Fares Saghbini, Managing Director of USG Boral ME.
USG Boral ME, the renowned manufacturer of interior finishing products, has begun production of metal ceiling panels from its Dammam factory in Saudi Arabia, the newest and latest plant for metal ceiling in the region for the past 5 years. The move marks a major expansion of the company’s product portfolio, which comprises plasterboard, ceiling lining systems and accessories.
The new products, which are considered an enlargement for the USG Boral ME ceiling tiles portfolio, will be unveiled in the region at The Big 5 show in Dubai beginning today.
Fares Saghbini, Managing Director of USG Boral ME said: “The annual growth of demand for interior finishing products in GCC is 25.6 percent with a value of $8.87bn from the projects likely to be completed over 2016. Currently, there are more than 10,000 projects under construction or in planning stage in the GCC, while the estimated value of construction projects that will be completed in the next decade is $1.4 trillion. Therefore, this expansion is a much needed step to meet those increasing demands.”
“Our new high-quality and cost-efficient aluminum alloy and steel ceiling systems, are targeted at commercial and institutional interiors-residential excluded-,enhancing the aesthetic and functional value of these interiors since they provide virtually unlimited design possibilities for applications ranging from banks to corporate offices, shopping malls, and as well as airports.”
The systems meet several industry standards including ASTM E119 for fire tests of building construction and materials; ASTM C423-99 for test method for sound absorption and sound absorption coefficients by the reverberation room method; and ASTM E84 for fire hazard classification, among others.
Also, contributing to energy savings and thus to Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certification program for green buildings (LEED), these systems are being manufactured with high recycled content (HRC) and offer a light reflectance performance of LR-1, incompliance with ASTM Standards.
Saudi Arabia, with $52.5bn worth of various construction projects currently under way, is the biggest interiors market with a 43 percent share, estimated at $3.57bn – it is estimated that spending on interior finishing items will grow by 13.7percent by 2017.
The second-largest interiors and fit-out market valued at $37.2bn and representing 31 percent of the market share is the UAE. The home furnishings market in the UAE is forecast to reach $1.63bn in 2015, according to research company Euromonitor International, compared to $1.58bn in 2014. Qatar is in third place with currently $22.7bn worth of projects due to be completed, while the interiors and fit-out sector had an estimated value at over $1.3bn during 2014, and it is expected to grow further, especially because of the projects revolving around the 2022 World Cup.
USG Boral ME is the only manufacturer to provide a full ceiling system in the middle east, backed by a team of professionals available around the clock to provide support to customers, right from the early stages of design up to the hand-over of a project.
