As Kuwait Carpentry Workshops (KCW) nears the golden jubilee of its partnership with Ahmadiah Contracting and Trading Company, it looks forward to strengthening the long-standing partnership and expanding its operations further.

KCW identifies itself as a leading manufacturer and contractor of carpentry and joinery works, wooden residential and office furniture, interior decoration works, custom-made furniture, wall panelling, wooden decorative ceilings and floorings. The company also manufactures prefabricated buildings to various specifications to be used as offices, beach houses or labour camps.
KCW first worked with Ahmadiah in 1956 on an intermediate and secondary school project in Shuwaikh, and since then the two companies have worked together on various other developments, the most recent being the Marina Mall in Salmiya.
Says managing director Antonios Sarkis: “We find Ahmadiah technically strong in all aspects. It has established a good reputation for completing some high-quality projects. The staff at Ahmadiah have always remained very co-operative and helpful to us ensuring that the projects are completed on time. The company focuses on the timely completion of the projects and achieving the best possible specifications.”
KCW has established a niche for itself in the manufacture of custom-made furniture, according to Sarkis.
“Though we face competition from imported products in the standard furniture market, we are well-placed in the custom-made furniture section,” he says.
“Business has been booming – until recently – with major orders from Iraq, primarily for portacabins,” says Sarkis. “However, the market has slowed down over the past couple of months because of the deteriorating conditions in Iraq.”
Portacabins account for the bulk of KCW’s orders, with school furniture for the Kuwaiti government being the second most important source of revenue, he points out.
Sarkis describes the company’s capabilities as “very flexible” as it can take on projects that involve steel and wooden works.
The company is also an approved manufacturer of wooden fire-rated doors (both for one-hour ratings), he says.
“With our present capacity, we can undertake projects of any volume in our field,” Sarkis adds. “We have the facilities to supply turnkey jobs in this field including the camp furniture and other facilities.”
To date, KCW has undertaken several prestigious projects in Kuwait and boasts state-of-the-art production facilities and a team of experts who have the capability to complete contracts of any size and specification.
Currently, KCW boasts of a combined production area of 30,000 sq m in four convenient locations and employs close to 300 staff.
Recent projects that KCW has been associated with include:

• The Hilton Resort Hotel, which entailed internal architectural finishes (wooden joinery works). The client was Kuwait Commercial Markets Complex and the contractor was Ahmadiah Contracting and Trading Company;
• The Health Sciences Centre at the Al Jabriya Campus in Kuwait, where the work involved wooden joinery. The client was the Ministry of Public Works Special Projects Administration and the main contractor was Al Ghanim International General Trading and Contracting Company;
• The new headquarters for the Public Institution for Social Security. The client was Wafra Real Estate Company and the main contractor was Ahmadiah Contracting and Trading;
• The Scientific Centre’s main building, where it did site finishing works and architectural wood work. The client was the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and the main contractor was Mohammed Abdul Mohsin Kharafi and Sons Company for General Trading, Contracting and Industrial Structures;
• The Amiri Diwan, Crown Prince and Prime Minister’s Diwan and Council of Ministers, Kuwait, where it did wooden joinery work.  The client was the Ministry of Public Works and the main contractor was a joint venture of Musaad Al Saleh and Sons and Kocache Enterprises;
• Central Bank of Kuwait headquarters, where it was involved in wooden joinery work. The main contractor was Ahmadiah Contracting and Trading Company.

The company has also completed other major projects that include Kuwait Hilton extension; Kuwait National Assembly’s new building (before and after liberation); Dana Restaurant; a military hospital; Ministry of Finance; Sheraton Hotel refurbishment; the Surra, Mansouriya and the Fahed Al Salam branches of the Gulf Bank; Central Bank of Kuwait; Indian Embassy; Bayan Palace Phase II; The Scientific Center Project main building; Souk Al Zal Exchange Square and Southern Extension Protect.
This apart, the company has also completed special wooden joinery works for the Kuwait Stock Exchange building; Kuwait Arabian Shipping; Burgan Bank’s new headquarters; and the  Arab Organisation headquarters.