Zuch Lotter is the Managing Director of UWP Consulting responsible for approximately 300 staff members situated in 16 offices across South Africa, as well as subsidiary offices in Zambia, Tanzania and Botswana.
President of CESA, Zulch Lötter, says that the presidency of CESA is the most important office he has held outside of UWP Consulting and he regards it as a great honour to be able to plough back into an industry that he has been an active participant in for close to 40 years.
In this role he aims to focus on improving the business environment for consulting engineers. It is important to him that both CESA members as well as their clients conduct business with integrity and in a professional manner.
He strongly believes that consulting engineers should not be perceived by clients and the public as commodities, but as their trusted advisors.
To this end, CESA and its members must engage with politicians and decision makers to guide, advise and assist them in creating a sustainable South Africa where all our inhabitants work towards the common goal of creating a future for our children.
Background
Zulch Lötter was born in 1948 in Worcester in the Western Cape where his parents were wine farmers. He matriculated from High School De Villiers Graaff, Villiersdorp and thereafter graduated as a Civil Engineer from the University of Stellenbosch in 1970. Zulch, a CSIR bursar spent a few years performing accident research at Transportec.
In 1973 he joined Uhlmann Witthaus and Prins, who were at the time, a three man consulting engineering company. In 1976 he studied at the University of California in Berkeley as a Road Federation Bursar, and obtained an MS degree in Transportation Engineering. He is also a member of ECSA and SAICE.
Working in SA
After his return from the USA, Zulch was involved with the planning, design, rehabilitation and construction of roads and runways, as well as traffic engineering. Since 1984 Zulch has been a partner and later a Director of UWP Consulting. In April 1999 he was appointed Managing Director of the company, responsible for approximately 300 staff members situated in 16 offices across South Africa, as well as subsidiary offices in Zambia, Tanzania and Botswana.
Zulch has served on the CESA Council and EXCO since 2003. He has been Chairman of CESA’s National Liaison, Finance and Staff as well as Disciplinary committees. He is also a Director of two of the Section 21 companies created by CESA including the Project Development Facilitation Alliance (PDFA) as well as the Built Environment Professionals Export Council (BEPEC).
Zulch has been married to Marilien for the past 33 years and has three married children who are all back in SA after working abroad.
Partnering for growth
During the CESA Annual Conference in November 2011, he said that there are two options for the CESA and its members. Hitting the rock or hitting the road, according to his keynote address at the event. One of the hurdles that drag the industry behind is the lack of education.
“There are too few South Africans available to work here and unfortunately, the quality of education offered to some black people is not up to the standards”. He went to state that lack of infrastructural abilities is causing the poor social connection which in turn slows the nation’s economic growth. These spatial challenges are the rocks that have continued to marginalize the poor.
