ILF Consulting Engineers

What is it? An independent consulting company based in Innsbruck and Munich with a desalination business specialising in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

What has it done? ILF has landed a slew of consulting contracts for membrane and thermal desalination projects around the world, including the role of independent engineer on the world's largest SWRO plant, Mactaa in Algeria (500,000m³/d), and technical adviser to the developer consortium on the world's largest MSF plant, the 880,000m³/d Shoaiba 3 IWPP in Saudi Arabia.

Why is it shortlisted?

• A spectacular expansion into the Algerian market has seen ILF involved in projects accounting for more than half of the country's planned seawater RO capacity. The firm has been appointed as independent engineer for three different Algerian banks involved in financing six of Algeria's proposed 13 seawater RO projects.

• The company's secret formula for winning complex power and desalination projects lies in its in-depth market knowledge, the ability to hire experts from top companies and its in-house OPUS plant simulation software. ILF has shown a shrewd awareness of where its strengths lie - and exploited them to their full potential.

• ILF's desalination business has been growing at breakneck speed, allowing it to gain a foothold in markets as far afield as India (as independent engineer for the 100,000m³/d SWRO plant in Chennai), Australia (as consultant for the project company developing the Sydney SWRO plant) and on numerous IWPPs and IWPs in the Middle East. The achievement is all the more remarkable given that the company only entered the power and water business at the end of 2005.