What is interesting about the $200,000 design order is that the facility has to be designed as a green building/environment friendly building, a new concept there.

Says Kshitij Limaye, director, Sankalpan Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, "As a group we understand thoroughly BPO building requirements: multiple access points, seating space and others. The challenge here is to design the interiors so that the building qualifies to Gold Leed (leadership in energy and environmental design) Certification."

To get that rating, the materials used for interiors and other fixtures should have highest recycled component, be low in power and water consumption, must use eco-friendly paints etc.  "A lot of research was involved in selecting the materials that are eco friendly while planning the interiors."

For instance, to save on water usage, the building will be fitted with waterless urinals. "In a 15 second flush system around 1.6 gallons of water are let out each time the flush is used. On an average a person uses the office toilet thrice in a day and the total water usage comes to 4.8 gallons per person per day. In the case of BPO facilities where thousands of people work round the clock the water saving, if used efficiently, would be enormous."

According to Limaye, the company's primary focus now is on completing the ABN AMRO project successfully. "We will later look at other opportunities in the Middle East countries. Currently the company has put six people to work on the project, which will be increased to 20 later on."

In India the Rs 60 crore Sankalpan group, which is mainly into design consulting and turnkey projects, is expanding its footprint as well as getting into new areas such as hotels, real estate development and facility management.

According to chairman Ninad Randive, the group is talking with an international hotel chain for building a star hotel in Mumbai. "We have acquired the required land. The hotel will be managed by our proposed joint venture partner." The group is also in talks with a US-based facility management company for a joint venture.

The group is in the process of expanding its southern presence. It has bagged a $2 million interior fit-out turnkey project from Cognizant Technology Solutions, which is setting up a 700 seat facility in a special economic zone (SEZ) near Chennai. "For us Chennai would be the hub for all our southern business operations and we would be concentrating on such other cities as Coimbatore, Kochi, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, where IT parks and retail infrastructure are fast growing," says Randive.

According to him the group is in talks with couple of overseas equity funds for money so that it can get into real estate development in a big way.