Vera Chan-manovna, please share your thoughts – what is the essence of construction consulting and what kind of features does it have in Uzbekistan?

Of course, over the past two decades, the construction sphere in our country has been developed in the quite significant paces: the number of construction companies is increased; the manufacturers of construction materials have begun to offer new various products and technologies, which help to reduce the time of construction and improve the quality of constructed facilities.
However, the financial crisis of 2008, even if it did not significantly effect on Uzbekistan as on neighboring countries, has resulted in some certain corrections in the work of constructor. So that, before contractors tried to reduce the time of construction and increase the volume, but today their main objective is to reduce the costs while preserving the high quality of buildings.
That, in turn, has strengthened the importance and role of construction consulting, the main task of which is to help the builders to choose the most efficient and cost-effective construction technologies and materials, as well as to ensure the compliance of construction works and materials to required codes and rules.
I think it is necessary to clarify: Construction Consulting is an activity, consisting of several directions. In our Republic, the most required of them are technical documentation and design, cost estimates and environmental consulting.
At the first stage of construction, when it comes to preparing the business plan, obtaining the land for the construction, executing the geodetic survey, developing of correct project documentation, drafting the cost estimates and obtaining the permits – all these “paper” things take a lot of time and resources and require from the contractor a high concentration, so the construction companies are ready to use the professional consulting services for this.
There is also need, especially, at the initial stage of construction, for the cost estimates consulting, which is an assessment of construction itself and step-by-step development of the project financing plan. One of the directions of cost estimates consulting is a financial monitoring, the mission of which is to control the expenditure and receipt of funds during the construction.
Today, the urgency of environmental consulting, which presents an indicator of the environmental status, development of the particular sections of design documentation, preparation and realization of mandatory procedure such as state ecological expertise. In addition, the expert’s advice in the field of environmental control is very required while selection of construction materials and applied technologies.
Unfortunately, in many countries of the former Soviet Union it is very common to see a situation, when the contractors trying to win the tender for construction work, unfairly decrease the cost of their services. However, they can fulfill their obligations only by using the substandard materials, unskilled labor or by violating the technical process of construction. In future such “measures” on reduction of time and construction costs lead to the substantial negative results. There are cases, when the contractor does not follow the established standards and technologies for the sake of more profit.

This has created the understanding that the protection of client’s interests in the construction of any property, it is desirable to trust the independent expert, who has no interests in sale of construction materials and provision of construction services, and who will help to make the technically optimal solutions and ensure their proper implementation on site.

Vera Chan-manovna, today True Engineering Supervision is one of well-known companies among the construction-consulting professionals not only in Uzbekistan, but also in the Central Asian region. Bring to the light, please, who, what and where you are…

Our company is a multi-industry engineering company, which provides the highly qualified services to the clients of construction in the former Soviet Union countries for development and reorganization, construction and modernization of structures and objects of various industries such as oil and gas, energy, transport, agriculture, utilities, water and sanitation, social and others.
Considering the high competition in the market of construction consulting, we in our activities focus on the economically optimized and customer-oriented work. We are very flexible in the implementation of defined tasks. The professionalism of our specialists can compete with the companies, which have already recognized in the implementation of EPC and FIDIC contracts financed by ADB, EBRD, DFID, EuropeAid, IDB, USAID, World Bank, etc.
Currently, our company has implemented more than 60 contracts for the provision of consulting services signed with more than 20 international companies.
We provide the whole range of consulting services, anticipating and exceeding the client’s requirements. Undoubtedly, this is a difficult task, but we were able to develop an algorithm of actions, which tested for a long time. In short, it can be described as the study of innovations, analysis of market trends, continuous training and improvement of equipment, critical assessment of the actual results of operations and activities.

Regarding the previous question, you have mentioned about the tough competition in the market of construction consulting, what is your shtick in this case?

We have achieved the persistent presence of more than 50 managers and 27 thousand of high qualified consultants in all 12 administrative-territorial units of Uzbekistan, as well as in Euro-Asia and the Caucasus countries by optimized localization of coordination points and own personnel. This is an advantage of True Engineering Supervision in operative identification of problems and organization of effective measures and their implementation in Euro-Asian and Caucasus territories.
The undisputable privilege of True Engineering Supervision is that the company has positioned itself as the supplier of highly qualified services for construction supervision and inspection that based on a comprehensive implementation of investment projects for construction of objects of industrial and commercial property, the application of innovative technologies, quality management of construction investment projects according to international best practices.
I think another our advantage is that we are able to provide the highly qualified services for environmental activities. Our company is able to provide clients any help in management and minimization of the impact of their activities on the environment by using the environmental impact assessment of the international standard. I would like to mention one more achievement – For carrying out of laboratory researches on impact of industrial and soil pollution, natural water and air and other various types of waste, etc. True Engineering Supervision on a regular basis, collaborates with 12 specialized research laboratories in 9 countries of CIS.

As we know “personnel solves everything” … how about this issue?

At this moment, True Engineering Supervision has in its possession about 30 thousand specialists in 14 countries of the former Soviet Union and foreign countries. More than 90% of industry experts and managers of True Engineering Supervision have a higher academic education. This gives us an opportunity to “speak” not only in industrial language but also in the “dialect” of narrow specialization.
If you are interested in more information, you can go to our website – www.true-engineering.com, where you can find more details on specialization of our experts and their location.

We have known from your website that True Engineering Supervision has introduced the integrated management system for standards ISO 900, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. Vera Chan-manovna, could you share your thoughts about it?

Yes, by the concerted efforts, we were able to implement the quality management system – ISO 9001, Environmental Management System – ISO 14001 system of production and labor safety OHSAS – 18001.
Certificate ISO 9001 confirms that True Engineering Supervision has implemented and operates the quality management system, which ensures the consistently high quality of provided goods or services, regardless of external or internal conditions changes.
The certificates ISO 14001 OHSAS – 18001 demonstrate the careful attention of our company to the environmental aspects of business and modern methods of occupational health and safety in the implementation of engineering services, including the services for construction supervision and inspection, as well as optimization and management of infrastructure projects.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that our company is one of the first among the similar companies, which satisfies the abovementioned three standards. It is very essential, in terms of competitiveness and quality of services provided by us.
I would also like to draw your attention to the following – in most cases, the presence of such certification is a preferred criterion of tender requirements, but sometimes it is also mandatory condition.

Thank you Vera Cha- manovna for such interesting interview. At the end, could you identify the most priority goals of your company for near future?

I must admit that despite the fact that we are active in the consulting services market in CIS countries, we are not sufficiently active in the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. That is our perspective goal – to strengthen our position in these countries, as the supplier of highly qualified services for construction consulting. However, it should be noted that in these countries we have already prepared the good database of experts with which we formalized the contractual mutual obligations. About the size of our preparatory work, you can know by going to our website www.true-engineering.com.

We wish You good luck and prosperity to Your company

Thank you.