ACI - Kuwait Chapter presents an Award of Achievement to an individual in recognition of outstanding contribution in the field of concrete in the State of Kuwait. This year, the award was presented to Mr. Ubed Arain, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Dar Gulf Consult. While Mr. Arain manages one of Kuwait’s oldest and largest consulting offices in Kuwait, his passion and pride remain being a Structural Engineer. Since he came to Kuwait and joined Gulf Consult 37 years ago, he has devoted his professional career to improving the status and standard of structural engineering in the country.

Mr. Ubed Arain was born in Nawabshah, Pakistan in 1947. He moved to Karachi in 1948 and grew up there, graduating in 1969 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from NED Engineering College (University). He then traveled to USA for post-graduate studies, earning an M.Sc in Civil Engineering in 1971, from the University of California at Berkeley.

He practiced in USA thereafter; and in 1973 passed the professional practice exam to become a Professional Engineer (PE) in the State of California. He was one of the founder members of ACI-Kuwait.

Professional Career

In 1971 he joined Robert E. Jones Inc., Structural Engineers, based in St. Jose, California. While with them, he designed large nuclear blast resistant buildings (the Cold War was at its peak at that time); and several reinforced concrete and steel structures, including retrofits to satisfy seismic code requirements.

In 1975, Mr. Hamad Alghanim (Abu Talal) convinced him to take up a one-year contract with Gulf Engineering Office (now Dar Gulf Consult). The ‘one-year’ has extended to 37 and still continues.

Hand-in-hand with the late Abu Talal, Mr. Arain helped Gulf Consult grow from an office with a staff of 10 to become one of Kuwait’s leading consulting offices, currently with more than 750 employees.

As would be expected, during his lengthy professional practice in Kuwait, Mr. Arain has been involved in and overseen the structural design of many major private and public buildings, as well as significant and innovative infrastructure projects.

Professional Work

Some of the prominent developments in which he had a substantial direct involvement include:

• Sheikh Saad Abdullah Police Academy
• The Scientific Center, (Recipient of 2001 ACI-KC Award of Excellence)
• PAAET Colleges of Business Studies, Adriya
• Al-Kout, Fahaheel Waterfront (Recipient of 2004 ACI-KC Award of Excellence)
• Dasman Center for Research and Treatment of Diabetes; Kuwait National Petroleum Company Headquarters, Ahmadi
• Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel and Spa
• Abdul-Aziz Al-Babtain Cultural Waqf Project
• Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital
• South Surra; Ministry of Education Headquarters
• College of Engineering and Petroleum and College of Science at New Sabah Al-Salem University City
• Passenger Terminal 2, Kuwait International Airport (25 million passengers)