Astral Constructors (Pvt) Ltd started business in 2004 as Kestral SPD (Pvt) Ltd leveraging from the need to provide structured turnkey design & build services being sought by clients in the country and very little expertise around to do it. The model worked remarkably well making Astral the No. 1 company in Pakistan for Design & Build experience. As time progressed, the company realized that the recognition and acceptance of Design & Build in Pakistan was and seemed destined to remain a very niche segment and the traditional construct-to-design-provided model will continue to dominate. But, the company’s Design & Build experience made it systems and processes effective and operational to the best-in-class international standards.
Astral's two divisions of Engineering and Construction Services and Facilities Management are ideally positioned to work on any assignment in Pakistan and selected parts of the Middle East and Africa. Our client base includes many foreign multinationals and governments. For example, we have successfully completed over a dozen projects in Pakistan funded and managed by various US Government agencies, including 3 with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), most of them complete design and build! Furthermore, many of our projects are on secure government/military bases and facilities where a project is not just about construction but all the other elements of successful execution such as site administration, security of man and machine, full logging and reporting, detailed planning of all aspects of the project, etc. Almost all of the projects involving highly discerning clients are required to be completed on fast-track basis.
In a very short period, Astral established itself as the company of choice for such services and the company grew rapidly and established a strong name in the market synonymous with Integrity, Quality, Timeliness and Value. These four attributes distinguish Astral from its peers in the region. Our approach was modeled around the best-in-class companies of global repute with processes clearly defined, training programs, project and office organization structured using the required skills and a semi-matrix management structure enabling quality and maximization of output from the company's human resources. Astral prides itself as probably the only company in Pakistan which values its human resource at the top of its functional hierarchy.
Our trained people, established processes and methodological approach to construction renders us as the company of choice for our clients since the default in this region does not conform to international standards of methodology, quality and HSE. For example, on the two USACE projects Astral performed in 2006-2008, there were no lost time injuries (LTIs). On another large project, Astral was awarded by KBR (an IDIQ contractor to which Astral was the prime sub) a merit certificate for completion of 1M man hours without any lost time injury!
Astral performs all its construction activities with its own people (manual labor is, of course, hired from the market depending on the region) and only subcontracts the design work. We work with our design partners like team members to ensure proper design coordination before a segment goes into construction. Our past experience suggests that issues/problems at the design stage are the predominant drivers for schedule delays and cost escalations. A strong, experienced design team is critical to the timely completion of civil projects. In spite of this strength in the design subcontracting, we maintain a design support team which is responsible for coordination and compliance audit of all design produced by the design subcontractors. This design coordination function is critical for smooth execution of the project especially since the designers generally are not a single integrated company and are not very well equipped beyond their individual design disciplines.
Astral is ISO 9001:2015 certified, ISO 14001:2015 certified, and OHSAS 18001:2007 certified for the quality management, environmental management, and occupational health and safety management systems, respectively, in all its construction & engineering services activities.
Success Through Teamwork
Since its creation as a company in a highly-competitive construction market of Pakistan, Astral's business model has been to focus on the principle of collective, people-driven responsibility and achievement. Based on this model, our organic growth has developed Astral into a company with a rather unconventional process-driven and structured employee-friendly corporate culture.
Individual ability, regardless of age, sex, family background, ethnicity, etc, is the driver of individual and corporate growth. Employees and management interact with each other on that basis as a team at the corporate level and on individual projects. Principles of self-discipline rather than mistrust and policing dominate our company culture. Systems provide the definition, guideline and standards, but we understand that in execution, quality comes from within the individual.
Externally, each of us is fully cognizant that they are the face of the company. Our customer is always priority 1. We understand that our customer is not in the construction business but timely completion of his project can represent a make-or-break situation for his business. We do our best to advise our client about issues identified by our people during construction, whether it is due to causes outside of our scope or due to weaknesses in our implementation, as if the client is part of the team. Client satisfaction is the essence of our business.
Featured Projects
The Featured Projects selected here demonstrate the diversity of the projects Astral performs. No project is complex for us in the engineering, time or price domains. This is possible thanks to our strong emphasis on people and processes; our dominant critical success factors.
Our Clients
Testimonials
““Astral met our standards and specifications and performed in a professional manner. KBR are extremely pleased with the conclusion and will happily use Astral as a service provider for other projects located in Pakistan””
““Astral performed satisfactorily and per the given project schedule. Astral’s performance on meeting health and safety requirements are also good. Their site staff and programme management people are competent and responsive.””
““Kestral Gulf has successfully completed the sewerage network system of Misfat al Abrean Wilayat Al Hamra, Oman. During the course of period, Kestral Gulf has performed professionally to meet the required standards, we wish to work with Kestral Gulf on future projects as well””
““Astral performed well completing these projects [complete design & build of self-contained 36 outpost facilities and 10 observation tower facilities, spread over 1,000 km of the Makran coastline designed and built to USACE standards] in a difficult work environment with minimal issues.””
““Astral delivered a quality product, meeting or exceeding the required standards and in a timely manner. Astral’s performance on meeting the strict health and safety requirements on the project (to UK Standards) was also highly commendable. Their site staff and the program management people in Karachi and Islamabad were very competent and highly responsive. KBR is very pleased with Astral’s overall performance on the project and will be happy to use their services in future projects””
““La Paraiso is aimed to be a spectacular example of colonial architecture, tailored to the high living standards of the people of Islamabad. We selected a partner organisation that has proven experience and expertise and look forward to supporting them as they ensure the highest of construction standards.””
