Architectural ironmongery/hardware – often under-rated in the past – has gained increasing importance in the UAE over recent years due to the complexity and performance requirements of modern building design, says a spokesman for the UAE-based Haroon Company.

“With the current focus in the UAE on constructing luxury buildings and villas as well as renovating old ones, there is a great demand for hardware that is both beautiful and functional as it allows movement within a property — be it a hinge that swings the door, a pull that slides a drawer or a lever handle that opens. Beauty and functionality are vital,” he adds.
Haroon Company, which represents world leaders in architectural ironmongery and hardware, offers a wide range of innovative and high-tech solutions to meet modern-day requirements.
The brand names marketed and distributed by the company in the UAE include Onity (formerly Tesa Entry Systems), Briton (formerly Newman-Tonks), Southern Steel, Normbau, Kafli, Frascio, Devon and Henderson- all of which conform to the exacting performance as well as functional and aesthetic requirements of today’s architects and specifiers, says the spokesman.
These products are designed and manufactured to the highest standard, to withstand heavy-duty use and to last the lifetime of a building, he adds.
Haroon Company offers a wide selection of products such as hardware for commercial buildings, residential decorative hardware, life safety and panic exit hardware, detention hardware, cabinet/furniture fittings, key-cabinets, first-aid boxes, mail boxes, electronic access control, electronic hotel locking systems, hotel guest-room safes, guest-room energy management, surveillance systems and CCTVs (closed circuit television), handrails and balustrades in stainless steel and nylon, sliding/folding door gear, public washroom accessories, support fittings for the disabled and premium decorative electrical accessories.
Haroon offers its quality products with a good back-up service to ensure complete customer satisfaction, the spokesman adds. It regularly introduces to the market innovative products that are either brand new based on latest research and development or improvements on existing ones.
The company also endeavours to provide tailor-made solutions to meet customer-specific requirements.
“Total solutions is the key word in company’s corporate philosophy. We just don’t sell items - we are in the business of providing solutions,” the spokesman continues.
The ironmongery it provides meets the highest quality and performance standards set out by the public authorities and professional associations such as ANSI (American), BS (British) and DIN (German) standards – which have recently been converted to unified CEN standard.
Commenting on the trends in the industry, the spokesman says: “The hardware industry has embraced the age of electronics, as the role of door hardware is being redefined from mere locking to life safety and access control. These systems are designed and engineered to meet the growing service and security needs and manufacturers are using more electrical and electronic components in their devices.
“Imaginative engineering, coupled with creative applications, has resulted in products with a wide range of functions. Motor-driven locks, electromagnetic locks, keys with micro-chips, door closers with sensors are the new-age products in the field.”
Haroon Company has kept pace with the developments and come up with solutions by combining mechanical and electronic security in order to meet the market’s growing demands and evolving needs, the spokesman points out.
Today, the market in the UAE is divided into two types of vendors – those who provide mechanical and electro-mechanical hardware and others who deal in electronic access control systems. “However, an efficient working system requires a seamless interface between these two types of vendors as the knowledge-gap and lack of understanding of the other’s products, can often result in under-performing systems,” he points out.
Haroon Company has positioned itself as a supplier of complete/integrated electronic and mechanical security solutions. Its factory-trained electronic engineers work together with mechanical security experts to provide the customer with an optimum solution. Maintenance and warranty facilities are available from a single source, eliminating problems of timely support.
Among other trends in the sector, he indicates that hotel technology is moving towards the ‘intelligent room’ - a system which allows the management to control all the functions in a room - and manufacturers are developing smart technology systems to cater to this particular segment
Haroon’s brand name Onity - a leading manufacturer of electronic locks to the hospitality, marine, education, corporate, government and other sectors - has already installed around 45,000 electronic locks in over 275 hotels in the Middle East. In the UAE, these include Fairmont, Dubai City Centre Hotel and Residence, Dubai Marine and Beach Resort, Oasis Beach Hotel, Rydges Plaza Hotel, Marriot Executive Apartments (Skywalk Towers), The Courtyard Hotel by Marriott, Rimal Rotana and Al Bustan Residence (all in Dubai); Sharjah Rotana; and the Al Maha Rotana and Al Ain Rotana (both in Abu Dhabi).
Among Onity’s more popular products is the all-weather lock, which is designed to withstand extreme environmental conditions — a factor highly relevant to the UAE, the spokesman points.
Another supplier Frascio has developed finish treatments called Inox-Chrome and Inoxbrass, which are ideally suited to the Gulf climate.
“By using advanced PVD (physical vapour deposition) technology, Frascio has created exclusive processing techniques to ensure brilliance and durability and exceptional resistance to the elements,” spokesman continues.
Another leading component of Haroon’s portfolio is Briton, a comprehensive range of door hardware from IR Security and Safety, which has been designed to meet the new European Standards (CEN) and the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
“With the surging number of high-rise buildings, shopping malls and cinemas being built, the need for emergency exit hardware has increased,” says the spokesman. “Briton’s emergency exit hardware is designed for escape doors in commercial applications, schools, hospitals and other buildings requiring immediate exit in the event of a fire or emergency.”
In line with the UAE government’s interest in improving the quality of life of the physically challenged, Haroon Company provides a comprehensive range of both functional and elegant products from Normbau (Germany) in stainless steel as well as coloured polymide (nylon). Normbau’s fittings such as grab or support rails and lift-up padded shower seats – made of high-quality material in aesthetically-pleasing colours – are hygienic, and unaffected by common cleaners and changes in temperature.
“Contact surfaces are a real problem in medical, nursing and sanitary facilities because of bacterial cross-contamination through fittings such as handles and railings,” the spokesman says. “Normbau is the first manufacturer worldwide to offer fittings with effective, long-lasting anti-bacterial protective treatment. Normbau’s Microban anti-bacterial protection is incorporated into the polymer structure of the nylon during the production process and gives lasting protection.”
Established nearly 25 years ago, Haroon has offices and showrooms and extensive warehousing facilities in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Over the years, the company has delivered hardware packages to numerous projects of commercial, residential and institutional nature, including palaces, hotels, hospitals, shopping complexes, commercial and residential buildings, sport complexes, golf courses, schools, army and labour camps, private villas and the UAE’s diplomatic establishments in foreign countries.
The National Bank of Dubai headquarters building, the Capricorn Tower, Azure Building and other seven towers at Dubai Marina, Marina Terrace (Damac), the Springs Villas (Phase II), the Jumeirah Island and the Dubai Metal Commodities Centre Industrial buildings are just a few in the long list of projects of which Haroon Company has been a part of.