QSC 2010 helps place Qatar favourably on the international sustainability map

Launched under the theme of ‘Energy and Water Efficiency’, the Qatar Sustainability Conference 2010 was held from April 13 to 15, with the avowed objective of fostering sustainable policies, products and services and best green practices in building and technologies.

Held at the Doha Exhibitions Center, the conference was inaugurated on April 12, in the presence of sustainability experts, speakers and key stakeholders in the construction industry, such as architects, civil engineers, landscapers, mechanical engineers, agents, manufacturers and suppliers.

Organised by IFP-Qatar, the conference was concurrently held with Project Qatar 2010 – the 7th International Trade Exhibition for Construction Technology and Building Materials.

The second edition of the three-day event aimed at closely examining options for alternative energy sources, particularly water and solar power. It also acted as a platform for experts from the construction industry to address green-sensitive issues through learning, engaging, exchanging and partnering to find solutions for the sustainability of the planet.

One of the major aims of the conference was to encourage fruitful collaboration between the government, NGOs and private entities to prioritise on the use of sustainable building technologies that are designed to minimise environmental damage, despite the high cost and long return on investment of sustainable solutions.

As a part of the exercise to demonstrate the efficiency of solar and water energies via already implemented projects in Doha and worldwide, local, regional and international case studies of scale were closely examined.

The first session of the conference welcomed Mohamed Jaber, Chair of the Education Committee in the Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), whose mission is to increase awareness among people by developing a set of environmental and green building best practice guidelines through research and development. Jaber shared with the attendees his views on ‘Holistic Approach to Green Building Design’.

The conclusion of day one also saw distribution of trophies to the speakers by IFP-Qatar, in recognition of their efforts and inputs.

Concludes that simple met hods can provide long-term energy saving and reduce installation costs

The recently held seminar organised by Tour & Andersson in Abu Dhabi, titled, ‘Investment and Energy Saving Opportunities in Variable Flow Systems’, addressed the key issues surrounding variable flow and looked various ways in which temperature fluctuations and inadequately sized variable speed pumps (VSPs) can create a negative effect on the efficiency of the entire system.

Considering the need to reduce energy use, the seminar discussed how the correct placement and sizing of a variable speed pump can help minimise the energy used in the system, whilst still operating to the same high level.

The seminar, attended by 134 delegates, was well received. Sabah N Mohammed, MEP Manager from Al Bayaty Architects, said, “The seminar was informative and increased our knowledge related to energy consumption”.

Bassam Al-Awar, General Manager, Tour & Andersson Middle East & Africa, said: “This seminar supports UAE’s Green Building initiatives on energy savings. By looking at the key issues surrounding variable flow, and more specifically how to reduce cost and energy use, we can help delegates to understand how VSPs can be used to achieve such savings, simply by fitting them in the correct place within the system.”

By guiding professionals from the early design stages through to long-term maintenance, we are able to suggest the best ways in which to utilise the technology to create ongoing savings, both financially and environmentally,” he added.

Sheikh Ebrahim gives his nod of approval to green building technologies

Sheikh Ebrahim Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa

Bahrain’s Minister of Housing, His Excellency Sheikh Ebrahim Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, heading a panel of experts recently discussed green buildingrelated topics under the theme of ‘Innovating to Protect the Environment’, at the Green Building Forum. The event ran concurrently with the gulfBID and gulfINTERIORS exhibitions, held from May 4 to 6 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre (BIEC).

“The Green Building Forum in the Kingdom symbolises a ‘coming of age’ for the construction sector in Bahrain and the region,” said Sheikh Ebrahim. “The Forum reflects a ‘paradigm shift’ from energy-intensive buildings to a future of low impact, environmentally sensitive projects.”

He further added, “The Ministry wholeheartedly supports the Green Building Forum’s objectives to educate and inform the industry, businesses and the public to the opportunities, benefits and challenges of embracing green building technologies.”

As Forum patron, Sheikh Ebrahim delivered the keynote opening speech on May 5, where he highlighted the concept of environmental sustainability as a crucial element of Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030.

The Green Building Forum is also being launched as an online platform with articles and updates on issues relevant to the region. www. thegreenbuildingforum will mirror the level of interaction at the actual Forum.

Company says move fulfils strategic objective to increase presence in the region

Drake & Scull International PJSC (DSI) has recently announced the establishment of its newest subsidiary, Drake & Scull International Oman (DSO), specialising in Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) contracting. The move, DSI claims, will not only allow the company to further strengthen its presence across the Middle East and North Africa but will also result in a greater flexibility to diversify its operations and backlog.

“Our focus over the last year has been to expand our business geographically and vertically, and the decision to diversify into Oman follows this very philosophy,” said Khaldoun Tabari, CEO of DSI. “In today’s challenging global economic environment, a well-planned expansion strategy can help us reduce costs, gain access to new markets and talent pools, and most importantly, can provide a healthy pipeline to fuel our company’s growth and shareholders’ return,” Tabari elaborated.

“The value of projects in Oman that are set to go ahead in 2010 – at the prequalification, bid or engineering, procurement and construction stage – are estimated at $22 billion, highlighting the wealth of potential that the country has to offer,” concluded Tabari.

According to DSI, since the formation of DSO, the company has already been awarded its first contracts for two government projects, worth a combined value of Dh44.2 million (OMR 4.6 million). DSO will undertake the complete MEP works for the Sohar Court Complex (SCC) located in Sohar and the Oman National Museum (ONM), located at the footsteps of the Hajar Mountains in Muscat.

DSO will begin work immediately on SCC, which will include six court halls, staff and judges’ offices, a cafeteria, guard house and an external plant room, and is estimated to be completed within 13 months. DSI reports that the company will simultaneously commence with the ONM project, which upon completion, will display over 6,000 years of the country’s history and culture, and will feature 10 galleries, classrooms and studios and an indoor café. The ONM project completion handover date is slated to be September 27, 2011 and the museum is scheduled to open to the public on November 11, 2011. DSI has earlier worked with the Oman government on the development of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque.

In a recent anti-piracy raid, police and government officials in Dubai, reportedly recently seized more than 10,000 fake Danfoss products. It is claimed to be one of the biggest hauls of pirated Danfoss products in the company’s history.

The products were seized from 20 different Dubai companies, which were trying to sell them at the same price as the original Danfoss products.

Danfoss’ Intellectual Property department, which cooperated with the Dubai authorities during the investigation leading up to the raid, does not believe that the size of the catch is a coincidence. “Due to the economic crisis, more and more manufacturers and trading companies try to survive by producing or selling 10,000 fake Danfoss products seized in Dubai Economic crisis cited as reason for counterfeit products flooding the market pirated products. It is bad for Danfoss’ reputation and endangers our sales,” said Li Zhu, Global Anti-counterfeiting Coordinator, Danfoss, China.

All the seized products are now stored in a government warehouse in Dubai, and will be destroyed. The products include 7,800 filter driers, 1,565 expansion valves, 1,575 orifices, 212 compressors, and 1,625 product labels.

Danfoss Property investigates and files lawsuits against businesses that sell fake Danfoss products. The department expects to file lawsuits against the companies in Dubai and conduct major anti-counterfeiting investigations and raids in other countries soon.

Industry expert stresses use of TSE and seawater during DC Summit

Don Eppelheimer makes a presentation

Don Eppelheimer, Global Chiller Systems Manager, Trane, attended the Second Annual District Cooling Summit held in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on April 19 and 20, and shared his expertise with participants.

Speaking during the preview of the event about multiple heat rejections systems, Eppelheimer compared and contrasted the characteristics of large aircooled, water-cooled and dry cooler radiator systems that are commonly used today.

Observing that water and power supplies are short everywhere, and Saudi Arabia is no exception, he said: “Today, there are solutions to makeup water loss, using reverse osmosis plants, condensate collection, eliminate evaporation or even better use of Treated Sewage Effluents. Chilled water systems can also be made to operate using seawater, when the installation is in proximity to the sea, as is the case in the eastern and western provinces of Saudi Arabia.”

During his visit to the region, Eppelheimer toured Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait and Dubai, where Trane customers could benefit from an interactive session held exclusively for them, between April 15 and 22.

In a seminar titled, Chiller Plant Design – An Exclusive Session With Don, he addressed gatherings of consultants, designers, specifiers and district coolinh service providers in these countries. The topics under discussion were: ‘Variable Primary Systems (a detailed coverage)’; ‘Earthwise Design (an overview)’ and ‘Refrigerant Update’.

Eppelheimer, who has been involved in the development and support of HVAC systems for Trane since 1972, and a recognised expert within the industry, reportedly garnered positive response for his presentation. According to the customer feedback received, the presentation was well structured and provided detailed and objective analysis of the topic, Trane said. It gave in-depth information about chiller operations methodology, backed by convincing documentary evidence. The interactive session on Chiller Plant Design was found to be refreshing.

As senior principal applications engineer, Eppelheimer’s areas of expertise are Variable Air Volume systems and comfort cooling, direct expansion systems piping and controls, chilmetrics, personal comfort, indoor air quality and cold air distribution. He is a member of ASHRAE and graduated from the Michigan State University in 1972, with a degree in Chemical Engineering

Reflects confidence in the Qatar economy, company says

Drake & Scull International PJSC has announced the completion of the acquisition of Drake & Scull International Qatar, LLC (DSQ), a Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) contracting company in Qatar.

According to DSI, the decision to acquire DSQ came following a series of stringent financial and legal due diligence and feasibility studies carried out by SHUAA Capital, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Al Tamimi & Company.

“With this move, we have made significant progress in meeting our strategic objective to increase DSI presence in the region, thus enhancing our access to a broader range of construction opportunities,” said Khaldoun Tabari, CEO, DSI PJSC.

Calling the acquisition a reflection of the company’s confidence in the Qatar economy, with its tremendous longterm growth potential, Tabari added: “DSQ is a prominent player in the market with strong management that brings us complementary capabilities and greater geographical diversification. Reaffirming our ongoing commitment on profitability, the acquisition will also have an immediate positive impact on both our backlog and bottom-line performance, with strong potential for continued growth going forward.”

According to IMF forecasts, Qatar’s real GDP growth is projected to rise by seven per cent in this year alone, which will result in greater government expenditure on construction and infrastructure.

DSQ, which was established in 2006, has undertaken a number of prestigious MEP projects, including the West Bay Complex and QTEL Headquarters, and more recently, the New Doha International Airport project (NDIA). The company’s backlog stands at Dh166 million as of January 2010, which would be entirely executed and consolidated by DSI PJSC as of January 1, 2010.

Company rides on chilled water wave to register profit

According to the recently released first quarter 2010 consolidated financial results, Tabreed has registered a healthy profit.

For the three months ending March 31, 2010, Tabreed’s total revenue was reportedly Dh184.6 million – broadly similar to the corresponding period in 2009. However, the company reports that the net profits more than doubled over the same period in 2009 – from Dh21.7 million last year to Dh43.8 million in 2010. Excluding minority interests, Tabreed’s share of profits, it explains, was Dh40.4 million compared to Dh10.8 million in the previous year.

During the first quarter of 2010, Tabreed added four new plants to its portfolio, enhancing 27,000 TR of capacity and bringing Tabreed’s total installed cooling capacity to 422,100 TR across 40 plants.

According to Tabreed, the surge in profit was thanks to its core business of chilled water. As a result of three new plants coming online in 2009 and four new plants coming online in the first quarter of 2010, it recorded sales of Dh117.1 million – an increase of 91% over the same period last year. In effect, profits more than doubled – up by 109% – to Dh22.8 million. Margins for the chilled water business reportedly improved from 18% to 20%.

Tabreed’s wholly owned subsidiary, Gulf Energy Systems (GES), was the biggest contributor to the strong results, particularly reflecting GES commissioning the chilled water network on Al Reem Island and signing Dh60 million of new orders for the Sowwah Island network project.

Tabreed also added that the company’s contracting segment recorded sales of Dh 36.1 million – an increase of 37% over the same period last year. Profits for the segment were Dh15.6 million.

However, Tabreed’s manufacturing segment reported sales of Dh15.6 million – a significant decline from Dh81.4 million for the first quarter 2009 – due to a significantly reduced order book. Profits for the manufacturing segment were Dh0.7 million.

During the quarter, Emirates Pre-insulated Piping Industries was awarded three new projects, valued at approximately Dh25 million, which are expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2010.

Again, Tabreed’s services segment, which is involved in the design and supervision of building electrical and mechanical works, reported sales of Dh15.9 million – down by 23% over the same period in 2009 – reflecting reduced order books from the slowdown in the economy. Profits for the segment were Dh5.5 million – unchanged over the same quarter in 2009. According to Tabreed, as of March 31, its total installed cooling capacity is 422,100 TR across 40 district cooling plants. The Company expects nine more plants to come on stream in the remainder of the year.

Commenting on the overall positive picture, Sujit S Parhar, CEO of Tabreed, said: “The first quarter 2010 results demonstrate the significant progress we have achieved to date in reengineering the business and implementing corporate governance and process controls. We have a strong core business of chilled water and a steady pipeline of new plants coming on stream. We will continue to focus on improving operations and actively managing facilities. We acknowledge the challenges facing the business in the year ahead, and those associated with our recapitalisation process, but we are confident in the long-term prospects for the Company.”

Steve Ridlington, CFO, Tabreed, added: “In addition to operational improvements, we have also taken steps to implement a more rigorous financial discipline and focus on efficiency for our business, both of which are evident in the results announced today. Our efforts have translated into the best first quarter results in the company’s history.”

Reiterating Parhar’s comments, Khaled Al Qubaisi, Managing Director, Tabreed, said: “While we are very pleased with the first quarter results, which reflect the hard work of the management team under the direction and supervision of the Board, we recognise that there are challenges that face the business in the year ahead. We are confident, however, that the improvements in the company, and the way its business activities are conducted provide a strong platform to achieve the company’s objectives of improving performance, increasing profitability and maximising returns.”

Talking of the sensitive issue of recapitalisation, he said, “The initial discussions we have had with key stakeholders in respect of the recapitalisation of the company is positive and encouraging. The support from major 2008 Sukuk holders for the company’s decision to defer the May 19 payment is a strong endorsement of the steps being taken to complete the recapitalisation process.”

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS – FIRST QUARTER ENDING MARCH 31, 2010:

• Total revenue was Dh184.6 million, compared to Dh189.7 million in the same period in 2009.
• Gross profit increased 11% to Dh88.9 million, compared to Dh80.2 million in 2009.
• Net profit doubled for the first quarter to Dh43.8 million, compared to Dh21.7 million in the same period in 2009, in part reflecting certain noncash finance gains associated with the company’s 2008 Convertible Sukuk.
• However, excluding these non-cash finance gains, underlying net profits increased 15% off the back of strong growth in the company’s core chilled water business.
• Chilled water revenue for the period was Dh117.1 million, a 91% increase over the same period in 2009, as new plants and customers came on line. Profits more than doubled to Dh22.8 million and margins improved from 18% to 20%.
• Basic and diluted earnings per share, attributable to ordinary equity holders of the parent increased from Dh0.01 in 2009 to Dh0.02 in 2010.

B Surendar

I have said this ad nauseam, but when the property market was racing at Shinkansen speed and when district cooling occupied lavish mind space, from Dubai to Doha and from Manama to Cairo, the odd lament about the need for best practices was lost in the noise, though in all fairness, it must be added that the International District Energy Association (IDEA) did release a Best Practice Guide for the industry at its Third International District Cooling Conference and Trade Show, in 2008 in Dubai. What was also lost in the melee was a call for better treatment of the end-user, who after all, plays such a critical role in building a positive perception towards district cooling.

The common excuse was, “Yes the end-user is important, but one needs to prioritise, considering there are a gadzillion opportunities to erect district cooling plants and to lower more and more pipes into trenches.” The excuse had the tacit approval of many that were ever so eager to capitalise on the momentum.

Today, the mood could not be more different. Starting from end-2008, when Lehman became a menacing symbol of the meltdown, to now, when there is considerable uncertainty engendered by floundering Greece and a handful of Euro-zone nations, district cooling has taken a pounding, the intensity of which has arguably intensified by the day. The viability of district cooling as a financial model itself has come for the severest test. While the challenge needs to be addressed, we ought not to lose sight of the original but unaddressed challenge – of satisfying the end-user, whose number, in recent times, has been dwindling. After all, a happy and convinced end-user is akin to an insurance, once the economy recovers in the region, and district cooling is once again in favour.

There could be no better time than now to appease the end-user, through a sensible and sustainable metering and billing regimen. There is an urgent need to increase the scope for the customer to save on his district cooling cost, through better allocation. In other words, there is a need for obligations to allocate the cost on consumption basis, fully backed by rules and regulations laid down by the Government.

It is imperative to define cooling charges, the way they ought to be defined. That way, there is an incentive for the end-user to save and, thereby, realise the oft-touted potential of district cooling. Then, once the dust settles, district cooling will have one less front to confront with as it begins the slow and onerous task of regaining lost ground.

B Surendar