Gulf Construction Online - Relaunched firm takes fast track to success

Glass & Aluminium

Dubai Metro station depots ... panel roofs by EFP.

Relaunched firm takes fast track to success

01 October 2009

ONE of the Gulf’s leading panel suppliers has relaunched under a new name to reflect a significant expansion in its Middle East operations, a growing international product base and new partnerships with top European suppliers.

Euro Facade Products provides high-quality products across a wide spectrum of construction needs, while its sister operation Euro Facade Panels is a ‘one-stop shop’ for all cladding and fabrication requirements.
Euro Facade Products is headquartered in the UK but has established an autonomous sales office in Dubai, UAE, to serve its critical Middle East and North Africa (Mena) and Asian markets. The panel and fabrication needs of these regions are served by Euro Facade Panels and its expanding factory in the emirate of Ajman.
The companies, operating under the EFP banner, pulled off a major coup when they landed a prestigious contract from Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to panel roofs of station depots serving the city’s world-beating new metro system, which began operations in September.
“This was a huge contract for us,” says Steve Kendrick, business development manager of Euro Facade Panels.
This success for a relatively new player in the market can be attributed to a 40-year proactive role in serving the customers of this region. Kendrick elaborates: “Under normal circumstances, it would have proved difficult for a relatively new company to land such a contract but, in fact, Euro Facade Panels is a new company in name only. It has a wealth of experience behind it, being a restructuring of Aluminium Applications, whose founder and our managing director was involved in the Gulf’s construction boom 40 years ago and has unrivalled knowledge of both the sector and the region.
“As a result, we have the benefit of involvement in some of the Gulf’s most iconic projects and are now able to use that experience under the Euro Facade banner.”
Kendrick explains the scope of business operations under the EFP banner: “Under the EFP banner we have two operations – Euro Facade Products and Euro Facade Panels. EF Products is dedicated to supplying high-end hardware to the construction industry. Our range incorporates some of the very latest technology available, reflecting our experience in working project to project worldwide.”
Euro Facade Products is split into six main categories – fabrication, cladding, glazing systems, solar panels, machinery and miscellaneous. Within these categories, the operation offers well-known European brands from its partners, priding itself on the quality of technical advice, support and after-sales service provided to clients.
“Our second realm of operations is the panel manufacture and fabrication side,” says Kendrick.
Euro Facade Panels operates a 20,000 sq ft state-of-the-art plant in Ajman, which serves as the company’s Middle East headquarters.
“EF Panels are our own high-spec branded panels – but we also act as manufacturer, distributor and agent for other respected brands. Our business mantra is to offer as wide a choice as possible and to introduce into the market products that have not been locally available until now,” Kendrick says. “But we do not only sell panels. We have put a lot of investment into new fabrication equipment.”
EFP mainly fabricates composite and solid aluminium cladding and sub-structures. “During the Dubai Metro contract, we fabricated 1,200 sq m of aluminium composite per 10-hour shift – equivalent to more than 400,000 sq m a year.
“As manufacturers and fabricators, Euro Facade Panels can now design, manufacture and supply – fulfilling our aim of becoming a one-stop shop for all cladding requirements,” Kendrick says.
Some of this success is due to the cutting-edge equipment available from Euro Facade Products, which boasts “the most comprehensive range of CNC machines available in the Middle East”.
These include the revolutionary PanelBuilder, which was specially developed for the composite cladding sector and has earned unprecedented plaudits from purchasers since it was launched four years ago, he says.
Clients using the product such as Arabian Profile of Sharjah and Alutec of Doha attested to a “five-fold increase” in production capacity while Al Abbar Aluminium of Dubai described PanelBuilder as “a giant leap forward” in cladding technology.
“We were very proud of that,” says Shaun Barton-Smith, managing director of Euro Facade Products “and, under our new name, we continue to develop and source the very best in CNC systems.
“These really have revolutionised the industry – producing items to a much higher standard than any manual operation. Lead times are much shorter, spelling higher productivity; the greater flexibility allows users to compete in different market sectors; material usage is optimised; labour costs are reduced; and profits are dramatically enhanced,” says Barton-Smith.
“I helped launch PanelBuilder during the Big 5 in 2005 and the response was one of the most memorable experiences of my 40 years in this industry. I’m confident that Euro Facade Products and Euro Facade Panels will receive an equally warm welcome at this year’s Big 5,” he concludes.