Dar Al-Handasah

Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners; Arabic: دار الهندسة) is a privately owned international consulting company active in engineering, architecture, planning, environmental consulting, project and construction management, facilities management, and economics, founded in 1956. Its principal design offices and technical support facilities are located in Beirut, Lebanon; Cairo, Egypt; London, United Kingdom; Warsaw, Poland; Pune, India; and Amman, Jordan, with 46 local branch offices located in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Dar Al-Handasah

Company type	Private Partnership
Industry	Engineering Consulting Project management
Founded	1956
Founder	Kamal A. Al-Shair
Headquarters	Beirut
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Talal K. Shair (Chairman & CEO)
Services	Multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering consultancy
Number of employees	7,860 (2021)[1]
Website	www.dar.com

Over the years, Dar has provided consultancy services to more than 950 clients in 60 countries and has handled over 4,000 projects involving a collective investment of over US$300 billion (construction costs for executed projects, excluding planning projects). With a permanent staff of 9,250 (including 6,300 professionally qualified engineers; architects; town planners; environmentalists; economists; finance, marketing and management specialists; quantity surveyors; and others) and over 4,000 successfully completed projects, Dar Al-Handasah does work in a wide range of engineering fields.^[2]

History

Dar Al-Handasah was established in November 1956, and given the Arabic name دار الهندسة Dar Al-Handasah meaning "the house of engineering". It was founded by Kamal Shair (1930–2008) and Dr. Nazih Taleb (1928–2020) and three fellow professors in Engineering from the American University of Beirut (AUB) Engineering School.^[3] Later it was named Dar Al-Handasah Shair and Partners.

In 1986, the company acquired the United States-based design firm of Perkins and Will.^[4]

The firm won the IStructE Award for Transportation Structures and the Supreme Award in 2006 for designing the Prai River Bridge in Penang, Malaysia.^[5]

Subsidiaries and affiliations

• Dar Al-Handasah is a member of Dar Group companies.^[6] The Dar Group companies also includes:
  • T. Y. Lin International^[7]
  • Introba (Merger of Integral Group and Ross & Baruzzini, Inc.)
  • Landrum & Brown
  • Maffeis Engineering S.p.A.
  • GPO Group
  • Perkins and Will
  • Currie & Brown
  • Penspen Group
  • R&H Railway Consultants Group
  • D2 Consult International GmbH

Selected projects

• Prai River Bridge – Penang, Malaysia^[8]
• Haramain high-speed railway – Saudi Arabia^[9]
• Jamaraat Bridge – Saudi Arabia^[10]
• Abraj Al Bait – Mecca, Saudi Arabia^[11]
• Al Bayt Stadium – Al Khor, Qatar^[12]
• Lusail Sports Arena – Lusail, Qatar^[13]
• Iconic Tower – New Administrative Capital, Egypt^[14]