FAISAL Electro Mechanical Company (Femco), a leading engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor in Saudi Arabia, is currently playing a major role in the country’s education sector by providing its services to create quality infrastructure for places of higher learning in various cities.

Specialised in the field of electro-mechanical activities, infrastructure and development and industrial plants, Femco has projects worth hundreds of millions of riyals, either newly completed or under way, according to a company spokesman.

King Faisal University

One of the major projects that Femco is currently engaged in is the King Faisal University (KFU) Permanent Campus, where it has been involved in various phases of the prestigious development in Al Ahsa.

The company is working on a SR264-million ($70.39 million) contract for Phase One of the Teaching Hospital at KFU, which entails civil, mechanical and electrical infrastructure and utilities works. The scope of work under the contract includes site levelling, which involves 263,000 cu m of excavation, 220,000 cu m of backfilling, 8,000 cu m of concrete works and 52,000 sq m of asphalt cover area and 10,000 m of curbstone.

The chiller plant at King Faisal University, Al Ahsa.

In addition, it covers all civil and electro-mechanical works for the supply and installation of six chiller plants with a capacity of 2,150 tons, four boiler of 6,800 kg per hour capacity, 44 air cooler radiators of 945 kW (269 tons), expansion tanks, an air separator, and chemical treatment equipment and accessories.

Other civil and electro-mechanical works under this contract call for the supply and installation of sewage treatment tank systems, reverse osmosis (RO) plant, and a generator building with five 2,500 kVA capacity standby generators, underground diesel tanks, three pump rooms – one each for raw water, irrigation water and potable/fire water – and four main gates complete with all accessories and equipment.

Femco will also supply and install piping networks and infrastructure works including 4,500 m of pipes for the chilled water, 2,200 m for the sanitary sewer, 2,200 m for potable water, 2,800 m for raw water and 800 m for storm water drainage; drilling of three deep wells and 500 m piping works for the wall water system; and site grading and roads works. Other electrical works comprise supply and installation of 4,400 m of 15-kV medium-voltage and communication network cables, and 2,500 m of 15-kV Cu/XLPE cables. In addition, works related to landscaping, hardscaping, stamp pavement, compact substations, and external streetlighting electrical works is also being done by Femco. This contract, which was launched in June last year, is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

Also at the KFU, Femco is working on the preparation of infrastructure for Phase Four of the campus. Under the SR130-million ($34.66 million) contract, the company is responsible for the civil, mechanical and electrical infrastructure works in association with Yuksel Insaat Saudia Company. The project, which started in March 2011, is expected to be completed in June next year.

Meanwhile, the company has completed several other projects at the KFU Al Ahsa campus. A consortium of Femco-Yuksel Insaat Saudia Company undertook infrastructure works for Stage One of Phase Three for the university city. Work involved civil, mechanical and electrical infrastructure works for four sub-packages.

Sub-package One included all electro-mechanical works for supply and installation of seven chiller plants of 3,150 tons capacity, six cooling towers of 9,290 GPM (gallons per minute) capacity, a pump station with seven chilled water pumps of 3,877 GPM capacity, and cooling water pumps of 9,290 GPM discharge capacity.

Sub-Package Two consisted of all civil and electro-mechanical works for supply and installation of a sewage treatment plant (STP), reverse osmosis (RO) plant and emergency generator building with two 1,000 kVA standby generators, and two diesel gen-sets of 1,000 kW capacity.

Sub-Package Three involved supply and installation of piping networks involving 14,790 m of pipes for the chilled water, 9,084 m for sanitary sewer, 8,904 m for potable water; 11,132 m for raw water, 2,021 m of well water, 3,605 m for the effluent water and 13,288 m of storm water drainage systems; site grading and roads works; electro-mechanical and civil works for six and five lifts stations, respectively; all electrical works entailing supply and installation of 7,380 m of 13.8-kV medium-voltage and communication network cables, and 16,390 m of 15-kV Cu/XLPE cables.

Work on sub-packages One to Three was worth SR350 million ($93.32 million) and was completed in December 2010.

Femco has carried out a diverse range of projects.

Sub-package Four, worth SR250 million ($66.66 million), involved civil, mechanical and electrical infrastructure works, and was completed last December. This comprised landscaping, hardscaping works of pergola and shade structures, stamp pavement works, water display networks, irrigation system, drinking water fountains, tennis courts, compact substations, and streetlighting works. This sub-package also involved site levelling, which included 428,999 cu m of excavation, 1,028,000 cu m of backfilling, 50,000 cu m of concrete works, and 325,000 sq m of asphalt cover area.

University City

Femco has just completed building works for research centres at the University City in Dammam. The project, worth SR30.6 million ($8.159 million), included finishing all internal works including medical, electrical and civil works for the existing laboratory and award building, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, furniture, plumbing, fire-fighting, cold storage facilities, fans, panels, laboratory equipment and elevators.

Another project at the University City (Phase Three) included infrastructure works for seven research centre buildings, which was completed in February.

The scope of works also called for sewage, storm water, fire-fighting, chilled water, water tanks, fire water tanks, RO plant, pump room, transformer and switchgear, irrigation and landscaping of roads and parks under a SR33.6-million ($8.96 million) deal.

As part of the site development at the University City, Femco also undertook supply, installation and testing and commissioning of the infrastructure work for the housing area of the new campus. This involved an irrigation network; fibre optic networks for all low-current voltage systems; BMS, CCTV, data, telephone network systems; medium-voltage and low-voltage cable network; transformers and substations; external lighting; road and a park under a contract worth SR41 million ($10.93 million) completed in August 2010.

Another key contract completed at the University City was a SR203-million ($54.12 million) project for civil, mechanical and electrical infrastructure works for Phase Two completed in December 2009. The project was carried out with Yuksel Insaat Saudia Company.

King Saud University

Meanwhile, Femco is carrying infrastructure works for the development and expansion of the central chiller at King Saud University in Riyadh. Work involves replacement of six 5,000-ton chillers, chilled water and condenser water pumps, various valves; cable works, control panels, telecommunication and data systems, CCTV, instrumentation works, among other works. The project, worth SR149 million ($39.72 million), was launched in April 2011 and will be completed in April 2014.

Among other projects, Femco also has a SR55.14-million ($14.7 million) contract for Saline Water Conversion Corporation’s (SWCC) reverse osmosis plant in Jeddah under a subcontract from Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction. The contract, which involves electrical, mechanical and civil works for Taprogge filters at the plant, is expected to be completed by July this year.

The company had earlier completed a SR44-million ($11.7 million) deal with SWCC, which involved pipeline coating rehabilitation in Jubail.