History

Concor’s history is intimately tied to the development of the entire subcontinent.  Its roads, bridges, dams, tunnels, high-rise office blocks, mine shafts and water schemes have reshaped our physical and economic landscape. 

Concor veteran Rinaldo Tonini said “Concor was built on hard and honest work, and its essential strengths are integrity, dedication, quality and service.  There was always a great deal of pride in Concor, because we wanted to be known by our work.”

In 1948, seven Italian and Swiss construction experts boarded a converted warship in Genoa and set sail for Durban, it was a six week journey in those days.  From Durban it was a 24 hour train ride to Johannesburg, and then a short connection to Jupiter Station, a bleak and dusty siding east of Johannesburg’s central business district.  Here they made their home in a converted schoolhouse in the shadow of a mine dump, one of several marking the mined-out remains of the great Main Reef around which Johannesburg was built.

These were the first employees of Concrete Construction Corporation, a company forged in the euphoria of Italy’s post-war commercial expansionism and backed by the formidable technical muscle of the Italian construction group Ferrocemento.

Construction Corporation later abbreviated to Concor, was registered in Johannesburg on 28 April 1948 with a start up capital of £10 000.  Its founding directors where Dr Fernando Piccinini, the chairman of Ferrocemento; Marcello Barnabo, a Venetian entrepreneur from an Italian property and paper dynasty; Bruno Chiozzi, a brilliant engineer who became Concor’s first managing director; Ugo Mantelli; and Giorgio Cini.

Concor’s first project was to build a £10 000 house for Bayley-Becker in the Johannesburg suburb of Morningside.

In 1954 Concor was awarded the contract to construct a new bridge over the Storms River.

When in 1956, Concor completed the Storms River Bridge, it was instantly acclaimed as an engineering marvel.  Not only was it the first large arch bridge to be built in South Africa; Concor also used a revolutionary technique to build it.

In 1972 the German construction group Hochtief acquired a 35 percent stake in Concor. In 2006 it owned 49% of the group.

“Extracts taken out of Concor 50th Anniversary Issue designed and produced by GRID publishers in 1998 and texted by Ciaran Ryan Published - by Concor Limited.”