Engineering consultancy Hatch upgrades to level 1 B-BBEE status

Engineering and development consultancy Hatch has made yet another stride in its diversity profile since attaining level 2 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) status in South Africa in June last year. The firm has now upgraded to level 1 status under the scheme’s stipulations.

Hatch is a Canadian consultancy that offers a range of different services in the infrastructure domain, ranging from architectural and engineering projects to urban planning and smart city development. The firm also delves into digitalisation practices, and develops sustainable energy solutions in keeping with current market trends.

Since its establishment in 1995, the firm has rapidly escalated to global success, and now operates across 150 countries with more than 9,000 professionals. The expansive network works with firms across a variety of sectors, including metals, energy, infrastructure and investment.

South Africa is one of the most prominent operations for Hatch. The firm operates with seven offices in the country, spanning key financial centres of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. Alongside its business development, the firm has been engaged in active efforts to ensure that its operations are socially inclusive.

The firm went on a restructuring drive in 2001 to this end, which not only included a number of educational initiatives, but also involved changes in its ownership, management and employee composition to better include disadvantaged ethnic communities. The efforts have been producing tangible results. 

As of last year, the firm was more than 50% black-owned. 15% of this ownership is also female, which earned the firm an upgrade to level 2 status under B-BBEE stipulations last year, and has earned it an upgrade to level 1 this year.

“We embrace diversity as the catalyst to grow the economy by rectifying the exclusion of previously disadvantaged groups from gaining access to South Africa’s wealth, income equality and skills development, which aligns with our corporate vision to passionately pursue a better world through positive change,”said Pierre Oliver, the Managing Director for Hatch in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.