CONSTRUCTION MANAGER
Role Overview
We are recruiting a Construction Manager for an engineering, procurement and construction contractor that is building a 475 megawatt utility-scale solar photovoltaic plant in the Free State. The site covers more than 1,000 hectares, with more than 860,000 solar panels and more than 80,000 piles. Construction runs for about 26 months.
This is a role for a solar photovoltaic construction specialist. You will be appointed in writing as the Construction Manager under Regulation 8(1) of the Construction Regulations, 2014, and you run the site from mobilisation to handover. On a site this size, a pile that is a few millimetres out becomes centimetres out by the end of a row, and a rework bill across a whole block. You make sure it is built right the first time.
Location: Free State. Site-based for the full construction period.
What You Will Do
- Take the Regulation 8(1) appointment and carry its legal duties for the full construction period
- Run all construction on site: civil works, roads and drainage, piling, mounting structures, module installation, cabling and inverter stations
- Control piling to the supplier's tolerances on line, level and plumb, with every pile set out from fixed survey control points and checked before the structure goes on
- Make sure the tracker or mounting structures line up within tolerance, so the plant runs as designed and the supplier's warranty stays intact
- Make sure modules are handled and installed correctly, and that cabling, terminations and earthing are done and tested right the first time
- Run the inspection and test plans and the survey records, so nothing is covered up before it has been checked and signed off
- Lead the construction supervisors and hold subcontractors to quality, programme and technical specification
- Plan the work against the programme, run several crews on different parts of the site at once, and act early when progress slips
- Keep site records, daily reports and progress reporting up to date for the project team
- Enforce health, safety and environmental compliance across the whole site
- Lead site meetings, inspections and technical briefings with the client and the owner's engineer
- Take the site through mechanical completion, testing and handover
What We're Looking For
Minimum requirements
- Registered as a Professional Construction Manager with the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions, or a previous formal appointment as Construction Manager under Regulation 8(1)
- At least 5 years as a Construction Manager on utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects of 50 megawatts or more, including at least one plant built from piling through to energisation
- Hands-on knowledge of pile driving and pile testing, tracker and fixed mounting systems, and module and cable installation
- You understand how small setting-out errors add up across a large site, and you know how to stop them before they happen
- Working knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Construction Regulations, 2014, applied on a live site
- Willing to be based on site in the Free State for the full project
- Valid driver's license
Preferred
- Experience on a solar photovoltaic plant of 100 megawatts or more
- Experience installing single-axis trackers
- Experience working with an international engineering, procurement and construction contractor
- A degree or diploma in construction management or engineering
What We Offer
- The chance to lead construction on one of the largest solar photovoltaic plants in South Africa
- A fixed-term contract for the construction period
- Location: Free State. Site-based.
Should you not hear back from us within 14 days, your application has been unsuccessful.