Arabian Profile Company Limited (APL) of Sharjah has celebrated its 20th anniversary year with a number of milestones: a huge expansion, a major accolade for quality, the completion of its biggest-ever project in Doha, Qatar; and the unveiling of a new corporate logo.

The announcements came at a special anniversary party last month at the Mina A’ Salam Hotel, Madinat Jumeirah attended by dignitaries, VIPs and a host of leading figures from the UAE’s booming construction sector.
The company’s Qatar project – the Aspire Sports Hall in Doha – is the world’s largest indoor stadium and will host the 2006 Asian Games.
“APL, which has just completed the project, devised a wholly innovative solution, erecting the dome’s internal false ceiling without the need for scaffolding, thereby substantially reducing costs in the process,” says a company spokesman.
Part of the Gibca Group of companies, Arabian Profile was founded in 1985 and has been based in Sharjah since its inception. The company’s core business is the manufacture of aluminium, steel and composite panels for roofs and facades.
“APL’s cladding has helped transform the face of the Emirates and is exported worldwide – a demand which prompted the company’s decision to open its newly-completed production facility in nearby Ajman,” says the spokesman.
Located in the new industrial area, the Ajman operation doubles the total land area of Arabian Profile to approximately 66,000 sq m and increases total factory space by 25 per cent.
The site consists of two new factory buildings, one producing glassfibre-reinforced concrete (GRC) and the other, glassfibre-reinforced polyester (GRP) – both of which were previously manufactured at the Sharjah factory.
“This is a very exciting development for Arabian Profile,” says director Harald Halvorsen. “It gives us a huge increase in space which will enable us to increase production of existing products and begin the manufacture of new ones.”
The company has also been awarded a new ISO certification – the international benchmark of quality management systems. “Arabian Profile was first certified five years ago and has now received the BS EN ISO 9001:2000 from the British Standards Institution, the most respected auditing authority worldwide,” says Halvorsen.
Commenting on the company’s expansion into global markets, he says: “Arabian Profile’s products are also known worldwide. From power plants in Vietnam to offshore platforms in Norway – from Hong Kong to Pakistan to Africa – APL has clients in more than 20 countries. APL is particularly proud of the status and references we have achieved in the large international contractors community.”
He adds: “But, first and foremost, Arabian Profile is a UAE national company, undertaking the bulk of its work in the Emirates and the wider Gulf. Over two decades, APL has worked on many of the UAE’s landmark structures including the Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Mina A’Salam (Madinat Jumeirah), BurJuman Centre, Dubai Autodrome, the new Dubailand project and Sharjah Cultural Square.”
Arabian Profile’s vice chairman, Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi, says: “Innovation has earned APL a reputation for groundbreaking ideas and highly customised architectural solutions. Perhaps more than anything else in its 20-year history, Arabian Profile has been characterised by innovation – in design, in product development and in construction techniques.
“We started out in 1985 making panels for architectural cladding which, before then, were almost exclusively imported from abroad. They took an age to arrive and this was reflected in construction production schedules which would be laughed at today. “Arabian Profile, like Sharjah and the other Emirates, has come a long way in the last two decades. Indeed, with rapid growth, a passion for innovation and commitment to excellence, the story of Arabian Profile is, in many ways, the story of the UAE itself.”
A company spokesman adds:  “APL’s cladding adorns the region’s finest shopping malls, hotels, business towers, sports stadia, private homes, palaces and mosques. A product of many years of research, several of APL’s facade and roofing solutions are exclusive to the company. However, APL is not simply a manufacturer of cladding. It provides a total design service and is often sought out by contractors facing unexpected or difficult architectural challenges.
“In many cases, products are specifically designed to fulfill the demands of particular projects – a reactionary approach which has earned APL a reputation for groundbreaking ideas and highly customised solutions.
 “APL’s development of composite materials has had a significant impact on the industry, leading to new types of cladding which are lighter, more durable, more thermally efficient and faster to install. From high-tech profiles for futuristic facades to intricate formwork for classical architecture, the company combines artisan skills with the latest technology to produce solutions of aesthetic beauty and advanced performance.”
Elaborating on some of the impressive projects undertaken by the company, he says: “The proof lies in the sheer diversity of its work. The ultra-modern seamed aluminium roofs of Dubai Autodrome and the Millennium Grandstand at Nad Al Sheba provide a stark contrast to the ornately beautiful domes and spires of Sharjah’s mosques.” Other major projects in which Arabian Profile has played a major role include:
• Burj Al Arab: The 321 m Burj Al Arab - designed to replicate a huge billowing sail - is recognised as the world’s finest hotel and an international symbol for Dubai. Arabian Profile made a unique contribution to this project – designing, building and erecting 305 visually-stunning internal balconies. APL built a factory on site to mould 23,000 sq m of composite panels with GRP skin featuring a textured finish with honeycomb backing insulated with fire-rated rockwool.
“While rival plans estimated a project duration of 24 months and a weight of 6 tonnes for each fascia panel, APL completed the job in 12 months with panels weighing 3.5 tonnes, achieving a total weight reduction of 750 tonnes,” says the spokesman.
• Millennium Grandstand: For the Millennium Grandstand within the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse, APL manufactured 7,500 sq m of standing seam roofing, roll forming on site and installing the entire roof structure in only 66 days. Individual sheet lengths of up to 28 m were pre-curved to meet the demanding geometry of the structure.
• BurJuman Centre: For the BurJuman Centre expansion project, APL provided and installed 5,900 sq m of Reynobond cladding, 4,300 sq m of wooden features and 2,500 sq m of GRP twisted panels. APL created insulated decking, timber ceiling works, GRC works and feature facade panels, also in GRP.
“Our crowning achievement was the centre’s dome – 20 m across, free standing, insulated and waterproofed. Manufactured from GRP honeycomb in a special APL process, the result was a structure so light that it was lifted from street level to roof position in only 20 minutes,” says the spokesman.
• Cultural Square: APL also lived up to its reputation for highly decorative architectural adornment at Sharjah’s Cultural Square, where it made extensive use of GRC for the Sharjah City Hall, with natural stone finish on parapets, screens, columns and other exterior elevations. Similar work was also undertaken on the mosque and cultural centre.
• Dubai Autodrome: The imposing grandstand of Dubai Autodrome deploys dynamic architectural techniques designed to heighten visual impact. For the project, the company installed Kalzip standing seam roof cladding, 10,000 sq m of Reynobond composite panels, 3 mm solid aluminium, powder-coated and perforated panels, plus aluminium and honeycomb composite panels for the soffits and extruded aluminium sunshades.
• Snow Centre: The world’s first desert indoor ski resort seeks to recreate the wintry wonder of Alpine mountain skiing under a blazing sun.
APL provided more than 24,000 sq m of Kalzip standing seam roof system with proprietary roof hatches and walkways. Vault barreled walls covering an area of approximately 10,500 sq m were designed in structural GRP-insulated panels capable of withstanding forces up to 300 kg per sq m.
• Al Noor Mosque: Bordering the lagoon on Buhaira Corniche, the Al Noor Mosque is another example of Sharjah’s rich tradition of Islamic architecture. “For APL, the erection of mosques is not mere construction – it is a labour of love,” says the spokesman.
While unveiling the company’s new corporate logo at last month’s anniversary celebrations, Sheikh Khalid said: “No matter how successful you are, no matter how much energy you have, we all look a bit more tired after 20 years than we did previously. Thankfully, it is much easier to rejuvenate the profile of a company than it is our own. We felt that the 20th anniversary of APL, in the early years of a new millennium, was the perfect time to do so.”