The Dubai-based Hepworth PME Uponor Joint Venture, which manufactures polyethylene products, was recently awarded the prestigious BSI (British Standards Institute) Kite Mark, the first company in the Middle East to receive the recognition.

Hepworth PME has long been recognised as the Gulf's leading manufacturer of PVC-u pipes and fittings. Uponor is one of the world's leading manufacturers of polyethylene products for gas and water distribution. Together the two companies have entered into an agreement for Hepworth PME to manufacture, under licence, Uponor's polyethylene products in the UAE.

"The joint venture is intended to also establish Hepworth PME at the forefront of polyethylene pipe manufacture," says Tim Perkins, Hepworth PME Uponor's divisional manager for polyethylene products.

The use of polyethylene pipes is now recognised as the safest method for the distribution of both gas and water and also as the most practical and adaptable system in the world.

The Hepworth PME Uponor Joint Venture manufacturing plant in the UAE has been awarded both the ISO 4427 accreditation for their polyethylene products, pipes and fittings for use in the water industry and the ISO 4437 accreditation for their polyethylene products, pipes and fittings for use in the gas industry.

"The gas pipes we manufacture here in Dubai range from 25 millimetres to 315 millimetres in diameter and will be used extensively to bring gas to residential and commercial customers both in the UAE and in other GCC countries, said Perkins.

Ross Anderson, Hepworth PME's ME quality assurance manager, said: "The BSI Kite Mark is an even more prestigious form of accreditation than the basic ISO accreditation and is much harder to achieve than ISO accreditation. When it comes to gas pipes, the Hepworth PME Uponor Joint Venture is the only company in the Middle East to have obtained permission to use the BSI Kite Mark on its products."

The company's wide range of PVC-u products have been BSI-accredited for many years now.