AP Valletta

AP Valletta is an award-winning architecture and design practice located in Valletta, Malta, which provides architectural, engineering, interior design and valuation services.

Founded in 1991, AP Valletta consists of a multinational and multi-disciplinary team of architects and other professionals. Over the years it has completed a range of projects and achieved considerable success in local and international design competitions.

AP Valletta has a diverse portfolio that includes urban landscapes, office buildings, residential buildings, retail and hospitality, industrial infrastructure, and cultural buildings.

The team of AP Valletta consists of around 50 professionals including design architects, structural engineers, interior designers, conservation architects, a historical researcher, and contract administrators.

AP Valletta’s vision is to create an architecture that is a place-maker, a container of meaning, a catalyst for the creation of kinship, a fabricator of myth, and a producer of narratives.

Industry:

Architecture and Design

Certification date:

13/10/2017

Challenge

AP Valletta underwent a challenging restructuring process in 2016. After being active for 25 years, a strategic change in direction was envisaged, which included attaining ISO 9001 Quality Management certification, as part of the growth and development goals of the company.

It succeeded in being certified within a year after engaging STEP, who guided the practice through the rigorous process to certification. The company obtained excellent results in the external audit and was certified by Dimitto.

ISO certification supports AP Valletta’s management team in its goals of keeping operations on track and using best practices to ensure that the design team is well supported and that its clients are best served. Certification also confers a competitive edge when submitting bids for design competitions and tenders.

Approach

AP Valletta worked hard with the support of STEP to create a documented process from its original management systems to what is required to reach the standards that are expected from a practice that qualifies for ISO 9001 certification.

It is important, that as an architecture and design practice, AP Valletta remains true to its goals, priorities and needs, which ISO processes support. It is not a one-size-fits-all but ensures that the sector’s needs are properly addressed.

AP Valletta has now been certified for four years and the process keeps evolving to ensure that we are developing according to both internal and external environments that influence our growth and development.

Outcome

David Felice (Executive Director):

It is not straightforward for a design firm which thrives on creativity to embark on an ISO certification process. But STEP understood our business and its uniqueness, what we already had and what was important for us to change.

They worked closely with us to improve our management systems and made sure we met all the requirements of the Standard. Their advice was valuable but practical, without imposing new and cumbersome processes. AP Valletta achieved the requirements without sacrificing the flexibility so essential in our specific business environment.

Our management system is stronger and we moved smoothly through the audit with excellent results which we are proud of.

“STEP was extremely supportive in the initial year to facilitate any changes in our
systems and processes to become ISO 9001 certified.

It has now been more than three years since this initial step (excuse the pun) and as their name suggests, we have found tremendous cooperation whenever required, and we always look forward to our annual audit that so far always indicated positive developments in our management systems for AP Valletta”
Davinia GaleaDirector of Management