Bahrain Precast Concrete Company, (BPC) the first in the kingdom to design, produce and erect precast components, has witnessed severe ups and downs in recent years through circumstances beyond its control but has nevertheless received purchase orders for its much-acclaimed products.

The company, whose main shareholders are the Haji Hassan Group and HSBC Private Equity, has capability to manufacture and supply all types of precast concrete components including but not limited to facade elements, precast hollowcore slabs, beams, columns, boundary walls, staircases and the precast building system.

BPC general manager Michael Pedersen termed the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 a “golden time” as the order book overflowed. Clients’ requirements were met simply by expanding the factory and stockyard within the Haji Hassan Group compound.

From mid-2008 the market started experiencing volatility from unrealistic escalation of raw material prices, particularly steel, recalled Pedersen. There was also the financial crunch from mid-2008, reaching its peak in the following year. However, BPC did not experience many suspensions or terminations of orders during this period.

Pedersen: severe challenges

“By end-2010, the market again started showing positive signs of recovery and BPC was overstressed with too many inquiries and it bagged two good projects. The company heaved a sigh of relief but the positive feeling was short-lived as from early 2011 Bahrain experienced political unrest. This has completely changed Bahrain’s positive market scenario,” said Pedersen.

However, that is not to say BPC was idle. In fact it is currently implementing a host of projects, among which the following are in an advanced stage:

• Parc-Ferme Building in the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) area:  This is a two-storey precast building that BPC has designed and produced. It is now erecting load-bearing walls, columns, beams, staircases and hollowcore slabs of 150, 200 and 265 mm thickness.

• Precast buildings for the Interior Ministry in various areas: BPC has designed, produced and is now erecting precast elements including precast load bearing walls and hollowcore slabs for a number of office buildings of the ministry.

• Hala Star: This is a 21-storey residential building in Juffair.  Approximately 7,000 sq m of 150, 200 and 265 mm thick hollowcore slabs and 150 mm thick fin panels are to be supplied.

• Fakhru Building: A 21-storey building near Dana Mall. The company’s products include 2,042 sq m of precast fins and a total of 3,672 sq m of hollowcore slabs.

• Pergola and boundary wall, Jau: BPC is involved in the design, production, delivery and installation of precast elements for the Pergola area and a boundary wall.

• Hollowcore slabs: BPC is also supplying hollowcore slabs for houses put up by the Ministry of Housing, buildings for Labour Camps coming up in Askar and the National Theatre near the National Museum among other buildings.

Some of the major projects it completed recently were the Drag Race Tower within the BIC area; GSE Building, Muharraq; a 23-storey building in Hoora; copings for the National Assembly near the Marina Club; Precast structure systems (PSS) for a 24-storey twin tower building in Seef; Toyota car parks in Arad and Tubli; PSS for a 15-storey office building in Seef, and the Ali Kanoo Health Centre, Nuwaidirat.

Fakhru Building is receiving Bahrain Precast inputs

Production facilities

BPC has state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment for precast concrete elements including 12 hollowcore beds, each of 150 m length with production capacity of 2,500 sq m per day; extruders and cutting machines for 150, 200, 265, 320, 400 and 500 mm hollowcore slabs from Elematic, Finland, who are pioneers in precast machinery, and 48 casting tables for cladding panels, inner walls, boundary walls and other precast elements. BPC has its own batching and mixing plant for production of concrete for captive use.

The facilities include a large well-equipped stockyard with gantry cranes, a fully fledged laboratory for testing concrete and precast products, a fleet of trailers and trucks for transporting precast elements to site and a fleet of mobile cranes of various capacities for the erection of elements at site.

BPC has a group of trained sales engineers, designers, precast craftsmen and precast erectors numbering 400.

“With its experience of over 33 years in Bahrain, BPC is able to handle any type of precast work,” said Pedersen.

Quality considerations

Quality management at BPC covers the entire gamut of operations. BPC product quality is proven to be far better in the bending test conducted at designed load and ultimate load. This was also confirmed in a recent load test conducted to show that BPC’s hollowcore slabs were complying to British standards and specifications required by Bahrain’s Ministry of Housing. The test was conducted in the presence of the ministry’s officials. No deformity or cracks were observed at ultimate load. No collapse of the slab occurred even at a load 27 per cent over and above the ultimate load.

As a special service, BPC offers a full Quality Control Report for individual projects consisting of casting dates, cube test and other quality checks. This service is agreed with the sales department.

To maintain quality levels at all times, the company continuously trains and develops its employees through in-house as well as external training programmes.

BPC continuously updates its products and today has the widest range in the region. It recently added the Precast Structure System and Precast Building System which BPC claims makes it the first in the Gulf and probably in the Middle East to introduce such systems.

In the wake of its Bahrain success, the company set up operations in Dubai (1993), Abu Dhabi (2002) and Qatar (also in 2002).

“BPC does not act merely as a supplier of quality precast concrete elements but also works with consultants and main contractors as a partner, providing precast solutions for their requirements,” said Pedersen. “It acts as a partner in the projects, provides precast solutions in place of conventional construction and increases awareness of precast concrete products by interacting with consultants, contractors and the university faculty.”

BPC has so far limited its sales to the Bahrain market except for occasional exports of hollowcore slabs to Saudi Arabia. Precast concrete products are bulky, heavy, normally tailor-made and need special packaging and handling for long-distance delivery. This makes the product uneconomical for long distance travelling and hence the export of these products is not a common practice, the company explained.

Discussing challenges he company faces, Pedersen said: “Bahrain is a small market with about eight precast manufacturers. This creates unhealthy competition among them. Most of the basic material used in precast concrete products is not available and has to be imported. That makes the precast product costlier.

“The present political situation is not conducive for the precast industry and may take some time to improve. Political and geographical conditions many times come in the way of free and smooth movement of material from the source to Bahrain. Sometimes we face a shortage of cement and aggregates. This results in a construction slowdown of all running projects and reduction of production volumes in the precast industry.”