Aluminium systems supplier Reynaers Middle East (ME) has declared that its main thrust in the Middle East is Saudi Arabia, where some of the largest projects have been announced including Jubail Industrial City-2, the Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mousaed Economic City in Hail and the King Abdullah City near Jeddah.
The company expects to quote for Saudi projects through Riyadh-based National Aluminium Factory (Nafco), one of the leading fabricators in Saudi Arabia with a long tradition of supplying major projects in the region.
Reynaers ME supplies aluminium profiles and accessories, also providing technical support and back-up solutions. The company develops the systems, which are locally sourced for the Middle East area at Al Tayseer in Riyadh. “We have an agreement with Al Tayseer to extrude Reynaers profiles. We are a high-quality aluminium systems supplier and the only one in the field that provides a 10-year warranty,” says Ali Khalaf, managing director of Reynaers Middle East. The company is based in Bahrain and was established in October 2004 as a joint venture between Khalaf and Belgium-headquartered Reynaers Aluminium.
It plans to open a sales office in Saudi Arabia to capitalise on opportunities opening up following a tremendous inflow of wealth from high oil prices in recent months, greater diversification of industries and the launch of construction projects for residential apartments, hotels and leisure facilities, malls and offices.
Reynaers Middle East has sales offices in Dubai and Amman, Jordan, indicating the potential it sees in the Gulf and its neighbourhood. Although the company is merely two years’ old, it has made a mark in the Gulf as a provider of aluminium architectural systems for the construction industry.
“In 2006 we achieved the full-year target by the end of June itself. Since the Saudi market is the largest in the GCC region, we expect in the coming years to be able to supply a few hundred tonnes per year of material in the kingdom,” says Khalaf.
“We’re confident we will be successful in that market, particularly after we supplied to a prestigious project in Qatar – a 300 m high Sport City Tower in Doha, which is hosting the Asian Games this year. The Games’ torch housed at the top of the tower will be the cynosure of all eyes at the opening and closing ceremonies.
“Reynaers provided a complete solution for the facade. We designed the aluminium profiles to suit the project and architectural requirements. This will raise our profile considerably,” says Khalaf with a touch of pun.
With its involvement in the Doha tower and having completed several prestigious tower projects elsewhere in the Gulf and beyond, Reynaers ME is confident it has the experience to undertake prestigious projects in Saudi Arabia, which it is sure will come its way sooner or later.
“The Doha tower will open the doors to many high-rise projects in the region,” says Khalaf. The company is in the process of supplying to several medium-high structures in Qatar. In Bahrain, it won contracts for three towers in the Seef area, all between 18 and 25 storeys. One of these it has completed, another is three-fourths complete while work on the third is due to begin soon. The company was also involved in a 20-storey residential building near Manama’s Marina Club.
In other Bahrain projects, it completed work on sports clubs Rifaa and Shabab, the Alayam newspaper head-quarters and the Muharraq Municipality Building. For the Talal Island project Reynaers secured a contract for more than 90 per cent of the work requirements.
Elsewhere, it has worked on towers in Kuwait including Al-Kazimy, Rasha and Zaina. In the UAE, it supplied Al Tawoon Tower in Sharjah and the University of Ajman. Outside the Gulf, the company has supplied to the Mall of Damascus in Syria and is due to supply material soon for a project in Sudan.
Before Reynaers Middle East was established, Reynaers had supplied a few projects in Dubai in the early 1980s and large palaces in Riyadh and Dhahran, the material coming directly from Reynaers’ head office in Belgium.
