Departments

EMI South Africa’s team of architects & engineers can help you navigate the confusing and often times difficult paths of Planning & Development of your vision. Most of our ministry clients come to us with a clear understanding of what God has called them to, but a lack of experience on how to make that a reality. Led by our in-house Urban Designer and utilizing our network of planning volunteers, our team can help with your program development as you begin the process of land acquisition, understanding zoning codes & land rights, community engagement, massing of buildings and estimates of construction costs.

We understand the importance of having quality visuals and a strong project understanding during fundraising. That’s why we are also pleased to help bring life to our ministry partners’ visions through conceptual plans and 3-D renderings. Let us help develop your vision and tell the story of your project through these early-stage planning exercises and set you off on a path for success.

If you are ready to find out more about how EMI South Africa can help you, the first step of the project approval process is EMI’s Technical Assistance Pre-Application.

Planning Disciplines within our team:

Urban planning: Assist in navigating the technical and political processes of development in urban and rural environments, including assessment of impact on the natural environment, built environment, and infrastructure.

Urban design: The spatial design of the built environment and integration with the natural, including site, structure, building massing, place making & public space design.

Master planning: Long term spatial planning, typically for sites where development / redevelopment of several structures is intended.

Engineering: Assist with planning for on-site utilities such as water, wastewater, electrical, and renewable energy.

EMI South Africa’s team of experienced architects & engineers and volunteer design professionals can assist you with all your project-related design needs, from master planning and conceptual designs through to implementation of construction drawings.

We can provide you with facility assessments, feasibility studies, master planning, and all phases of architecture and engineering. Our staff portfolio includes an Urban Designer and Architects registered in South Africa, a Civil Engineer, and an Electrical Engineer, while most other services (Structural Engineering, Fire Engineering, and Quantity Surveying) can be recruited from our volunteer design professional community. Due to the unique blend of our international team, EMI South Africa is equipped to serve you with local knowledge yet international experience, bringing a real collaborative approach to the final design.

Our projects range from minor exploratory projects to large implementation projects for construction. We consider each project based on its merits, not its size. Small design projects and small implementation projects are generally designed by staff in Cape Town. Larger master plans and conceptual designs will generally be handled as an EMI project trip with recruitment of an international team.

If you are ready to find out more about how EMI South Africa can help you, the first step of the project approval process is EMI’s Technical Assistance Pre-Application.

Once your Pre-Application form is received and reviewed, you’ll be contacted by an EMI staff member to discuss your application and begin the rest of the process with you.

Architecture & Engineering Disciplines within our Office:

Master planning: Long-term spatial planning, typically for sites where development/ redevelopment of several structures is intended.

Architectural design: Conceptual and detailed design of structures to achieve a coherent form and function.

Civil engineering: Assessment and design of services such as water supply, storm water management, wastewater treatment and dispersal, and transportation networks. For more detail, see WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) section.

Structural engineering: Assessment and design of building structural systems.

Electrical engineering: Assessment and design of electrical systems including power supply, generator systems, transmission, circuity, UPS systems, lightning protection (earthing/ grounding) and solar installations.

Mechanical engineering and HVAC: Assessment and design of mechanical infrastructure including HVAC systems, plumbing systems, fire protection, fans, pumps, and medical gas systems.

EMI South Africa utilizes a variety of staff and volunteer design professionals to provide Project Management and construction support services for approved development projects heading into construction. For implementation projects EMI has designed, this is a natural step in the process of project completion. For ministry clients who are looking for a third-party reviewer for a project heading into construction, we offer plan review prior to construction and/or project oversight during construction.

We can assist with interpretation of plans as well as management of communication between contractors and design team members. We can also make regular site visits to review construction progress, craftsmanship, and safety. Special site visits can be arranged to review critical design components as they are installed. Generally, site visits can happen on a weekly, monthly, or as needed basis—depending on the location of your project relative to our office. Visits to more remote sites can be extended to 1-3 days to take the best advantage of our time on-site.

Construction Management tasks can include:

  • Pre-construction review of building(s) layout on the site to ensure the correct positioning of the building relative to the site master plan.
  • Pre-construction meeting to discuss & review the detailed construction plans with the key persons involved in project execution (e.g.: the owner, contractor(s), site manager, design team representative, etc.)
  • Mid-construction site visits and review of progress at a key stage(s) to answer questions, review & address problems, etc.
  • On-going communication management between owner, contractor(s) and design team.
  • Post-construction review for identification of unfished items, commissioning of building systems for completeness, owner training, and development of a completion checklist to address items found to be problematic or incomplete.

If you are interested in finding out more of how EMI South Africa can help you with your construction project, the first step is to fill out EMI's Technical Assistance Pre-Application.

EMI South Africa mobilizes specialized teams of staff and volunteer design professionals to provide Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services for ministry clients across sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of clean water and hygienic waste water systems is a leading cause of disease around the world. We’re dedicated to bringing this to an end.

If your ministry is struggling with maintaining clean water, providing enough water storage, removing waste water, providing safe & adequate toilet rooms, etc. EMI can help. Our team of engineers and volunteer design professionals have experience assessing site conditions in a variety of locations and providing designs for water treatment plants & chlorination systems, water distribution systems, ventilated pit latrines, dual chamber septic tanks, leach fields, constructed wetlands, waste water lagoon systems, and sand filter systems.

Site assessments will involve a small project team visiting your site to document existing conditions, take samples of water, inspect soil conditions, and talk with staff about immediate needs as well as plans for the future.

If you’re ready to find out more about how EMI South Africa can help you, the first step in the project approval process is to complete EMI’s WASH Assistance Pre-Application.

Once your Pre-Application form is received and reviewed, you’ll be contacted by an EMI staff member to discuss your application and begin the rest of the process with you.