Henkel Polybit, a leading manufacturer of waterproofing products and allied construction chemicals, has reported increased regional demand for its products with 40 per cent growth in 2007.

The company - a joint venture between Germany’s Henkel KGaA and the UAE’s Polybit Industries - has also revealed its plans for further investment in the region with the opening of two new manufacturing facilities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

“The current dynamic environment of investment and development in the Middle East, with the increasing demand for building adhesives and insulation solutions, is fuelling our phenomenal growth.  The UAE in particular is a key focus for us,” said Henkel’s executive vice-president Alois Linder.

“We have achieved significant success since launching our joint venture operation in 2006, exceeding all initial expectations. By leveraging Polybit’s 20 years of local knowledge and experience, we have been able to create maximum awareness and demand for Henkel’s global product portfolio throughout the region.”

Recent new business wins for the company encompass the installation of the world’s largest parquet flooring for the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai and a world-leading thermal insulation solution for the Palm Jumeirah’s Atlantis Hotel.

“This is the largest parquet job in the world and equivalent to covering 18 football pitches. We competed against a host of the world’s best adhesive producers and have been awarded the Burj Dubai contract to supply the full substrate preparation and adhesives for an impressive 92,000 square metres of flooring,” said Henkel Polybit’s chairman Mohammed Salem Mohammed Al Melehy.

In addition to the Burj Dubai project, Henkel Polybit had also been awarded an AED 2.6 million contract to supply and apply the external thermal insulation for the façade of the Atlantis Hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah. 

The company was given the contract, which is currently executed utilising Henkel’s External Insulation Façade System (EIFS), after demonstrating the aesthetic and functional superiority of the system compared to other market solutions.

“Henkel Polybit is the only GCC company able to offer full thermal and waterproofing encapsulations for entire buildings, starting from the foundations to the walls and the roof itself, and we are committed to providing sustainability and safe energy solutions,” added Melehy.

“These solutions are vital to increasing energy efficiencies of buildings and decreasing the environmental impact of carbon emissions, in line with the January 2008 ‘Green Building’ initiative of Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai.”
In answer to increasing regional demand for its products, Henkel Polybit has opened a new construction chemicals manufacturing facility in Dammam, Saudi Arabia this month, which will produce waterproofing membranes and thermal insulation products.  

Construction is also currently underway on an additional powder adhesives plant in Abu Dhabi.  The company provides training to enhance the skill base of its workforce and will open a new dedicated training and education facility in Dubai in 2009. – TradeArabia News Service