BAHRAIN-based Paschal Concrete Forms Company continues to meet the challenges posed by the region’s construction sector, helping civil contractors meet demanding on-site concreting requirements and project deadlines.

Just recently, the firm – which is the regional office of Germany-based Paschal Werk, a renowned global formwork manufacturer – helped Ahmed Qaed Contractors tackle some of the challenges it faced in the construction of the four-level basement of a tower at Bahrain Bay, a prime waterfront development taking shape in the heart of Manama, Bahrain.

As the tower has four basement levels, the contractor had to excavate to a depth of 17 m.

“So for the first time in Bahrain,” says Amir Delghandi, the general director of Paschal Concrete Forms, “Paschal supplied its modular formwork with special supporting jacks for casting 4-m-deep lift pit and 260 m of single-side retaining walls for each basement. In addition, Paschal formwork was used for the construction of columns, lift shafts, shear wall and ramp.”

The contractor completed for all vertical structures in just 10 days, he adds.

Another exceptional project that Paschal has handled during the past year was the construction of the biggest ground storage reservoir (GSR) tank in Bahrain.

Under a contract awarded by Bahrain’s Electricity and Water Authority (EWA), leading local contracting firm Ahmed Mansoor Al A’ali (AMA) is working on a pumping station, which involves construction of a GSR tank, an elevated storage reservoir (ESR) tank, a chlorination building, a substation and a guardhouse.

The GSR tank, which has a capacity of 23.5 million litres, was constructed using Paschal modular formwork.

Elaborating on its construction, Paschal Concrete’s technical manager Salinraj Kunnummal says: “The rectangular reinforced concrete structure measures 51.53 m by 63.4 m and has a depth of 9 m. A total of 1,393 cu m of concrete and 278.6 tonnes of rebar has gone into the construction of the GSR tank.”

The elevated tank, on the other hand, has a capacity of 6.5 million litres and is basically a circular steel tank with a diameter of 23 m. It is supported on a 22.5-m concrete pedestal that has been erected using trapezoidal girder formwork supplied by Paschal on a rental basis.

“The trapezoidal girder formwork, which has a steel surface, enables the formwork diameter to be adjusted to the nearest millimetre, ensuring a consistent radius and high accuracy in construction. These panels have a height of 3 m. The inner diameter of the shaft is 7.8 m while the outer diameter is 9 m. We supplied a total of 158.25 sq m of formwork for the ESR tank,” says Kunnummal.

The trapezoidal formwork system – used for the first time on a structural project in Bahrain – can cast circular concrete structures of any diameter including water tanks, shafts and silos, and has been used primarily in Europe, Delghandi adds.

In addition, to these two projects, other ongoing projects in Bahrain using Paschal formwork are a 22-storey building in Juffair, Bapco waste water treatment plant, and United Steel Company (Sulb) project, which are being built by Poullaides Construction Company; the Qatar Embassy, ambassador residence and consulate building, and the corporate office building for Gulf Corporation for Technology (GCT) in Juffair, by Kooheji Contractors; a Sulb project by Amana Kooheji Contractors; a US navy expansion project at Mina Salman, by Contrack-Nass JV; strengthening of the rotary coke cooler foundation at Alba, by Bullivant Arabia; 230 houses in Jidhafs, 232 houses in Malkiya, Hamad Town Girls High School, a data centre in Gudaibiya for the Ministry of Education, Bahrain women’s incubator centre in A’ali, and a project for Bahrain National Holding (BNH) in Sanad, by Aradous Construction; and a six-storey building in Hoora, by GP Zachariades.

Paschal provides world-class formwork products and services to civil contractors for the construction of concrete structures involving any degree of complexity.

The company – like many others in the construction sector in the region – was hit by the global financial crisis, and experienced a sharp drop in turnover during 2009 and 2010. However, the astute business strategy Paschal adopted during the crisis has helped it tide over this difficult period and in 2011 the company managed to surpass its turnover figures for 2010.

Delghandi explains that because of the financial crisis, banks were reluctant to lend to developers and contractors. “Since our products are capital goods, many civil contractors were faced with a liquidity crunch to invest in buying these assets. We, therefore, decided to expand our rental inventory to enable contractors to hire our products and services,” he says.

Paschal Concrete has, therefore, expanded its rental park – which stocks its modular formwork, supporting jacks for single-side walls, and the trapezoidal system for circular walls – at its purpose-built premises at Hidd. The 3,200-sq-m covered facility, which covers an area of 5,600 sq m at the Bahrain International Investment Park (BIIP), was built to enable the company to meet demand for formwork in Bahrain and provide an enhanced service to customers in the region. Paschal has been operating from this new office since June 2010, where it employs a staff 21 including a sales and technical team that provides technical support to contractors.

“Our main objective is to provide clients with more efficient technical and economical solutions and give contractors an opportunity to reduce their overheads,” he states.

Delghandi believes the Bahrain market has huge potential for development in terms of infrastructure, industrial and housing projects. The government can play a pivotal role in spurring the construction sector by releasing new projects, which will encourage the private sector to invest further in the country, he says.

“In the last quarter of 2011, we have seen a huge demand for our products and services; and with the launching of new tenders, we believe 2012 will usher in a period of recovery for many business establishments in Bahrain,” he adds.

Delghandi says that the recession faced by the Gulf’s construction industry has bottomed out. “There are indications that many projects are in the pipeline for Bahrain and other Gulf countries. Some major projects in Bahrain include the Muharraq sewage treatment plant, Mina Salman flyover, housing projects in various locations, the Four Seasons hotel and many other developments in Bahrain Bay as well as Diyar Al Muharraq and Amwaj Islands,” he says.

Paschal stepped into the Bahraini market in 1983 when it made its first ever delivery of formwork to the country. Since then, Paschal Werk served several other prestigious projects in Bahrain and neighbouring countries. Due to the growing demand for formwork in the region, Paschal Concrete Forms was established in 1998 in Bahrain, followed by branch offices in Dubai and later in Abu Dhabi, which serve the local market directly.