Construction is perhaps something that many of us take for granted every single day. Without it, we wouldn’t have buildings to work in or homes to return to after a long day’s work. Civil construction contractors also have a lot to live up to, delivering outstanding service throughout the world. Today, we meet 2020’s Leaders in Sustainable Construction Services – UAE: Airolink Building Contracting. We find out exactly what makes this firm so good, and why it deserves to be recognized for all it does.
The Airolink group of companies was originally established in the Republic of Ireland, but has since grown all over the world with offices in Dublin, India, and the United Arab Emirates. Also in that time, the firm has grown to become one of the leading civil contractors in the United Arab Emirates. Now, it specialises in residential, commercial, hospitality, retail, education, roads, and infrastructure development, offering a complete package from land acquisition, design, and construction right the way through to completion. The expert team on hand at Airolink offers every project the benefits of quality, cost competitiveness, and the experience and a proven contractor. They make every effort to meet all the costs, schedule timings, and performance requirements for every contract it has ever been awarded, and this has seen the firm undertake a lot of projects with repeat clients.
At Airolink, the firm believes that time is money. In any business, the critical element to success is strategic business planning and decisive decision-making. This decisiveness in decision making, even amidst ambiguities, is what potentially converts efforts to results, and exactly what stands Airolink apart from its competitors and counterparts. Airolink is a sustainable business, with a healthy cashflow which allows it to undertake greater risks that its counterparts as well. When it comes to running a business, there are few that have the art of financial discipline more under control than this one. As far as project management is concerned, everyone at Airolink follows a very systematic approach, and spends lots of time effectively planning from day one.
Beginning at the conceptual stage, all possibilities are taken into consideration, with the technological, financial, and economic feasibility of each alternative being assessed and compared in order to select the best alternative that meets the needs of all stakeholders. This is the modus operandi of Airolink, and the team does not fluctuate from this. Following this process rigorously enables the expert to offer every project the benefit of quality, cost competitiveness, and the experience of a proven contractor that knows what it is doing at every stage.
Clients can hail from any industry or market, whether it be private, semi-governmental, or wholly governmental sectors. No matter the kind of client or sector that Airolink serves, it ensures that every project is programmed with respect to its completion. Once the project scope has been clearly defined and understood, a detailed engineering design will serve as the blueprint for construction, and a definitive cost estimate will serve as the baseline for cost control. Procurement and construction activities onsite are undertaken with careful planning and the utmost control, and procurement activities are carried out in a very systematic manner to ensure smooth delivery of materials onsite during execution. Post-construction, there is a brief DLP period which takes care of any snags, after which the complete handing over of the project is then undertaken.
Airolink is a relatively young company which does not have an organization inertia of any kind, enabling it to be open to changing industry and company dynamics on a whim. The firm believes in and encourages active participation of its employees in decision-making at various levels on a daily basis, in an effort to give team members a sense of inclusiveness within the organization as a whole. Also, as an established construction firm have multiple departments and employing thousands of people from a range of cultural backgrounds, Airolink makes every effort to break down the silos between departments and create awareness for unified goals.
It is those staff that make Airolink the powerhouse of civil construction that it is. With more than eighteen nationalities under the same umbrella, Airolink has currently engaged more than six thousand employees, and is targeting another four thousand in the near future. The firm’s employees are frequently trained to address various gaps arising from demographic changes, technological and process advances, and authority and regulatory requirements. To be successful in this industry, it is crucial to have the right people at the right jobs. Hence, every effort is made to ensure that strengths are played to, and that there is a strategic workforce of planning, managing, and delivering excellent civil construction projects.
Good teambuilding and effective workforce management has helped to make Airolink what it is today. The dedicated HR department have always taken special care to ensure that all the team improvement efforts taken up, meet the expectations. Team leaders are therefore generally requested to be key players to communicate clearly with their team members their expectations on the team’s performance and outcomes. The team members must first understand why the team was created. Secondly, it is equally important to see if the team members are competent enough to complete the set task. Finally, it is also very important that the team members are wholly committed to the cause of the team, and show that commitment in accomplishing the team mission and expected outcomes.
Airolink has ongoing works of more than AED 5 billion, and has another AED 5,28 billion worth of projects in the pipeline. Many of these current projects are with well-established clients, including four such prestigious projects that have been awarded by the UAE government and are due to be completed in early 2021. Despite the pandemic of COVID-19, Airolink is looking forward to a busy and promising year ahead, which started off with being awarded two government school projects with a built up area of 26,219 square meters each. What makes 2020 even more special is that the firm has diversified internally and established a Roads and Infrastructure Division, with a joint venture in place with one of the oldest and most prominent firms in the UAE.
There has always been so much civil construction to which many people owe a great deal of thanks. Without the work of firms such as Airolink, society would not be what it is today, plain and simple. Not only that, but Airolink also has such a clear conviction that its staff are its greatest strength. This firm is a truly exceptional one to partner with, and to be a part of. Long may its success continue.
