Al Futtaim Engineering: It’s all part of the plan
Having been in existence since 1974, Al Futtaim Engineering is rightfully considered as one of the ‘grand old houses’ of the UAE construction industry, having played a formative role in the development of the UAE, and Dubai in particular. Part of the Al Futtaim Group, the division is a multi-disciplinary engineering organisation that operates throughout […]
Having been in existence since 1974, Al Futtaim Engineering is rightfully considered as one of the ‘grand old houses’ of the UAE construction industry, having played a formative role in the development of the UAE, and Dubai in particular.
Part of the Al Futtaim Group, the division is a multi-disciplinary engineering organisation that operates throughout the UAE and its surrounding GCC neighbours. Having been involved in a number of large-scale projects in the UAE, the company has a wealth of experience in a variety of fields. Its areas of expertise include scaffolding, elevators, security systems, HVAC, facilities management and MEP contracting.
“The sectors we’ve been successful in have been in infrastructure, retail, hospitality, healthcare and residential,” says SS Murali, acting managing director, who sat down for an interview with Big Project ME, along with Dawood Bin Ozair, senior managing director, electronics, engineering and technologies.
“All these businesses have been key growth areas for us,” Murali continues. “Within those, we have won new contracts for supplying products, new projects for execution within the region. Qatar and the UAE are areas where we have won projects. We have also done well in the rail sector. We’ve done the Dubai Metro and we’re executing a project for the tram in the Al Sufouh area. We have won a contract for mechanical works with Etihad Rail and we’re working with developers and contractors for the Riyadh Metro. The Doha Metro and Qatar Rail is another focus area. We now have very extensive experience in rail, and that is a key focus area.”
Dawood Bin Ozair adds that Al Futtaim Engineering has been undergoing consistent year on year growth, thanks to its successful divergent strategy. This approach has seen the contractor progress into new areas of business, while also developing existing facets.
“We have consistently grown, year-on -year, for the last three years, at almost 15%, on projects in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. That’s where our business is based. We’re also in Egypt, but that’s slowed down. In general, we have continuously grown from 2012 to 2013.”
With revenues of more than $190.5 million in the last year, Bin Ozair says that his company’s success has been built on the back of a number of major, high-profile projects. Although reluctant to go into specifics, he says that in general, Al Futtaim Engineering deals with projects in the $40 million to $81 million bracket, though they occasionally deal with projects in the $100 million bracket and above.
Furthermore, the company’s FM arm has continued to show significant growth, having recently won a major contract from the ministry of education. The multi-million dollar deal will see it undertake the maintenance of electrical, plumbing, fire-fighting, fire alarm and civil works for 72 government schools in Dubai and Sharjah. The agreement is in addition to an earlier deal that will see it undertake the maintenance of heating, ventilation and air conditioning facilities in 250 schools in both Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
In addition, Bin Ozair says that Qatar is a market that Al Futtaim will be looking at very carefully in the coming years, having already successfully established the brand in the country.
“We established ourselves ten years ago, so we’re very well matured in that market. We’re looking to get a fairly large chunk of not only the hospitality, but also the sports and healthcare industries, because there will be a lot of requirements for clinics and hospitals and we have expertise in dealing with these areas. Also, we’ll be involved in the stadiums, the stadiums are going to be one of the keys to our business in Qatar,” he explains.
Bin Ozair says that experience in the UAE will be a vital asset in its attempt to corner the Qatari market. Al Futtaim’s well-versed team can now execute best practices across the region, he adds.
SS Murali chimes in, adding that Al Futtaim has always invested heavily in its manpower resources, explaining that it helps them stay ahead of the competition.
“We consistenly invest in our manpower resources, and while I wouldn’t say that we are early adopters of all technologies, we look and see what would suit us and help us serve our customers better. Then we invest in that technology. Put simply, we invest in technology, we invest in our people and we train them in an ongoing manner to stay ahead of the game,” he asserts.
In mentioning technology, Murali adds that the last few years have seen a significant change in the way the construction industry has approached the adoption of technology, which in turn has shaped the way Al Futtaim Engineering has gone about its business.
“I think the industry has changed a lot in the last 15 to 20 years,” he says. “For instance (back then) we didn’t have district cooling, and most of the jobs were focused on residential and tourism projects, hotels and other simple projects. From there we’ve moved on to more complex projects and massive developments, like the Dubai Festival City, which is a development of more than 1,200 acres, or JBR, which is 25 to 30 high-rise apartment buildings which were launched in one go. All of these brought their own challenges, and what we’ve done is: look at it, at what can be done, what we should do to deal with it, and prepare ourselves to meet those needs,” Murali explains.
Dawood Bin Ozair adds that district cooling and other energy saving measures are sectors of the industry that it has long been studying with interest, and is confident that is going to be major growth areas of business.
“We are basically well ahead of the industry,” he asserts, “The situation in this business is that the consultant specifies what they’re looking for in the project, and we as a contractor are supposed to install it, as per the consultant’s specifications.Now it also happens that many times we have to value engineer the project and provide energy saving solutions. We completely survey the energy requirements and provide solutions to the contract, which will save energy. That is the value we provide to projects.”
“We haven’t just begun doing this, we’ve been doing it for the last four or five years, in stages. Green building solutions are now being talked about, but in principle it has been there (for ages), and we have been assisting that side continuously,” Bin Ozair adds.
What’s more, he expects the green building regulations to get even more stringent over the next few years, given the drive for energy efficiency and minimisation of wastage in the region.
“I’m 100% sure that these regulations will become more stringent in the future. Ultimately, we’re following the advanced countries. In Europe, USA, Japan, these are already very well established standards. Most of the consultants that are coming here are from those countries anyway,” he indicates. “Anything that saves money is good. Energy is becoming more expensive and there’s also a shortage of energy, so there’s going to be more and more pressure on the builders and the contractors to provide solutions that can save more energy.”
Despite this, Murali says that he’s confident that the industry, and by extension, Al Futtaim Engineering, will rise to meet and overcome the challenges being posed, thanks to the engineering expertise available on the market.
“I think that solar would definitely be one thing (that will grow),” Murali adds. “But I think there will be greater focus on spending on what is actually required,” he says. “For instance, if you go and see buildings now, they would be utilising maybe 70% to 80% of their installed capacity, so there’s a big underutilisation of installed plant capacity. I think that there should be serious thought given to installing what is required for a particular development,” he points out.
“It could be a hotel, it could be a residential development, but I think there’s going to be more careful thought, planning and utilisation of alternative energy solutions. So yes, there’s going to be significant changes,” the acting managing director predicts confidently.
