Qanbar Dywidag Precast Concrete Company (QDC) has supplied to a slew of prestigious projects in recent months, reinforcing its prominent role in Saudi Arabia's precast concrete industry.

These projects, completed in 2008-09, included Aramco's Khurais and Khursaniyah gas plants and Sheba substations as well as the Sahara petrochemical project in Jubail, the first phase of Sabic's housing projects in Jubail,  the Sara housing projects in Al Khobar and industrial support facilities in Khursaniyah.

QDC has three factories in Saudi Arabia, of which two are in Jubail and one is in Rabigh. The Jubail plants serve the Eastern and Central provinces and the Rabigh plant the Western Province. Total annual capacity of the Jubail plants is 250,000 cu m while that of the Rabigh plant is 200,000 cu m.

As a specialised precast concrete manufacturing company its scope of work includes the design, manufacturing, delivery and installation of precast and prestressed concrete components in accordance with international standards and specifications based on the American standards PCI (Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute) and ACI (American Concrete Institute) or BS (British Standard).

Comprehensive range
"Qanbar Dywidag provides a comprehensive range of products, offering basically a one-stop-shop for all precast and prestressed concrete requirements," says marketing manager Ahmad Sameh. The product offerings range from normal precast concrete elements to standard products such as paving and interlock tiles, manhole covers, external cladding panels, hollowcore slabs, double tee slabs, precast domes, prestressed long-span girders, wall frames, beams and column frames and boundary walls.

The company’s office building  in Jubail

Sameh said products contributing most to the turnover were walls, hollow core slabs and double tee slabs. The official commented that the precast concrete industry was vast and enjoyed great acceptability in the construction market as the items facilitated speedy completion, provided an aesthetic finish and enjoyed zero maintenance.

Current projects
The company is currently involved in several housing projects including those of RC Housing (Jubail), Sabic (phases two and three in Jubail and two-storey villas in Yanbu), Maaden (Ras Az Zour) and Agoc (Khafji).

Other projects it is currently working on include those of King Faisal University (Al Hassa and Dammam), King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (Riyadh) and At Taiba University (Al Madina Al Munnawara).

"Demand for precast has risen incredibly over the years. The private and government sectors, realising its benefits, prefer precast for their present and future buildings," Sameh observed.

"We have plans in terms of products and capacity expansion and these cannot be revealed at the moment."
QDC operates under the umbrella of Abdulrazzak Mohammed Qanbar Al Ansari Holding Company. Also coming under the holding firm are Qanbar Readymix and Qanbar Steetley, leading readymix suppliers in the Eastern, Central and Western provinces.