CONFIDENCE seems to be returning to the market, states the UAE-based Belhasa Projects (BHP), which has witnessed a surge in orders booked during the past three months.

“Major orders secured in 2008 took us through 2009 and the first half of this year and we were anticipating a drop in business by the end of 2010 and 2011 but the market seems to be picking up. From a sales perspective, our Aquascapes division has had a record quarter, though margins have been squeezed,” says Greg Garner, CEO, Belhasa Projects.

Established three decades ago in the UAE, Belhasa Projects has been the market leader in swimming pools. Its Aquascapes division, with an in-house team of designers and engineers, specialises in the design and building of swimming pools, water features, lagoons, fountains, waterfalls, aqua parks, saunas, steam rooms, Jacuzzis as well as hard and soft landscaping.

“Our team works closely with the clients and comes up with design to suit their requirements as well as guiding them through all the phases of the customised project,” says Garner. “We offer a full consultation and design service and manage the project from start to finish.”

Soft landscaping services include earthmoving and soil amelioration, planting of shrubs, trees, succulents, ground covers, grass, climbers, palms, seeding and turfing, mulching. Hard landscaping capabilities include paved surfaces, play equipment, lighting, timber and theming works.

The division has recently secured a project worth millions of dollars on The Palm Jumeirah. “We are designing and providing a complete solution to turn a piece of reclaimed land into a hotel paradise,” he says.

BHP’s facilities management arm Belcare works closely with the Aquascape division and provides complete management and maintenance on both residential and commercial properties. The company also has an equine division to look after pools for both horses and camels. It also supplies race rails, stabling and other equine ancillaries.

BHP’s Sports and Coatings division is an international FIFA and ATP Tour-approved contractor for all types of sports surfaces and specialist coatings and has worked on a number of major, prestigious stadium projects. Its most recent high-profile project was for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

It is currently involved with a number of large projects, mainly in Abu Dhabi, including Al Zeinat residential project, involving external coatings.

BHP has an in-house MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) division, whose growing reputation has seen it doing more third-party projects.

Actioncrete, another BHP division, has been a part of the company’s activities since its early beginnings, operating in the specialised field of concrete repair and treatment. The division’s services span a wide range of projects and the treatments available can be used in a wide variety of settings, including custom-built structures such as the fort near Hatta.

BHP’s newest division – infrastructure – is engaged in wet infrastructure, that is water treatment, sewerage works, industrial waste treatment and water desalination. It is currently involved with various projects in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. These include sewerage treatment works in Qatar and Abu Dhabi and also a district cooling scheme in Abu Dhabi.

Although BHP is divided into divisions running as stand-alone operations, they often come together and function as a single unit for major projects.

“Our strength lies in our diversity. We do MEP works, pipe works, engineering works and we have utilised all of this experience in the infrastructure division. We are doing total turnkey design for large-scale infrastructure works,” says Garner.

Commenting on the company’s plans, he says: “After three successful decades in the UAE, we are now focusing on enhancing awareness about the company across the GCC. We need to raise the profile of the company as to who we are and what we do not just in the backyard but also further afield.

“We have done very well on the back of Dubai’s past success. We have been very successful in Qatar for infrastructure jobs. We are now exploring possibilities and opportunities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and are also talking to people in Saudi Arabia.”

Belhasa is also in the process of rebranding its vehicles and is launching a new interactive website. The company currently have different logos for each of the divisions but soon that will be standardised to one corporate logo.