Sears Davies gives global image to Dar Al-Handasah

Sears Davies has created a strategic rebranding programme for one of the world’s largest engineering companies, Middle East-based Dar Al-Handasah Shair & Partners, the results of which will be unveiled in September.

The six figure project includes renaming the company, revamping the corporate identity, setting guidelines, designing the company typeface and creating a website, marketing and technical literature.

Dar Al-Handasah, which will be renamed DarGroup, lined up a number of UK consultancies for a credentials presentation last summer. Sears Davies managing director Julian Davies says the fact that Dar Al-Handasah made a conscious decision to come to Britain for its design requirement ‘speaks volumes on the health of the UK design industry as a whole’.

Sears Davies conducted a design audit at the end of last year before beginning ‘work in earnest’ on the identity in January. The new look was ratified in April and has just gone into print production.

The name change is intended to make the company, based in Cairo and Beirut, but with offices in the UK, US and Africa and projects worldwide, more accessible to international audiences.

‘We were trying to achieve a brand with global recognition that does not automatically have a Middle Eastern image. The company is expanding fast in the western world and having a Middle Eastern name could be a drawback in some markets,’ according to Davies. ‘We have created something with no emotional baggage.’

The identity will be given ‘a soft launch’ on documents including official submissions, planning applications and tenders. The main thrust of the rollout will coincide with the autumn launch of a company website.

Dar Al-Handasah specialises in large-scale construction projects, which include schools, colleges, health centres, roads, bridges and water treatment facilities.