Following the success that Reynaers has achieved in its first year of operation in the region with an office in Bahrain, the European aluminium systems manufacturer anticipates to repeat its outstanding performance during 2006.

“After the progress we achieved in 2005 we believe that this year will be another successful year, especially after we managed to secure prestigious projects in Bahrain and the other GCC countries using our high-quality aluminium systems,” says Ali Khalaf, the managing director of Reynaers Middle East, the regional office for the European aluminium systems manufacturer.
Reynaers Middle East, which was set up in July 2004, is involved in the following projects in Bahrain: 
• Riffa and Shahab sports clubs, where its brise soleil sunscreening system, CS59 pa doors and windows and conventional curtain walling system CW50 were used;
• Curtain-walling CW50 SC, CS59 pa for hinged doors and CP45 pa for sliding windows for Al Ayam’s (publishing company) headquarters in Bahrain;
• Muharraq Municipality project, where Reynaers CW50 will be used. The architect/consultant is Yousif Dawud Al Sayegh, Bokhowa Group is the main contactor and Abdul Aziz aluminum is the fabricator;
• Few buildings at Tala Island, which forms part of the Amwaj Islands in Muharraq;
• A 14-storey building in Juffair;
• A 16-storey and a seven-storey building at Seef;
• The SK3 residential building at Mahooz; and
• A 16-storey building at Sanabis.
Apart from Bahrain, Reynaers has achieved remarkable success in Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Libya, Egypt and more recently Syria, where it secured a major project last month.
Elaborating on its latest project, Khalaf says: “We managed to get our first project in Syria – a shopping mall – through our representative in the Syrian market, Intex Glass and Aluminum. The mall, known as Cham City Centre, will be one of its kind in the Syrian market. For the development, Reynaers structural glazing curtain wall CW50 SC and a huge skylight measuring 14.5 m by 62 m will be installed. The double-glazed system comprises 6 mm Sunergy green glass manufactured by Glaverbel with an Eva film combined with 6 mm clear glass from Guardian, with 15 mm of airspace in between. The glass has been supplied by Universal Tempered Glass, one of the leading glazing processors in that market.”
He continues: “During November, we completed our first project in Egypt – the Cairo stadium – which we secured through Mobica, our representative in that market. Reynaers CW50 SC system has been used for the project.
“We have also supplied Mobica with a full CNC production line, which will be under commissioning this month (January). In addition, we are working very closely with Mobica’s engineering department to come up with a proposal for the company’s headquarters which will use most of our products. Seven engineers from Mobica were in Reynaers institute in Belgium attending technical training for a full week.”
Reynaers supplied its first unitised curtain-walling system in the region to Libya last year. The system – Reynaers CW86 unitised curtain wall – was supplied through Jungbluth Alu Partners.
“Following two major projects that we completed wih our representative Becon Aluminum in Sharjah, we have received an inquiry to supply Reynaers CW50 for a 22-storey building in Sharjah for Abduljalil Mahdi Alasmawi. The consultant is Adnan Saffarinin and Sun Engineering is the main contractor, says Khalaf. “In addition, last October, we reached an agreement with Folcrabeach to be Reynaers representative in Abu Dhabi, and we have already supplied our first order which was for thermally broken doors CS59.”
The Belgian manufacturer made its debut in Qatar with a central energy plant project.  Through aluminium fabricator Alunasa, the company supplied its sun-screening system Brise Soleil BS 100, which required a bespoke profile design to suit the requirements of the architect.
“We are now working on one of the most prestigious projects in the Qatari market, for which Reynaers’ projects research and development department has developed special solutions by designing new profiles and gaskets to satisfy the project complicated requirements,” says Khalaf, promising to reveal details of the project shortly. 
In Kuwait, meanwhile, Reynaers has supplied its first polished silver anodized curtain-walling for Al Jahra Cooperative Society project through its representative Kuwait Ahli Aluminum.
“Besides the curtain-walling for the building, we had to come up with a smart solution for the skylights for the fast-track project to avoid cutting new dies,” he adds.
For this year, Reynaers intends to introduce a number of new products while focusing on Saudi Arabia and penetrating other markets in the region.
 “Following our success in these markets, we are now targeting Lebanon and Jordan, where we have already received some inquiries, and hope these will materialise into firm orders,” he says.
“This year, we will concentrate on the Saudi market,” he adds. “We have already visited the market and are trying to find good partners who can further Reynaers’ interests in that market.
“We will also introduce new products such as:
New wood and aluminum casement series including thermal or non-thermal break;
Full and half-height mountable and demountable partition system; and
CW50 SC, a new solution for structural glazing systems.
“We also intend to target the residential market (private villas) by providing the required quantities of profiles for doors and windows through keeping stock of the fast-moving items,” he concludes.