It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the 2010 CPUT Department of the Built Environment Symposium entitled: Public‐Private Partnerships – shaping the future. This is the second symposium of this format hosted by the Department specifically aiming to engage with professionals from industry on topics of relevance to all of us.Over the past months we have prepared this event, which will see various speakers presenting their thoughts, ideas, philosophies, models, and research to you. All speakers were selected and invited by us, aiming to bring to you the right mix of ingredients for inspiring discussions. The background of the speakers varies: We invited speakers from South Africa, but also academics and practitioners from abroad. The speakers will share their knowledge with delegates; some based on academic research, others drawing from their own industry experiences.At the core of all presentations are Public‐Private Partnerships (PPPs). Yet the variety of topics covered shows the wide angle we envisage taking. An understanding of the general framework of PPPs in South Africa, from a treasury point of view and understanding the underlying transactional issues are needed, as these typically set the scenes for any PPP. The topics of service delivery and empowerment make daily headlines. PPP projects can not be tackled without some consideration of these South African realities. PPPs are long‐term partnerships, thus risks and risk transfers, and the appropriate distribution thereof, are to be considered. Initial designs of projects have an impact on the operational phase of projects; coupling decisions made during the design phase to the operational phase of a PPP project are thus ought to be interesting to look at too. Disputes and issues can arise during PPP projects. However means and methods to forecast and predict the performance of PPPs, based on experience and empirical work, are available and will be presented. Furthermore managing built‐design teams in these complex project environments and delivering the built product for use and benefit of the wider public will be looked at. The bouquet of speakers we have assembled will highlight these issues pointed out. We are sure that the presentations will also result in some interesting discussions; formal during the Question‐and‐Answer sessions, and informally during the refreshment breaks.Having seen the amount of organizing and work that went into making this symposium happen, I would like to also thank the parties involved. Firstly, thanks to the speakers who upon our invitation all made time in their busy diaries for us. Secondly, thanks to the team working in the background ensuring all preparations and the event itself will run smoothly. Without the work of our administrative assistants Charlene Daniels and Julie Medhurst, student assistant Corinne Marais, as well as our CPUT Marketing Department we would not have had the infrastructure to host this event. The work of my academic colleagues, Diina Shituula, Niels Wieffering and Simpiwe Nompunga, in ensuring that delegates are guided through the registration process, and ensuring we fulfil our role as a provider for Continues Development opportunities for professionals is much appreciated.I am confident that the combined effort that went into organizing this event will be amply rewarded by the new ideas and insights which delegates will take away with them after attending this symposium. We look forward to inspiring presentations and lively debates stemming from the various topics.
