HOWDEN PROJECTS: Engineering at the Extremes

Across Africa and the Middle East, the demand for complex, highly reliable industrial equipment continues to surge, driven by the need for efficient, sustainable energy and resource extraction solutions. For Howden Projects, a division of Chart Industries, this environment is fertile ground. With decades of experience and a reputation cemented in mining, power, and heavy industry, the company is now leveraging its legacy, its technical expertise, and its global links to pursue ambitious new opportunities.

Operating as a unique and independent business unit within the broader Chart Industries group, Howden Projects maintains its own specialised focus while tapping into the resources and innovations of a multinational parent. Managing Director, Kudzai Nyangoni, oversees the Projects division for Africa and the Middle East and is proud of what has been achieved.

“The projects business unit is part of a group of companies within the Africa region. We are the division that looks after the power market, mostly coal fired power stations. There is also a Middle East and Africa projects division which is where I come in and is responsible for all of Africa and the Middle East region for capital projects only,” he outlines.

“We execute all projects for customers on an EPC basis. From enquiry, we design and engineer solutions in house and then agree with the customer that our solution meets their requirement before moving to procurement and manufacturing. We have all manufacturing facilities within our group and we can manufacture all components that we consider our IP.”

LIFETIME VALUE

The engineering prowess within Howden’s operations is significant. The company provides design, manufacturing, installation, and commissioning services – a true end-to-end project offering – and is backed by aftersales support teams to ensure reliability throughout the lifecycle of any solution. This approach, honed through decades of work in deep mining environments, provides reliability and comfort to clients operating in some of the world’s toughest conditions.

“The rest is outsourced from well-established suppliers that we have worked with for many years. We then bring everything together and install the solution on customers sites, commissioning the plant before handing over to the customer for operations. In some cases, the customer will ask us for operational assistance, and we are happy to be involved through our after-market division which sits outside of this division. The idea is that we provide a full lifecycle support for the customer, and it has worked well for us over the years,” Nyangoni says.

The broader Howden business also includes key specialisms such as welding, through its ESAB business, and compressor maintenance via HACT. Both are critical to clients in mining, metal, oil and gas, and increasingly, LNG.

“We have a welding business unit called ESAB and that works well because it supplies welding consumables and welding products to our customers who are predominantly large mining and metal companies or oil and gas businesses,” Nyangoni explains. “We are also growing in the LNG market, and all of these customers are big into engineering and fabrication and they need welding equipment.”

TRUSTED SUPPLY CHAIN

Part of the company’s strength comes from its strong and deeply integrated supply chain, where 80% of manufacturing is outsourced to highly vetted partners who uphold the same quality, safety, and sustainability values.

“Firstly, they fully understand the Chart standards. This standard is a very complex and very involving standard which is at worst absolutely world-class. Everything we do is bespoke and customised. Everything is manufactured with special materials depending on the environment in which the equipment will operate,” says Nyangoni.

“The supply chain includes fully fledged engineering companies with their own design capacity, and we vet them extremely stringently. They must have ISO certifications, including 9001 and 14001, and they must demonstrate certification for energy conservation through 18001 and 50001 which integrates a number of ISO certifications.”

The standards are high, and the reasons are clear. Howden bears liability on many of its customer contracts and must therefore ensure that all components are delivered to the most exacting of requirements. It’s also about loyalty and financial reliability – partnerships must be long-term and robust.

“We are ever evolving as a business and our suppliers and partners must evolve with us.

“When we go to work on customer sites, we want to ensure that customers cannot tell who is a supplier to Howden or Chart – they must carry our identity. Therefore, their practice and behaviour is held to account.”

UNIQUE CAPABILITIES

What sets Howden apart is the sheer scale and sophistication of what it delivers – from deep underground to ultra-cold cryogenic environments. Whether it’s a mine cooling solution delivering tonnes of ice kilometres beneath the Earth’s surface, or a liquefaction plant in the Middle East, Howden Projects brings niche, best-in-class technology to every assignment.

“Chart brought to Howden, through acquisition, a suite of technologies which Howden did not have. That has enabled us to enter new markets. Chart talks about the nexus of clean; it is a business that engineers very complex solutions in everything clean energy, water, and air,” says Nyangoni.

“In our region, we are now able to supply liquefaction equipment for LNG. That is a market we did not play in before. We are going into cryogenics – storing gas at ultra-low temperatures – and again that technology comes from Chart and we can now offer in our region.

“We have just commissioned a mine cooling plant at the world’s deepest mine in South Africa. We are producing 100 tonnes of ice which is piped four km down the shaft where it melts with the cold water used to chill gas which is used for cooling the working surfaces. That is a special technology.”

These installations demand expertise across all engineering disciplines – structural, electrical, mechanical, control, and more. This deep bench of knowledge is a major differentiator.

“If you look at the specifications of the equipment, you might not believe the level of technicality involved.”

ENDURING EXPERIENCE

Howden Projects is no stranger to these challenges. Its 80-year African legacy means it is a familiar face across mine sites, power stations, and energy plants. This heritage creates a level of trust and collaboration that extends beyond the standard client-contractor relationship.

“We have an extensive footprint of equipment that we have installed for customers, and that puts us at the forefront of their mind as a credible and reliable partner. Part of the work we do is to help our customers with feasibility studies which results in specification of engineered solutions and more,” says Nyangoni.

“We are a partner to our customers, and we work on that principle every day. We are there to solve customer problems and help them deliver on their commitments, especially ESG which is so important in the mining industry. Wherever there is a need to move air, we are there.”

That commitment has made Howden Projects a go-to name when clients are seeking solutions for increasingly complex ESG challenges. Emissions control, temperature regulation, and safe operating environments are just some of the areas where the company excels.

GROWTH AHEAD

Looking to the future, Howden Projects has much to be excited about. With projects underway or planned across Mozambique, East, West, and Southern Africa, the business is poised to grow. LNG, gas transport, and storage solutions are set to become a major part of the business portfolio.

“The future looks great. Africa has huge potential to supply gas to western markets. We have big projects in Mozambique, and we have big projects coming up across East, West, and southern Africa. They are all related to natural gas, and this will be huge for our region. The technologies required for extraction, storage, transportation, and distribution is exactly what Chart brings to the table. We are very excited by that capability,” says Nyangoni.

And with talent, skills, and technology being shared globally across the Chart network, the African and Middle Eastern arm of the business is a powerful contributor to success across continents.

“Time and again we are called upon by business units in North America, Asia-Pacific, or Europe to provide support for our colleagues. We have completed many projects in Eastern and Central Europe and South America where we have collaborated on projects using Chart technology, sending engineers to execute projects alongside local colleagues. We occupy a very niche position within the group and our experience developed in South Africa is second to none.”

For customers in mining, energy, and infrastructure, the Howden name remains synonymous with trust, innovation, and engineering that delivers results – no matter how extreme the challenge.