setting the stage As lead A-E-C consultants, Dar Al Handasah (Shair & Partners) works with individual firms, established consultants and specialized designers to manage our clients’ mega projects. This issue of the DarMagazine centers around the unprecedented project design and delivery scales that are being achieved through sound design management and project integration in our industry today. The right leadership, the engagement of a multitude of investigators and a large community of experts through collective work, the utilization of new technologically-inspired tools and common standards achieve high levels of success for the construction of large (medium and small) scale projects. Over many years we have built a solid expertise leading the management of mega-size projects through partnerships, knowledge management, and visualization. Our objective has always been to produce an end project that is valuable for society and useful to many and this issue of the magazine is a glimpse of how we do it. ‘Staying the Course’ is a feature article about Dubai’s remarkable recovery it showcases four recent projects signed in 2012. ‘Solutions to Complexities: Managing the Design Process for King Abdullah Financial District’, is an article about KAFD’s highly complex project that dictated advanced management activities, methods and skills to optimize and run design processes. A unique opportunity to achieve highly successful outcomes based on best design management practices backed up by our solid experience managing large scale projects, regional insight and international exposure, KAFD ranks among our most challenging projects over the last decade. ‘An Impressive Mix’ we present some of our integrated core values, strategic choices and insight for solid and durable success. In May 2012 Dar Al Handasah concluded a deal with the international firm Currie and Brown, DarMagazine features an interview with Sari Gedeon Director of the Project Management and Contracts Department who played a role making C&B part of our Group. The article ‘The Ondjiva Paradox’ relays our flood experts’ solution to tame a flood that constitutes threat and livelihood for the residents of the Angolan city of Ondjiva. Our commitment to E-P-C project delivery especially in large scale industrial projects necessitating particular expertise is presented in ‘The Challenges of Equipment Procurement in Industrial Projects’. Finally, ‘The Unsymmetrical Precast Pre-tension beams for PNU’s APM’ is an overview of a technical paper submitted by our Structural Department and presented during the 2011 Prague fib Symposium. Rawiya Bikhazi DarMagazine Editor-in-chief