Black & Veatch will work closely with ADDC to manage water and electricity distribution.
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Black & Veatch has announced that it is supporting the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company to manage its asset base, following the growth strategy laid out by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council’s Plan for Abu Dhabi 2030.
The provision of water and electricity is essential to the strategy laid out by the Council and as such, ADDC is required to achieve a certification for the asset management specification, PAS 55. Black & Veatch has been chosen to help realise this goal.
“ADDC is committed to supporting the government vision through world-class service. Meeting the international specification for asset management will help show it has succeeded,” commented Mazen Alami, managing director of Black & Veatch’s business in the Middle East.
“PAS 55 is recognised around the world as a measure of asset management quality. We have helped many organisations achieve the performance required.”
Well managed assets are central to the performance and standard of supply that utilities provide to customers; as well as their environmental performance, Alami added.
PAS 55 was developed by the UK Institute of Asset Management (IAM) to create a benchmark for best practice in asset and infrastructure management. Black & Veatch is an IAM Endorsed Assessor for PAS 55.
With more than 1.5 million customers, ADDC will be the manager of water and electricity distribution networks, it will also handle customer service. Black & Veatch will be on hand to assess the company’s activities against PAS 55’s requirements.
The company will work closely alongside ADDC’s teams to develop strategies and action plans to manage any changes that may be necessary.
Black & Veatch’s consultants will also help develop training and structures to adoption of industry best practices. “Knowledge transfer is essential to the success of this project,” said Alami. “ADDC’s teams will be empowered to make world-class performance business-as-usual.”
The evaluation will include operating and maintenance, staff competences and investment plans. The outcome of the project will be to align the management of distribution assets with ADDC’s strategic objectives