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APL contracts ... the Mercedez Benz showroom and a hotel in Sukha, Dubai.
Arabian Profile Company Limited (APL) specialises in cladding material for both interior and exterior applications in the building industry.
Established in Sharjah as a subsidiary of the Gibca Group of Companies in 1984, its products range from single corrugated panels used in warehouses and sheds to high-quality stainless steel and solid aluminium panels.
Among the prestigious projects the company has been involved with is the Burj Al Arab where it supplied and installed 36,000 sq m of fire-rated GRP (glass-reinforced plastic) polypropylene (PP) honeycomb panels in the total central atrium and 6,000 sq m of structural composite steel deck.
"With GRP honeycomb panels, we can achieve three-dimensional intricate shapes. GRP offers a perfect solution for any size and shape due to its strength and ability to mould,'' says Jan Pieter Dozy, company sales manager. ''An example is the Emirates Training Centre where we built a complete mock-up of an Airbus A300-A310 and a Boeing 777 with interior fittings and galleys for the training of aircrew personnel.''
The company prides itself on its ability to develop new products and techniques and to customise its designs to client's requirements. It was the first company in the UAE to introduce profiled sheets, it says.
''The company's affiliation with the Gibca group and access to its subsidiaries enables it to offer complete solutions as most products are available in-house. This is a big advantage,'' Dozy points out. ''The company has been certified to ISO 9001 by Germanischer Lloyd - the first cladding company in the UAE to get the quality certification.
"Our ability to execute jobs away from the ordinary and our high quality and reliability are the major reasons behind our success - the list of prestigious projects we have undertaken proves this.''
Besides the Burj Al Arab, the company's list of prestigious ongoing/completed projects include:
Other projects include the Sahara Center Sharjah (under construction) and Sharjah Airport, both in Sharjah; VIP pavilion at Dubai Airport and the Mercedes Benz and Nissan showrooms, in Dubai; Manar Mall Shopping Centre and Ras Al Khaimah Cement Factory, in Ras Al Khaimah; and water transmission lines, Abu Dhabi Ship Building Phase I and 229 villas in Shahama (where it has supplied 140,000 sq m of roofs in aluminium tile profile), all in Abu Dhabi.
Arabian Profile also produces fire-rated panels (certified by Lloyds) for offshore applications, having supplied them to rigs in the North Sea, Far East and Arabian Gulf.
The company, which also manufactures cold store panels, has supplied and installed 35,000 sq m of these panels to the Al Ain Dates Factory.
"Our market is not just limited to the UAE, we also export to GCC and the rest of the world,'' he says.
Arabian Profile has been involved in projects such as power plants in Vietnam and Qatar, a textile factory in Sri Lanka, military camps for the Indian Army and a 25,000 sq m turnkey industrial development in Casablanca, Morocco.
"We see good potential for ourselves in doing special projects with the unique architectural styles coming up in the UAE. Competition is tough but people now recognise innovation and quality.
"Our manufacturing facility is one of the largest in its field in the UAE which enables us to take up challenging projects like the Nad Al Sheba project,'' says Dozy.
