The SR350 million ($93.3 million) Al Dammam Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital and Al Anoud Tower expansion – which is expected to be the third tallest tower in Saudi Arabia when it is completed in a year’s time – are just two of the prestigious projects that have come off the drawing boards of the Riyadh-based East Consulting Engineering Center (ECEC).

The architectural and engineering services consultancy, which has more than two decades of experience behind it in handling number of mega projects across the kingdom, has just seen the completion of construction on the state-of-the-art 400-bed hospital in Dammam.
“The contractor has just handed over the project to the Ministry of Health, which is currently fitting out the facility. It will be one of the main healthcare facilities in the kingdom with inpatient and outpatient facilities,” says a spokesman for ECEC.
The Al Anoud Tower expansion is being developed by the Princess Al Anoud Charity Organisation, at Riyadh’s King Fahad Road. The SR30 million project, which boasts 22 floors, rising to about 125 m, will consist of three commercial floors, nine hotel floors and the remaining being office levels, the spokesman adds.
“We are currently working on the detailed design for the Al Anoud Tower expansion project, tenders for which are expected to be announced within the next couple of months,” he says.
“The project will rise adjacent to the Al Anoud Tower, which is currently under construction and has reached the 11th floor level. Both the towers will be of the same height and will be completed simultaneously.”
Established in response to the rising demand for quality architectural and engineering services in the late 1970s, ECEC has achieved excellent growth and has transformed into a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy with the strength of 180 personnel operating out of its Riyadh head office. 
“ECEC has gained extensive experience in design and construction management of projects in housing, office and commercial buildings, education, power distribution, transportation, healthcare, industry, agro industry and defence sectors,” he adds.
The services of the company can broadly be categorised into design engineering and construction management and supervision categories. ECEC offers engineering studies, land survey, geotechnical investigation, concept design, detailed engineering, specification writing, quantity estimation, bid coordination and bid analysis.
The practice can also mobilise engineering personnel to construction sites, develop and implement quality control measures, evaluate completed work, implement construction schedule, coordinate between owner and contractor, certifies provisional payments and undertakes project hand over.
Over the years, the company has built up an impressive portfolio of projects for various ministries, industrial groups, commercial establishments and private developers.
Other ongoing projects that ECEC is involved in include:
• Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s quality assurance laboratory in Riyadh, work on which started two months ago at a cost of SR 35 million and is due for completion by May next year. The project is described as the first of its kind in the kingdom to include a variety of  laboratories for all industrial and commercial requirements.
• Three Abdullatif Al Issa car showrooms at South Ring Road and Al Malaz area of Riyadh;
• Three branches of Samba at Tabuk (under construction), Buraidah (bidding stage) and Abha (detailed design);
• Arab National Bank branch at Khamis Mushayit, which is under construction; and
• Al Jumaih car showroom in Hail with a total cost of SR 20 million.