Dorma, the world market leader in door controls, movable walls, automatic door systems and glass fittings and accessories, has seen massive growth in its operations across the Middle East, and cites the region as its biggest area of growth globally over the past three years – a trend that it expects to continue.

While achieving significant growth in its sales figures last year, the Germany-based company has added to its impressive portfolio that includes iconic projects of the region.
“While the growth in Dubai and the UAE has been huge, we have also seen a rise in demand from across the region, particularly from customers who have a need for high-quality, innovative solutions and systems that incorporate top standards in design, safety and security,” says Ben Shaw, regional director of Dorma Gulf, the Middle East office for Dorma.
“Our projects have included the Burj Dubai, downtown Jebel Ali and the Dubai World Central airport project in the UAE, Faisaliah tower in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and many other projects in Pakistan, Iran, Egypt and the Levant countries. In fact, the Burj Dubai project was the largest single order ever in our history.
“We have generated a 44.3 per cent increase in sales from the Gulf this fiscal year and in response to this growth, we will now have an assembly and production facility based in Jebel Ali, over a 6,500 sq m area. Service personnel are also being hired in order to ensure smooth installation and maintenance of the systems in the region,” he adds.
Its production centre in the Jebel Ali Free Zone will focus on the manufacturer’s four product segments of door hardware; automatic and revolving doors; glass fittings and systems; security systems and movable walls

Door closers & control systems
The Dorma door control division comprises of door closers and door control systems, door furniture and fittings and locks, providing a comprehensive product offering. This division offers a reliable single-source solution in architectural door hardware system, providing a cost-effective complete solution that is technically advanced and creatively designed with significant scope for design variation.
“Doors are often taken for granted by their users, but constitute an important design element for building architects. For Dorma, they represent a constant challenge and aesthetic elegance, functionality, durability and preventive fire protection are just some of the parameters to which we apply our innovative ideas,” says Shaw.
Outlining some of the many highlights of the company’s systems, he says: “Dorma’s broad spectrum of door closers and door control systems allows for a number of equally viable alternatives, setting the standards in terms of optimal visual harmony, technological excellence, functionality, design elegance and installation flexibility enhanced by wide-ranging adjustment possibilities. The functional reliability and service life of these systems are also certified and regularly audited to the ISO 9001 quality management system, he adds.
Dorma’s extensive product portfolio focuses on ensuring reliability, ease of operation with outstanding longevity despite heavy-duty usage. In a bid to meet various international requirements relating to fire, smoke protection, sound and thermal insulation, Dorma offers extensive services as a reliable partner and product supplier to building construction projects around the world.
The door hardware section comprises overhead door closers, floor springs, transom-concealed closers and accessories.
Its range of locks, manufactured with high-grade materials under a comprehensive quality management system, is able to satisfy all technical requirements, offering outstanding performance, safety and security combined with a long service life, he adds.

Door furniture & fittings
The Ogro Door Furniture and Fittings section offers lever handles. pull handles, security fittings and accessories for door furniture and fittings. As different as Ogro hinges, levers and pull handles may appear, they also have a number of major attributes in common as they are all designed to resist the wear and tear of daily usage with every product carefully crafted from high-quality materials. The result is an impressive portfolio of round bars, lever handle models complemented by a range of narrow-stile door fittings, he says.

Panic hardware system
A popular product is the Dorma Panic hardware system that comprises an extensive range of innovative hardware fittings with horizontal and vertical locking for use on emergency exit doors, where security and reliability along with aesthetic elegance are crucial requirements. Its PHA, PHB and PHT range of high-quality panic hardware fittings are able to meet the security and safety requirements in public buildings, universities and schools, concert halls, shopping centers, hotels and offices.
Dorma Gulf Door Controls – a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary of Dorma Group – is the regional headquarters of the group and oversees its activities in the Middle East.
The Dorma group is subdivided structurally into five divisions: door control, automatic and revolving doors, glass fittings and systems, STA (security/time and access) and movable walls, which are coordinated with one another in such a way that they provide building architects and planners with greater design freedom in methodical project planning and realization.
The group operates on an international scale with 69 wholly-owned companies in 45 different countries and maintains major production plants in several European countries plus Singapore, Malaysia, China and North and South America.
With an international workforce of around 6,500 employees, the group realised sales of €838 million in fiscal 2006/7 (June 30).