S.P. Hart leverages international reputation, client service to win key engineering contract in Zadar, Croatia
A strong international reputation and track record combined with a dedication to service has won S.P. Hart & Associates Ltd. a major project for the County of Zadar, Croatia.
The $100,000 contract is one of the initial stages in a regional development project for a Regional Waste Management Centre valued at €46 million ($65 million CDN).
The project, part of the Croatian Waste Management strategy, is one of 10 or more Regional Waste Management Centres to be built in Croatia over the next 10 years. S.P. Hart was responsible for the engineering portion – conceptual design and preparation of specifications – of the initial project.
The Regional Waste Management Centre projects are a response to the rapid growth of a consumer society in Central and Eastern Europe and the resulting waste crisis in Croatia, a country of 4.5 million people. The project itself was a public tender and S.P. Hart won the competition to become a subcontractor to a Croatian firm that specializes in waste management projects.
"Our reputation for successful projects across Europe and the value-add we were able to bring to the project in the design and specifications for areas such as building science, cost control, equipment specifications, the design of specialised engineering structures, and the preparation of project specifications and project review were keys to winning the contract," says Sean Hart, P.Eng., President.
The 10-person, Toronto-based S.P. Hart firm has built a solid reputation across Central and Eastern Europe as well as South America as an engineering consultancy that brings industry leading expertise and value to help local consulting and engineering firms become more competitive.
"Competition and the recent economic downturn has impacted the number of projects and made the ability to work internationally critical for success," says Sean.
S. P. Hart, whose previous projects have ranged from waste management, a golf course, and a four-star hotel in Croatia, to an environmental assessment in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a resort in Costa Rica, turned its international experience to good advantage in winning the Croatian project.
In Zadar, S.P. Hart was heavily involved in the conceptual design and preparation of project specifications.
"One of the important business benefits we brought to this project and to the local engineering firm that won the contract was our ability to use technical terms and phraseology in English – an important value-add since the project is being financed by the European Union, which requires documents in English."
Crucial to winning the contract was the ability to obtain local knowledge and introductions to engineering firms operating in Croatia. To get both, S.P. Hart turned to the International Trade Branch of Ontario's Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.
"Through MEDT we were able to make contacts in Croatia and the city of Zadar in particular," says Sean. "The ministry facilitated our ability to work with the local Croatian engineering firm and that led to our success in winning our role as subcontractor on the project."
As a result of its strong performance in the initial stages, S.P. Hart is in line to be engaged in the remainder of the Regional Waste Management Centre project.
That includes a site plan encompassing 12 facilities that potentially will require manufacturing materials, equipment, and expertise from Ontario. The downstream project facilities include a three storey management building, an open air recycling facility for the public, a facility for the mechanical and biological treatment of waste, an additional building for waste recycling and open air storage, as well as all utilities, access roads, electrical and instrumentation systems, and buildings.
"The Regional Waste Management Centre is a significant project - one that has the potential to expand the scope of work S.P. Hart will perform in the coming months as the facility is built out," says Sean.
