EMPOWERMENT AND TRAINING

With a shortage of skills and expertise in the built environment training and empowerment are fundamental to the continued practice of architecture in the African context both in the public and private sectors. The equity profile of the firm is as follows 49.25 percent of the equity in the company is held by historically disadvantaged individuals. The staffing profile is as follows 47 percent of the staff is historically disadvantaged individuals, 33 percent of the staff is women and 6.6 percent of the staff is people with disabilities.

We have a policy which supports the education and training of employees. Our longstanding position is one of encouragement, support advancement and capacity building. This has proved successful in the development and retention of a highly skilled architectural team.

Since 1995 the firm has sponsored five students at the Peninsula Technikon for the education of architectural technicians, and we make a point of recruiting staff from this institution. In addition, we sponsor one R.I.B.A bursary for an architectural student at universities in South Africa. This bursary is specifically for a student from a disadvantaged background. Many staff members in the past have been drawn from previously disadvantaged sections of the community

It should be noted that Revel Fox is a member of the R.I.B.A. Bursary Committee responsible for the allocation of bursaries for disadvantaged students. We make special provision for the employment of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. As a result of these initiatives Revel Fox and Partners has recently been nominated as one of South Africa's top emerging empowerment companies in its business sector by "Impumelelo: South Africa's Top 300 Empowerment Companies".