United Development Company (UDC) has received five certifications demonstrating its services and operations are aligned with internationally recognised standards set by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).
The certifications include ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), ISO 45001 (Occupational Health & Safety Management), ISO 27001 (Information Security Management), and ISO 22301 (Business Continuity Management).
The international accreditation was awarded to UDC by the British Standards Institution (BSI) through British ambassador Jon Wilks, who delivered the certificates to Ibrahim Jassim al-Othman, UDC president & CEO and member of the board, in the presence of UDC and BSI senior officials in a ceremony held at UDC Tower in The Pearl Island.
The standards achieved are based on a number of quality management, efficiency, safety, and sustainability principles, covering not only UDC services at The Pearl Island, but also those of its subsidiaries, Ronautica and Hospitality Development Company (HDC), which operate one of the Middle East’s largest marinas in Porto Arabia and various F&B and hospitality concepts across The Pearl Island.
Al-Othman said, “Aligning our functions with international ISO standards ensures that our customers and stakeholders get consistent, good quality services. As such, being able to renew our status through yearly ISO audits is considered a great milestone, which expresses our unwavering commitment to pursuing operational excellence at all levels through constantly improving our internal processes.
“These certifications are particularly noteworthy as we aim to position UDC as a premium developer and give The Pearl Island visitors and investors, as well as marina clients the assurance of world-class levels of service, which guarantees customer satisfaction, effective risk management, and commitment to legal and regulatory requirements.”
The certification followed a comprehensive and extensive external audit of all UDC, Ronautica, and HDC’s internal processes and public services, including hard and soft services delivered to residents, visitors, and customers.
Ronautica’s accreditation is equally significant making Porto Arabia one of the first marinas in the world to receive all three international certifications for quality, environment, and health and safety management.
UDC and The Pearl Island is also the first developer and the first community in Qatar to be certified for implementing strong Business Continuity Management systems and strategies with a comprehensive approach to resilience enabling update, control, and deployment of effective plans, as well as accounting for contingencies, capabilities, and business needs to deal with disruptive incidents while continuing to operate essential functions.
UDC is a leading Qatari public shareholding company and master developer of The Pearl and Gewan Islands.