Mr Oymak begins by outlining some of the highlights in his company’s history: “Our company was established in 1966 as the core company of the NUROL Holding Group. In these first years, our priority was the irrigation-based hydraulic projects that we were working on. By the 1970s, industrial projects became our main activity field; these were initiated via the Iskenderun Iron and Steel Complex. Today, this is still one of the most important such complexes in the region.” Even in these relatively early days, the company demonstrated its plans to diversify, as Mr Oymak describes: “In 1976, in co-operation with Austrian consultants, we transferred the new Austrian tunnelling method to Turkey and became the first 100% Turkish tunnel builders. By the 1980s, NUROL began activities abroad in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia was the first foreign country NUROL worked in, with projects executed in Yanbu, Riyadh and Makkah. During this era major industrial projects such as the F16 Aircraft Manufacturing Complex and the Sivas Iron and Steel Complex were added to our range of facilities in Turkey. Our pioneering role has been strengthened through high-scale, complex projects like the Bahcesehir Satellite Town in Istanbul, the project by which the satellite town concept has been brought to Turkey.” 

In fact, the 1980s saw this diversification process increase. “Other activities supported the establishment of sister companies in different sectors, starting from the ‘side sectors’ of construction such as trading, steel manufacturing and suchlike,” Mr Oymak says. Besides this, other sectors such as tourism, finance and banking were also added to the activity areas of the group. “Through the FMC-NUROL Armoured Combat Vehicles Factory and the NUROL Machinery Armoured Combat Vehicles Complex established in the early 1990s, we became the first private-sector group in the Turkish defence industry,” Mr Oymak explains. “By the early 1990s, our activities abroad had extended to the CIS countries, and we were one of the first Western companies to initiate activities in these regions after the fall of the Soviet Union. In this era other major projects such as the Istanbul Metro, Kurtun Dam and HEPP (the first concrete-faced rock-filled dam in Turkey) were also completed.”

Projects today

With the coming of the new millennium, this historical trend has continued, and the group can now point to some impressive statistics built up through its former experiences. Once more the Middle East, particularly the GCC countries, became the main focus of their activities abroad. “Activities in the Emirates began in 2003, and as of 2008 the total (completed and current) project portfolio has earnt us more than US$1.5bn through projects in Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” he says. In this era, activities in Algeria and Libya have also been initiated and the activity area in Middle Asia continues to be expanded through projects undertaken in Afghanistan. Mr Oymak says: “We are proud that as of today NUROL Construction is a large family of more than 10,000 employees from 15 different nations, with an activity range spanning 13 countries on three continents.” However, while these projects were being undertaken, the company was not neglecting the home front. The first decade of the 21st century was also a period of continuous development in Turkey, and he mentions some of these developments, such as the US$600m-valued Toprakkale-Iskenderun motorway, which forms the last section of the trans-European motorway in Turkey, and the Bolaman-Persembe dual highway project, which includes the longest highway tunnel in Turkey. “Furthermore, the US$1.1bn Marmaray immersed tube tunnel project was undertaken by the Turkish-Japanese joint venture (in which NUROL is one of the Turkish partners) in 2004. The project includes 18km of double metro tunnels, of which a 1.4km section is formed from immersed tube tunnels to be constructed under the Bosphorus.

Another major infrastructure project undertaken in Turkey in this period is the Ilısu Dam and HEPP Project, undertaken by an international consortium led by NUROL. This US$1.5bn project includes the second largest dam in Turkey, to be realised through foreign financing brought by contractor companies.” It is no surprise when Mr Oymak ends by telling us: “With our aforementioned activities, NUROL Construction is included within both the world’s top international contractors list and the world’s top global contractors list of the Engineering News Record.”

Much of the involvement in these large and prestigious projects has undoubtedly come about through the highly diverse range of activities pursued by the NUROL Holding Group, but the construction company remains 100% a member of it. Mr Oymak elucidates: “We have 45 sister companies with a diversified range of activities. Those companies such as NUROL Steel Structures and NUROL Foreign Trade, particularly the ones that are active in side fields of construction, trading, finance and machinery are also progressing their activities in close co-ordination with us.” In fact, the primary reason for NUROL’s expansion as a group was the strengthening of activities in the construction sector. “In order to get the capability to have commitments in different parts of the world, solving logistics problem is a must, whereas providing specialised subcontractor services through our sister companies adds real value,” he says. “This is why our sister companies such as NUROL Foreign Trade, NUROL Steel, TUMAD Mining and NUROL Insurance Services have been established.” Focusing on construction, the headquarters and main divisions are located in Ankara, with regional branches in Istanbul. Mr Oymak continues: “On the other hand, as it is also a legal obligation, we are establishing local branches or affiliate companies in the countries where we are initiating activities. Those companies carry out their activities with sub-units connected with the relevant units at the headquarters, which in fact produces a matrix-type organisation structure, with one technical line and one financial line. Our project directorates operate as semi-independent work-oriented companies with fully authorised project directors reporting directly to the General Manager.” He summarises by saying: “Consequently, our aim is to form project directorates organised exactly as required by the client, and convenient for the nature of the project; we are proud to mention that we are active worldwide through customers that have prestigious names in their markets,” he tells us. “In Turkey we are one of the main contractors for the Turkish Highways Authority, State Hydraulic Works and State Railways, Ports and Airports Construction Authority, and abroad we are one of the contractors for Nakheel and Sorouh in the UAE, while in Libya we are working for ODAC, and in Algeria for the Water Resources Ministry. In fact, we are selecting our clients as per our strategies for that country. We generally consider the governmental authorities, except in the GCC where we are working for the most prestigious private investors in the region.”

Taking a summary overview of the group’s project base, this can be seen as being of a fivefold nature: ‘Infrastructure Projects’ is further subdividable into transport systems (railways, roads, tunnels); pipelines and auxiliary facilities such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project executed through the steel division; irrigation systems, dams, and treatment plants. Next one should mention ‘Turnkey Manufacturing Facilities’ and industrial plant projects, with such major examples as the Turkish Aerospace Industry Aircraft Manufacturing Complex and the FMC-NUROL Armoured Combat Vehicle Manufacturing Complex. Also, there are ‘Housing Projects’ that include satellite towns, luxury and mass housing and social centre projects, with a major recent example being the Bahcesehir satellite town, which includes a wide range of residential units, from multi-storey apartment blocks to luxury villas totalling 3,200 units, as well as public buildings such as schools, police stations, shopping malls and sports/fitness facilities with an enclosed area of 50,000 m2. “All the infrastructure works were also accomplished by us,” says Mr Oymak. “We even constructed an artificial lake!” Finally there are ‘Industrial District Sites’ and business centre projects such as the OASIS Cultural and Commercial Complex in Turkey, and ‘Hotel and Resort Projects’ like the Sheraton Ankara Convention Centre which was very well received, as Mr Oymak points out: “It was selected as both ‘Europe’s Leading Conference Hotel’ and ‘Turkey’s Leading Conference Hotel’ by the World Travel Awards, with the congress centre designed and built by our team. The most important thing is those awards are given by the direct votes of guests from all around the world who stayed in the hotel.” 

Flexibility is the key

Mr Oymak sees one of the major strands in the success of the company as personnel. “In NUROL we work as a big family,” he says. “We are glad to say that we have a lot of team members progressing through their careers with us. Technology, finance and equipment are all reachable in today’s global world by anyone who knows where to look for them. An organisation can only diversify from the others with its staff. We consider all NUROL staff as not only team members, but even family members, living the majority of their lives together. Our opinion is that this is a major issue behind our success, along with such strengths as the high speed in decision making and organisational flexibility under complex market conditions. Decision-makers are reachable 24 hours a day and seven days a week. If we cannot provide this, than how can an organisation of this scale progress with its upward trend?” he asks. “We are working in a geographical region from Middle Asia through to Europe and North Africa, and even the weekend holidays are different through the countries we work in.” Other facets of the trade are different too, such as the degrees of stringency demanded by the various types of clients that the company work with, as Mr Oymak says: “We have been working in very different types of projects in different regions with very different quality requirements. Our clients range from military authorities, requiring detailed engineering for manufacturing facilities, through to prestigious investors requiring high luxury standards. Our QA/QC system has been operated for decades, with ISO 9001 certification being gained in 2001. These quality principles are set for the whole company and implemented worldwide without exception. We may have additional implementations, but our basic company principles are set in stone. Those implementations are reviewed by the management periodically, with improvementsmade where necessary.” However, issues of safety and environmental concerns are constants: “Our OHS and environmental management systems are certified for OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001 worldwide, and we are glad to say that we are among the contractors with the lowest on-site accident/incident rates. “

Expansion in more ways than one

“In addition to Turkey, we are progressing our activities in the GCC, North Africa, Georgia and Poland,” says Mr Oymak, who goes on to elaborate: “Our plans include the expansion of activity range in the GCC by restarting in Saudi Arabia and strengthening our operations in Eastern Europe and North Africa.” But might the current economic climate go some way towards scuppering these plans? He realises the situation will have repercussions and says: “The current crisis conditions should be closely monitored, and we are looking forward to making revisions in our mid-to-long-term strategies according to the results we face in the near future.”

The company’s website, which shows many of the highly impressive projects from Algeria to Russia, should be given the final say: “The company’s history, full of successfully completed projects, together with its name that became the symbol of leadership and reliability, is the strongest indication that NUROL will continue its growth trend and participation in major projects with the same speed in the 21st century.”