ZAMIL Air Conditioners, one of the leading international manufacturers of air-conditioning systems and service solutions in the Middle East, says it has secured its largest-ever contract for the supply of custom chiller systems for the Dar Al Hijrah project in Saudi Arabia.

The SR348-million ($92.8 million) contract was awarded to one of its units, Zamil Central Air Conditioners Company, by Al Fouzan Trading and General Construction Company for the project which is designed to accommodate around 120,000 pilgrims in Madinah in the Western Province of Saudi Arabia.

Spread over an area of 1.6 million sq m, the Dar Al Hijrah project is being developed by Saudi Real Estate Development Company, which is owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the Ministry of Finance.

The Saudi-based air-conditioning specialist says the contract entails the supply of 80 custom water-cooled centrifugal chillers with a total cooling capacity of 200,000 tons of refrigeration (TR) for use in Phase One of the Dar Al Hijrah project.

“The 200,000 TR will be generated by 80 MHI centrifugal chillers that include chiller plant management systems, inverters, refrigerant pump systems and automatic tube cleaning systems, comprising the largest district cooling plant in the world,” says a spokesman for Zamil Air Conditioners.

He says MHI centrifugal compressors and chillers are considered the most efficient chiller systems in the world and employ the most advanced Japanese technology. They have a cooling capacity that ranges from 270 to 5,000 RT per chiller – which is what is needed for today’s more demanding construction projects, he adds.

Zamil Air Conditioners, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zamil Industrial Investment Company, has been a leading provider of quality HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) systems and solutions throughout the Middle East for nearly 40 years. It was founded in 1974 as one of the first air-conditioning companies to be established in Saudi Arabia. Today, it is one of the Middle East’s leading manufacturers of air-conditioning systems and service solutions offering a comprehensive line of air-conditioners ranging from room air-conditioners to centrifugal chillers for residential, commercial and industrial applications.

The towers that form part of Dar Al Hijrah ... Zamil Air Conditioners has won a massive order for the project.

The company, which has grown to attain global prominence, specialises in the engineering, manufacturing, installation, repair and maintenance of a large range of products, including a variety of packaged units, chillers and room air-conditioners designed to meet the climate control needs of virtually every type of customer.

Zamil Air Conditioners’ head office and principal manufacturing plants are located in Dammam, while it also has a production facility in Italy. It produces more than 900,000 air-conditioners per annum and supplies air-conditioning products to over 55 countries around the world. Its major markets comprise the GCC, the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and Asia.

The ISO 9001:2008-certified company says it is the first Middle Eastern company to have received the prestigious AHRI (Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, US) and Eurovent certifications for many of its products. Its state-of-the-art testing facility, Ikhtebar, is a third-party air-conditioners testing facility built by Intertek Testing Services (ITS), certified by Electrical Testing Laboratories (ETL) and accredited by the Saudi Accreditation Committee (Saso) for compliance with international testing standards.

“Zamil Air Conditioners is the only manufacturer in the region capable of guaranteeing product performance in compliance with local, regional and international specifications and standards for operating performance, cooling capacity, energy efficiency, airflow, noise level and durability,” says the spokesman.

The company has recently embarked upon an ambitious growth path, which has seen it expand its product lines through two acquisitions made by Zamil Industrial in Europe – ClimaTech and Geoclima – and move vigorously into newer markets, seeking strategic alliances and investing heavily in research and development.

Zamil Central Air Conditioners is one of four companies that support ZAC’s in-house brands and products and services units. It supports Zamil Air Conditioners, Cooline and Climatech for commercial and industrial customers and conducts its business operations from the First and Second Industrial Cities in Dammam.