Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), a state-owned Indian oil and gas company, is one of the world's leading energy producers. It generates 77% of India's crude oil and 81% of its natural gas. As the company has grown, it has begun setting up state-of-the-art corporate offices throughout India. These include a corporate office, which is targeted to achieve a platinum rating under US Green Building Council (USGBC) requirements, in Mumbai. SGS has been helping to manage the project. A building unlike any other

The Mumbai corporate office has a distinctive shape and unusual features. It is also designed to adhere to strict environmental standards. In addition to being a USGBC platinum targeted building, it is India's second building to be registered as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Together, the unique appearance of the building and the need to comply with strict green regulations create a particularly large challenge for engineers.

With a complicated project like this, adhering to safety standards while ensuring quality, minimizing costs and meeting deadlines can be difficult. To ensure that work was done properly and completed on schedule, in October 2010, ONGC hired SGS to provide comprehensive project management services. The company chose SGS because of its previous successes in managing construction projects.

Improving quality while keeping risks at bay

Throughout the project's duration, SGS is responsible for providing quality control and quality assurance. It is also tasked with monitoring project scheduling. By proactively ensuring that all materials and equipment satisfy customer requirements and applicable regulations, and that jobs are completed on schedule, SGS keeps risks to a minimum. This allows the project to be finished on time and on budget.

SGS has made innovative suggestions for improving quality and minimizing risk. These include:

  • Implementing a new filtering system, which does not rely on the use of conventional sand beds, for filtering storm water. This increases environmental sustainability
  • Using self compacting concrete instead of conventional concrete in heavy girders, and ready mix plaster instead of conventional plaster, to save time while maintaining a stringent quality regime 
  • Using polyurethane (PU) paint to prevent corrosion of mild steel (MS) members

The project is scheduled for completion by the end of March 2015. Over the course of the project, ONGC has expressed its satisfaction with SGS's work by awarding appreciation certificates to the SGS team.

distributed by