Advanced Construction Technology Services (ACTS), a consulting organisation in the field of construction materials and geotechnical engineering, has been awarded a contract to carry out testing and analysis on construction materials to be used for the Riyadh Metro Lines 1 and 2.

The contract win for the Riyadh Metro is the second for ACTS after it had been awarded a previous assignment to carry out geotechnical and geophysical works on the two same metro lines in support of the BACS (Saudi Arabian Bechtel, Almabani General Contractors and Consolidated Contractors Company  and Siemens Aktiengesellschaft) Consortium, said a statement from the company.

BACS is one of the three consortia that were awarded the Riyadh Metro Project by Arriyadh Development Authority, the executive arm of the High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh.

The new three-year contract will see ACTS operating one of the largest site laboratories for infrastructure in the kingdom with the setting up of an 800-sq-m laboratory space to perform the expert services required under this assignment, said the company.

The laboratory is fully-equipped with state-of-the-art field testing equipment to investigate and assess related construction materials, among them concrete, soil, asphalt, shotcrete and grout, it stated.

ACTS will also integrate the use of its ‘Online Concrete Pouring & Quality Control System’, a sophisticated quality control web-based program developed by the company, used to track, evaluate and capture data for construction materials testing.

In addition, ACTS will deploy more than 150 highly-trained professionals on three different site locations to fully complete the diverse technical expertise required under the agreement, it stated.

On the contract win, Khaled Awad, the chairman of ACTS, said: "This speaks volumes about the quality services the company is capable of delivering. We are pleased to be given an additional assignment on the Riyadh Metro and look forward to contributing further and see the ultimate completion of this landmark project."

"Additionally, this puts ACTS in a position to reaffirm our objective to lead the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region in raising the quality standards for construction, elevating the industry into a more formidable standing in global market," remarked Awad.

ACTS, he stated, was first commissioned to undertake geotechnical and geophysical works on Riyadh Metro Lines 1 and 2 under a subcontract package awarded by BACS.

The scope of work included drilling of boreholes on the north of Line 1, logging them using optical and acoustic tele-viewers and other advanced techniques, as well as assessing the subsurface ground layers.

A scientific testing programme was carried out simultaneously on the extracted cores to assess soil properties. To date, ACTS’ tasks under the first agreement are almost completed, he added.

Christopher Daniels, the project quality manager, BACS, said ACTS had been involved with the Riyadh Metro project since January 2014, providing geotechnical investigation and materials testing services for the BACS consortium.

"ACTS commitment and technical expertise gives us full confidence that we can collaborate in order to successfully achieve the performance that will be required to support the project objectives and fast track delivery," he added.-TradeArabia News Service