Zamil Air Conditioners (ZAC) has recently won a flurry of contracts in the region, which will go a long way in reinforcing its strength as a regional provider of high-quality air-conditioning solutions.

A sector business of Zamil Industrial Investment Company (ZIIC) and the leading Middle East and international manufacturer of air-conditioning systems, ZAC has clinched major deals and continues to boost the group’s strength in the market.
According to Abdulla Al Zamil, chief operating officer of ZIIC, the steel and air-conditioning elements of ZIIC have grown the most with the construction boom of 2004 expected to continue. 
ZAC has just secured a SR11 million ($2.9 million) contract from Fawaz Al Hokair and Partners Company to supply HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) equipment for its Aziz Mall project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This award complements earlier steel buildings supplied by Zamil Steel and brings the total overall project value to date by both businesses to SR 58 million ($15.5 million).
The contract is for the supply and installation of 11 ‘ARX500’ chillers with a total cooling capacity of 5,500 tonnes and 612 air-handling units of varying sizes and capacities.
ZAC’s involvement in this project is part of ZIIC’s “Total Building Solution” offering, complementing the supply of pre-engineered steel buildings by Zamil Steel, and the supply of open web joists and floor decks by Canam Asia Limited, ZIIC’s joint venture.
In addition to the Aziz Mall undertaking, Al Hokair Company also awarded earlier projects to ZIIC sector businesses for its Khurais Plaza Shopping Mall and Al Salam Mall in Riyadh and for its Mall of Dhahran retail and leisure complex in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
In January, ZAC was awarded eight key projects in Saudi Arabia worth more than SR25 million in the educational, commercial and industrial sectors.
The projects in the Eastern Province include the Skaka Hospital, Dammam Girls College, Sharq Petrochemical Company, and the Royal Commission’s Jubail College and luxury apartment complex.
The combined cooling capacity of the installed HVAC equipment – which includes 800 fan coil units, 40 air-handling units, eight water chillers, and a number of packaged units and central split systems – will be approximately 5,700 tonnes of refrigeration.
In the central region, ZAC’s innovative climate control solutions are providing  approximately 7,500 tonnes of cooling capacity to Riyadh’s Al Salam Commercial Centre and Azizia-Panda Hypermarket.
ZAC Jeddah’s branch was also awarded the Shoiba power plant. The scope calls for the provision 16 large ventilation units, eight double-skin chilled water air handling units, 34 rooftop packaged units and 10 highly specialised ventilation units for various buildings.
“This recent project for the power generation industry is further testimony to our position as the leading Middle East and international manufacturer of air- conditioning systems,” says Osama Bunyan, vice president, ZAC. “ZAC’s special application solutions are designed and manufactured to the most stringent specifications in the industry. We have supplied Ghazlan and Shoaiba phase I power plants and Ras Laffan facility in Qatar with the most advanced and largest equipment ever for the power generation industry in the Middle East.”
“Our commitment to our domestic market is as strong and important as that to clients in the more than 75 international markets we serve,” he adds.
Also on the company’s home turf, ZAC is meeting the air-conditioning requirements for the “Strategic Reserves Project” of the Ministry of Defence. The contract entered with ABV Rock Group of Sweden, included the supply of different types and different capacities of packaged and split air-conditioning systems, air-handling equipment, fan coil units and two specifically designed water-cooled water chillers, which were produced by Geoclima, Italy.
ZAC has also undertaken several other contracts including:
• The Umm Al Qura university, where it has provided 28 Classic air-handling units;
• Saudi Aramco, where it has provided special air handling units with complicated features such as built-in dual blowers with dual blower motors, huge filter compartments to accommodate about 15,000 kg of chemical filtration allowing air to reside in the chemical filters media for a minimum of 2.5 seconds;
• SR4.8 million deal for Sabic’s (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation) employee residences in Jubail Industrial City, where it is providing a total cooling capacity of 5,813 tonnes using 2,929 Classic cooling units;
• Khamis Mushayit Hospital, which has involved the supply of two chillers, 63 fan coil units and 21 air-handling units.
“ZAC has developed tremendous expertise through the years for the medical care and commercial sectors. Our highly specialised air-conditioning applications have been deployed in the landmark International Medical Centre in Jeddah, the Khamis Mushayt Hospital in Saudi Arabia as well as abroad at the Staten Island University Hospital, and a medical centre in Zurich Switzerland most recently.
ZAC has been successful in growing its business even outside the kingdom and has bagged major orders in the markets of Kuwait, Bangladesh, Switzerland, and the US.
It has been awarded three new prestigious projects in Bahrain worth a total of SR3 million including the Royal University for Women, the Tala Property Development project on the Amwaj Islands in Bahrain and 20 villas for Al Khaleej Development Company (Tameer). 
Further afield, one of the most prestigious projects bagged by ZAC came from Harvard University. “Thanks to efforts by Cooline’s newly-appointed distributor in the US, the successful delivery and installation of a 20-tonne chiller took place last July. It is air cooled with Cooline’s new wireless GSM gateway remote monitoring system,” says a company spokesman.
“It is certainly a moment of pride for us to see our unit serving Harvard University,” says Paolo Ferraris, general manager for Geoclima. “We are very happy that the project has been met with approval from all sides.”
CoolCare
Meanwhile, ZAC’s services arm CoolCare – which offers professional air-conditioning services as well as complete preventive maintenance programmes and other related services – has entered into a strategic extendable five-year contract worth more than SR4 million ($1.1 million) to maintain and service more than 4,500 room air-conditioners at various locations throughout Saudi Aramco’s extensive premises and properties.
“This contract to establish Zamil CoolCare services in this world-renowned organisation commenced last December. The scope calls for the provision of maintenance services for room air-conditioners located throughout the accommodation and office areas of Aramco,” says Faisal Al Qahtani, general manager, CoolCare.
“In addition to providing a platform to showcase Zamil CoolCare’s capabilities – which extend from consumer to commercial and industrial applications – the contract also supports our sales departments as replacement or additional air-conditioning units will be provided by Zamil Air Conditioners,” he adds.
Zamil CoolCare maintenance and service solutions extend to all types and makes of air-conditioning systems and equipment of all international manufacturers, which are delivered through highly-skilled qualified technicians to clients who include industrial and commercial establishments, banks, retail outlets and private homes, among others.
In addition, a fully-fledged Zamil CoolCare Training Centre offers a range of courses for the company’s technicians and engineers as well as for Zamil dealers and large corporate clients. Growing demand for Zamil CoolCare services has resulted in the territorial expansion of its operations beyond its 11 Saudi Arabian branches to include the UAE – where it has recently established a presence. Plans are also in advanced stages for the opening of branches in the other Gulf states, he says.
It is currently the only company in Saudi Arabia to have gained National Environmental Balancing Bureau (NEBB) certification from the US for testing, adjusting and balancing air and hydronic systems.