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HISTORY OF THE PRACTICE
Du Plessis, Barnard, Moolman, or dbm for short, originated when as young architects Wynand du Plessis, Leon Barnard & Deon Moolman agreed to a possible future professional collaboration under this name.
Based in Mokado (Louis Trichard), Leon Barnard has been running dbm in the Limpopo Province since 1991 while the other two founding partners gained experience in Johannesburg and Pretoria working for leading architectural firms.
In 2003 Wynand du Plessis resigned as a senior partner of Boogertman Krige Architects to start the Gauteng practice in Johannesburg. Deon Moolman joined the practice from Dubai in January 2004 and currently heads the Pretoria Office.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Our talented team has design experience that covers the entire property development spectrum. We employ the latest computer technology to optimize efficiency of production. We work closely with most of the leading consultants in the industry and have the resources and skills to participate in a wide variety of projects.
We have extensive experience in the following fields:
B.E.E. [BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT]
As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to the principals of empowerment and have a certified rating in terms of the broad based B.E.E. charter, which allows us to compete for a wide variety of projects, including government funded ones.
We have entered into a joint venture agreement with a black owned company and have several black owned companies as clients.
We continually strive to improve our rating and to this end have initiated various skills development and social upliftment programmes and as far as possible do our internal procurement through B.E.E. suppliers.
REFURBISHMENT:
We pride ourselves on the fact that we have been involved in numerous successful refurbishments over the years and have become specialists in this field.
Some of the projects we have recently completed or are currently busy with include:
- Ellis Park World of Sport, Johannesburg
- Reunert Campus, Midrand
- U.T.I. Call Centre, Florida
- Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Midrand
- Mercedes Benz, Rosebank
- Sandown Motors Service Centre, Strijdompark
- Renew-it Auto Repair, Edenvale
- Renew-it Auto Repair, Randburg
- House Martin, Northcliff (Heritage project, Herbert Baker House)
- Randpark Golf Club and associated facilities
- Forsdicks BMW, Rivonia
- Freightliner / Fuso, Centurion
GREEN DESIGN
It is our goal to achieve the optimum level of energy efficiency in all current and future projects and to become leaders in the field of 'green design'. We have an in-house ‘green’ focus group responsible for continued research and development of ‘green design’ solutions and to provide regular feedback to the practice as a whole at monthly ‘green day’ sessions. We have also committed considerable resources in holding workshops and delegating staff to attend training courses, conferences and seminars on the topic.
There is a high level of understanding of environmentally responsible and energy efficient design and construction principles in the office and we will be implementing this knowledge on projects in the immediate future. We expect to bring to our projects holistic and innovative passive design solutions that will be easy to implement within the context of the South African building industry.
While there are realistic constraints to what is achievable within a feasible building cost framework, we believe that we are now capable of delivering buildings which will rely on electrically powered cooling or heating systems only in part or not at all.
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