Special Projects Company, in partnership with Al Seal Contracting and Trading, Nasser Bin Khalid and Sons Holding Company (NBKS) and other strategic investors, has announced plans to set up a state-of-the-art glass processing facility, which will help meet the increasing demand for architectural glass in the region.

Called SiAl Qatar, the new company will be one of the largest glass processing facilities in the region with an investment of 25 million euros ($39.64 million) towards facilities, plant and equipment, says a company spokesman.
“The glazing industry is a strategic investment for us, especially given the focus that we have in developing primary and secondary sector industries catering to the regional economic boom,” says Hussein Siddiqi, chief operations officer, Nasser Bin Khalid Holding Company.
“The exponential growth in regional glass consumption, driven by over $2.4 trillion worth of real estate projects, has led to a serious shortfall in the ability of facade contractors to ramp up production capacity or to secure a steady supply to keep up with the aggressive project schedules,” says Suraj Thampi, managing director SiAl.
“SiAl Qatar will help invigorate local and international contractors to participate in the high-value building envelope projects, without having to worry about production constraints and supply chain issues. We will be uniquely positioning ourselves as contractual project based production partners capable of value additions like engineered unitised panel production,” he adds.
The plant, currently under construction will be able to produce tempered, laminated and insulated glass along with an upward integration into two unitised glazing panel production lines. SiAl will be able to produce over 1 million sq m of processed glass a year and by the third quarter 2009 will be able to produce over 2 million sq m through its processing plants.
SiAl will be commissioning the largest tempering plant, lamination plant, robotic insulating plant, cutting, grinding and polishing lines with technology from industry leading manufacturers like Lisec and Tamglass, where the immediate and primary focus will be to cater to the demands within Qatar, says Thampi.
“We will be catering to local requirements of processed clear glass primarily used within buildings for partitions, shower doors, and shop fronts with the shortest turnaround time by maintaining local stock and having the largest, most advanced processing units to support the growing demands,” he adds.
SiAl will be partnering with large and small volume contractors of architectural glazing on a project-to-project basis, augmenting its production capabilities while enabling them to bid, manage and execute more projects with a focus on contractual project management.