PASCHAL Concrete Forms, the regional office of the German formwork specialist Paschal-Werk G Maier, has seen a 22 per cent increase in turnover over the past year and is optimistic of an uptrend in the market.

“Business has been very good especially since summer, with a lot of projects coming up in Bahrain. Our rental business, in particular, has been booming with 100 per cent of our rental stock currently out in the market,” says Amir Delghandi, general director of Paschal Concrete Forms, adding that the company may need to increase its stock if demand continues to rise.

The Bahrain-based company now also offers slab formwork on a rental basis. “Our Paschal Deck slab formwork is very economical. It is becoming popular especially as many projects are being built using post-tensioned slabs with larger spans and flat slabs with fewer drop beams.”

The company continues to bid for a number of projects in Bahrain including the King Hamad General Hospital extension and is currently supplying its formwork solutions to new and existing clients for several projects in Bahrain.

Among the new contractors it has added to its client list are KMC Contracting, which is building the Wadi Al Sail Mall in Hamad Town and Hassan Al Ansari Contracting, the contractor on Q-House 3, a residential tower in Juffair.

Work on the basement plus two-storey Wadi Al Sail Mall is currently at the ground floor stage. Paschal’s modular panels were used for the basement retaining wall and are being used for rectangular columns while its circular column formwork, in diameters of 70, 80, 90, 100 and 120 cm, will shape the mall’s circular columns.

Paschal’s modular panels are also being utilised for the columns and core wall, while its Paschal Deck system with H20 beam will be used for slabs for Q-House 3, work on which has reached the first floor level.

Other projects using the company’s modular panels are the Wyndham Grand Manama hotel at Bahrain Bay, where contractor Ahmed Qaed Contractors has shaped the columns and the core wall with the formwork; the boundary wall for 293 townhouses in Hunainiya, Riffa, for the Ministry of Housing, which is being built by Atlas Transport, Mechanical and Construction; and an Isa Town mixed-use development, being built by Olympic Contracting.

Providing details of the Isa Town mixed-use development, Salinraj Kunnummal, technical manager at Paschal Concrete Forms, says: “The project comprises 15 six-storey buildings. The basement is a dedicated car-parking space, with two spaces allocated for each apartment, covering a total built-up area of 22,256 sq m. The ground floor will feature showrooms and retail spaces, with a total area of 5,639 sq m. The upper five floors will contain 316 apartments. Work has reached the third-floor level.”

Meanwhile for the Fontana Tower Two in Juffair for Kooheji Contractors, Paschal has introduced an innovative dismantling corner – the first project to use the system in Bahrain, according to Salinraj. The project, previously known as Vision Tower, is using Paschal modular panels with special dismantling corners for the core wall, as well as the Paschal Deck system with H2O beam for the slabs.

“With this new dismantling corner, the whole internal formwork of the core wall can be dismantled by turning in the clockwise direction a hexagonal nut at the upper side of the inside corner post and lifted in a single crane operation,” he says. “Turning the hexagonal nut in the anti-clockwise direction pushes the formwork back to the right position before concreting.”

Paschal systems are also employed on two other projects being built by Kooheji Contractors, namely the Spring Hills One and Two in Juffair, where modular panels are being used for the columns and core walls and Paschal slab panel are used for the slabs; and the bachelor enlisted quarters in Mina Salman, which will also use the two systems.

Other Paschal projects in Bahrain include a nine-storey building in Umm Al Hassam, being built by Fundament SPC; and a proposed 20-storey building in Juffair, where the contractor is Zinj Transport.

Paschal entered the Bahrain market in 1983 when it made the first ever delivery of its formwork to the country. Following this order, 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.

Paschal Concrete Forms moved into its purpose-built premises in June 2010 at the Bahrain International Investment Park (BIIP) in Hidd. With a production facility for modular formwork and a stockyard in Bahrain, branches in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE and sales agents in Iraq and its Scientific and Technical Office in Dammam, Paschal is strongly represented in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.