executive @ SVA International CT

Qualifying as architect in 2001, Taryn has 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.

Dewlene Africa

Associate @ SVA International CT

Dewlene has been affiliated with SVA International since 2013 and officially joined the SVA team in 2017. She is currently the Head of BIM for SVA International, certified by the BIM Institute South Africa, with 14 plus years of experience as an Authorised Autodesk Trainer, Product Expert, and BIM Manager. Her role in practice for the last five years has been rooted in development of staff, project setup strategies and production. Her experiences and expertise have afforded her the opportunity to apply herself to the development of Standards, Methods and Procedures as it pertains to the practice, with a drive to impact the organisation internally; as well as its ability to collaborate with the larger project design team. She achieves this by nurturing a culture of disruption and expansion; being pivotal in the application of the BIM approach in project delivery; the rigorous application of efficiency strategies and the promotion of improved collaboration in project delivery.

Gordon Barnard

Associate @ SVA International PE

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.

Tony Danev

Associate @ SVA International PE

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 – Vice President, 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

Associate @ SVA International JHB

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.

Kevin Egnos

Associate @ SVA International JHB

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.

Rudolf Esterhuyse

Associate @ SVA International CT

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.

Shawn Gravell

Associate @ SVA International CT

Shawn completed his Master’s Degree in 2006 at the University of Free where he joined ‘Stauch Vorster Architects’ in January 2007. He was appointed to an Associate in April 2015.
With Managing Shoprite Properties as one of our esteemed clients, Shawn has to date successfully completed projects to the excess value of over 1 billion Rand.
His focus has expanded and he is growing his experience with industrial projects and building on the industrial portfolio of SVA International (Pty) Ltd.

Jaco Howard

Associate @ SVA International CT

Jaco joined SVA International as a student in 1999, and became integral in compiling marketing and feasibility packages for retail and mixed-use developments. In 2002, he joined SVAi as a full-time employee. With the ambition to explore wider opportunities, Jaco departed SVAi to build up his experience both in the retail and high-end residential sectors. 10 years later, he returned older and wiser and re-joined the SVA International team. Jaco’s qualifications include a Graphic Design Diploma from WITS and an Interior Architect Diploma from CPUT. As a design architect within the SVA International group, Jaco has a reputation amongst retail clients as an informed and creative designer who listens to client requirements, and has real-world knowledge of the business requirements of retailers when designing retail buildings and spaces. Jaco was the first staff member to complete the new Candidate Associate Program, and became an Associate of SVA International in 2017. He is passionate about his work, and sees good relationships with clients, colleagues and consultants as an integral part of career success.

Lorynn O’Sullivan

Associate @ SVA International JHB

Lorynn is a Professional Architect registered with SACAP and a member of the Pretoria institute of Architects. She obtained her B.A.S degree in 1999 & B. Arch degree in 2004 from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Lorynn joined SVAI in 2004; she worked in private practice and in consultation to SVA from 2009 before returning to the practice as an Associate in 2016.
Her key relevant experience includes commercial residential & estate development, commercial interior fit outs, hotel & resort development, mixed-use developments, commercial offices, urban design and master planning.
She has an extensive range of Design and Construction experience across the various sectors and has worked on projects in both South Africa and on the African continent including Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia, Gambia & Senegal.
Lorynn serves on the SVA/Gibb Group C.S.R Committee and on the SVAI marketing forum.

Shadley Ravat

Associate @ SVA International CT

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.

Johan Van Den Berg

Associate @ SVA International JHB

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.