Gulf Construction Online - Tiger sets pace for

UAE Focus

TPI’s prestigious projects ... Zabeel Hall and its latest win.

Tiger sets pace for

01 September 2009

THIS month will cap 41 years of success for the UAE-based Tiger Group, which was founded by Lebanese chairman Robert Nasr and his brother Aziz. Today, the group enfolds a range of specialised and full-fledged companies serving the construction industry.

The first Tiger company was founded in Dubai in 1968, with the aim of serving the construction industry in the UAE and the rest of the Gulf. The vision was to create a group that would be self-sufficient in serving itself and the construction industry’s needs in the Middle East. Over the next three decades, five more companies were launched, each specialising in various segments of the industry such as manufacturing, contracting and trading.
Today, having celebrated four decades in business, the UAE-based Tiger Group has grown into a well-orchestrated steel fabrication and engineering powerhouse for the construction industry, says Bernard Nasr, executive director of Tiger Profiles & Insulation (TPI) – a member of the group since 1993.
In 1968, Tiger Steel Engineering (TSE) was launched for the manufacturing of steel structures, warehouses, industrial plants, tanks and silos as well as other related steel works. This company has today gained recognition as a key power to be reckoned with. Work is under way in Abu Dhabi, to realise Tiger Steel’s ambitions to assert itself as the world’s largest steel fabricating facility and operations under one roof. Emphasis is drawn into developing revolutionary technologies in steel fabrication for which some of the machines that will be installed are considered as prototypes in the steel manufacturing industry.
In 1990, Nimr Civil Engineering, an engineering and contracting company, was established to undertake turnkey solutions for industrial warehouses, and showrooms. Today, it has evolved into a full-fledged company with other diversified market niches.
The same year saw the formation of Nimr Steel Trading, dedicated to the steel trade through stocking of material to be used in the operation of the group’s other companies as well as its own clients. It soon extended its services across the GCC, Middle East and Asia.
In 1993, Tiger Profiles & Insulation (TPI) was established as a one-stop-shop for profiling and cladding requirements within the group. Specialised in the design, supply and installation of both insulated and non-insulated metal cladding and roofing systems and solutions, the company grew from a small operation to a state-of-the-art three-plant company utilising the latest technologies in the forming of cladding and insulated panels.
And in 1998 Tiger Steel established a 100 per cent subsidiary Tiger Steel Engineering (India) Limited (TSEIL), to expand the group's activities in South East Asia. The company is currently the leading PEB solution provider in India with its main office located at Navi Mumbai and manufacturing facilities at Mumbai (Western India) and Haridwar (Northern India). PEB has been accepted as a viable and efficient construction medium serving the growing demand of the industrial and commercial sectors in India, and TSEIL has successfully capitalised on these opportunities by working with the leading multinational companies and consultants.

Founding firm
Today, Tiger Steel Engineering is one of the GCC’s leading structural steel fabricator. From its modest beginnings, TSE has built a solid foundation that combines more than 250 professionals and over 1,000 workers who diligently work to serve the company’s full-fledged divisions. TSE manufactures and supplies structural steel for commercial, industrial, infrastructure and oil and gas projects in the GCC, North Africa and South East Asia.
TSE’s Sharjah facilities are spread over an area of 30,000 sq m, housing the fabrication, painting and storage of finished products. TSE’s quality assurance programme complies with the requirements of ISO 9001 and administers closely, all the facets of engineering and manufacturing functions.
Since its inception, TSE’s management, which has a combined experience spanning 40 years in the steel industry, has focused much attention, care and thought in renewing its outlook on the company’s strengths and areas of potential. Throughout the past four decades, TSE has fine-tuned its areas of specialisation to provide clients with:
• Heavy to light steel such as pipe racks, platforms, equipment supports, towers and floor beams related to oil and gas, petrochemical industries etc. and
• Structural steel associated with cement plant pre-heater towers, power station turbine buildings, desalination plants, and airport terminal buildings.
TSE has also established itself as a provider of a range of engineering, design and fabrication services, which covers design and detailing, drawings, fabrication and erection drawings, procurement, structural steel fabrication, secondary steel fabrication, vertical and horizontal storage tanks, site erection works and subcontracting management.
It has played major and primary roles in the construction of several of the region’s many landmarks and has served many international giants including Saudi Aramco, Dubai Civil Aviation (DCA), Technip, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), International Bechtel Company (IBC), Halcrow International Partnership, Siemens, K-Home Engineering, and Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal) and many others.
“The winning combination of TSE’s quality, services, dedication and outstanding performance have all combined to build its reputation in steel,” comments Claude Nasr, general manager.
Today, Tiger Steel’s power is preparing to further reveal itself through the plans and work under way to unveil the world’s largest steel fabricating facilities under one roof.

Cladding & roofing
Meanwhile, TPI, the cladding arm of the Tiger Group, is a one-stop shop that caters to roofing and cladding requirements in the GCC and regional market.
TPI operates three plants/factories – one in Abu Dhabi and two in Sharjah – and its activities include the manufacture, supply and installation of cladding, roof panels, wall panels, concealed fix panels, sinusoidal profiles, floor decking panels, steel and aluminium profiled sheeting, partitioning, composite sandwich panels, cold store panels, standing seam systems (trademarked as T-Seam), cold roll forming, and related cladding accessories.
TPI offers turnkey building metal-envelope solutions to its customers. This involves the design, detailed engineering, sourcing of materials, manufacturing, supply, installation and project management services.
It undertakes all the testing and certification of the products and systems as requested by the client/consultants. The company possesses in-house capabilities to design and manufacture sheet metal roll-forming machineries. This service allows it to offer customer-specific cold rolled products.
In addition, TPI is the sole regional distributor for the Middle East, Asia and Africa of the Gold and double Silver Gaia Big 5 2008 award-winning Solasteel and Solacoat heat-reflecting products.
“These low VOC (volatile organic compounds), non-hazardous, environment-friendly coatings prevent the heat from permeating residential or commercial buildings, providing optimal energy efficiency and cost-saving solutions by presenting solar reflectivity of 74.1 per cent,” explains Nasr.
“TPI presents its clients with a total of more than 25 years of experience in the cladding and roofing industry,” he continues. “Over and above, TPI’s operations are based on seeking the most advanced of technologies which it can use to provide its clients with superior quality in line with its unwavering commitment to its integrity in being true to its clients. That is the way Tiger Profiles came into existence, and that is the way it believes it is able to withstand the pressure of competition, economic downfall and the other many elements that we have faced and continue to face since the group came into existence in 1968.”
“On the same note, nobody can deny that with unity comes strength, and TPI, as a member of the Tiger Group is proud to be associated with its sister companies, all of whom have played key roles in the monumental rise of the UAE and in particular Sharjah and Dubai. It is through the support of the group that TPI has been able to execute mega projects such as its work done at Dubai International Airport,” Nasr continues.
Of these, TPI mentions its recently awarded project: the design-and-install contract for the new exhibition halls at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). As sub-contractor on the fast-track project, TPI undertook the design and install about 31,000 sq of roofing and 12,000 sq m of walls for the world-class Sheikh Saeed Halls, which will consist of four inter-connected halls including one multi-purpose hall – The Trade Centre Arena, Nasr concludes.