ACE (Architects & Consulting Engineers) was founded in 1983. Previously, the owners had been partners/ directors in UNICONSULT MIDDLE EAST (UME), a consulting firm which was founded in 1969 and was dissolved some time after 1983. In those 14 year, UME was involved in a large number of projects mainly in Syria and also in other Arab countries. The main reason for dissolving UME was a policy of the Syrian Government which was adopted in the early eighties and lasted till 1987. At that time the government established its own engineering consultancy firms and decided to commission said firms with almost all government and public sector design and supervision works. Private sector work was also scarce at the time.