Ansari Engineering Services (AES), one of Bahrain’s leading Grade ‘A’ multi-disciplined engineering consultancies, has been awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification for its quality management system making it one of a handful of companies in the country to achieve this distinction.

The certificate was presented at AES’s Diplomatic Area head office by Bahrain-based Jafcon consultancy and AJA, provider of third-party management systems certification.

Managing director Mohammed Al Ansari said: “The certificate recognises that quality standards and procedures for all AES projects are being formally implemented to international standards and at a time when certification to ISO standards is increasingly becoming a requirement from various government bodies and major developers for their projects.”

“The new ISO certification will further add to customer confidence that their project will be designed and managed to the highest possible standards,” stated Ansari after receiving it in the presence of Faiza Hassan, the operations supervisor for AJA Europe and Dr Akbar Jaffari, the chief executive of Jafcon.

AES prides itself on its ability to provide an integrated range of construction management solutions to its customers, spanning the full project life-cycle from conception through design and following work stages, to final completion of site works, handover and certification.

“As a result of its flexibility, AES has not only remained on a solid and steady growth path, but also seen to represent a one-stop shop for a growing number of private and public sector developers keen to explore new opportunities within the Bahrain market,” remarked Mike Stanley, the business development manager.

With the government laying more emphasis upon private-public partnerships (PPP) in the housing sector, AES has been at the forefront to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of social and affordable housing.

It is currently acting as the design and supervising consultant on a PPP project being undertaken by Sharaka Development Company, which is building more than 2,800 homes for the Ministry of Housing (MoH).

According to AES, this project is being undertaken across two locations – Northern Town and Al Luwzi. Phased completion of the project starts in March 2016.

With regard to the social housing project at Luwzi, AES is on track to achieve Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Neighbourhood Development (ND) certification.

As part of that project, it has introduced a villa designed to be compliant with Estidama requirements, an environmental accreditation that is the first-of-its-kind outside of the UAE.

In June 2015, AES was awarded supervision for a housing and associated infrastructure project directly by MoH on Island 14 West in Northern Town.

“That project is for 577 social housing villas and associated infrastructure, and the targeted completion for those two components is 14 months and 22 months respectively,” said Stanley.

Another significant project by the company is the five-star hotel development for Marriott at Bahrain Bay where AES is the architect and engineer of record, and working with an international group of French consultants including Group 6 and Setec.

“We recently completed the concept stage and are aiming for the detailed design to be concluded by mid-2016,” added Stanley.

Other projects under way include Gulf Hotel’s residential building in Juffair and an office building for the Electricity and Water Authority.

And although AES is more focused on the Bahrain market, it does undertake projects outside the country for specific clients, said the top official.

It carried out the detailed design of a 10.6 mgpd (million gallons per day) desalination plant located in Sur, Oman, which is being developed as a turnkey project by Sidem, a global desalination leader headquartered in France.

According to Stanley, Sidem has utilised the engineering services of AES on a number of projects throughout the Gulf and is a repeat client of significant importance.

In the marine sector, meanwhile, the company is also participating in a prestigious development being undertaken at Darari, southern Bahrain, for Manara Developments.

“This project encompasses more than 100 high-end villas and mixed-use apartments – each featuring a small jetty – on a canal development,” explained Stanley.

“We also recently completed the design and supervision of a 66 kV substation being constructed in Dilmunia, which is another resort development, as part of a project spanning 1.26 sq km,” he added.

AES has developed a robust business model which, since early 2014, has enabled the company to improve its response to an increasingly challenging market environment.

It has expanded its workforce from 70 to 100 personnel to cope with the current level of demand, and continues to improve its in-house capabilities, said Ansari.

"We are currently expanding our infrastructure capabilities and are actively pursuing design and supervision of government and GCC-funded projects," he added.-TradeArabia News Service