Gulf Construction Online - Kobaisi brings dream homes within reach

Bahrain Review

Al Kobaisi at his Hidd factory.

Kobaisi brings dream homes within reach

01 January 2013

A quality home that every Bahraini family can afford is a primary aspiration for the Bahrain government and Abdulla Essa Al Kobaisi, managing director of Al Kobaisi Group, is committed to delivering on the Kobaisi Building System (KBS), his brainchild, to help fast-track the requirements of the nation.

Al Kobaisi Group, one of Bahrain’s longest established and most respected construction companies, launched the advanced-technology KBS together with Kobaisi Precast (KPC) in May 2012. The patented building system was personally developed by Al Kobaisi with the help of Nuspl, a leading German precast equipment manufacturer.

“We have developed a patented quality assured building system that is highly advanced in terms of applying the latest technologies, machinery and state-of-the-art equipment to deliver a quality solution to meet the housing requirements of the nation,” says Al Kobaisi.

Efficiency ... the KBS ensures minimum waste.

Using this state-of-the-art technology for the prefabrication of block walls and the concrete elements, the company has the capacity to produce 90 villas a month. The circulation line can produce flat precast products such as lattice girder floors, double-tee, solid, lightweight concrete and sandwich wall panels as well as cladding fabricated in a rotating automated production process.

Al Kobaisi has set up a massive production facility at Hidd over an area of 50,000 sq m, which essentially integrates several Al Kobaisi Group materials under one roof to seamlessly produce the building system in a quality assured environment. Representing an investment of more than $66 million, the facility is fed by the group’s satellite factories for blocks, readymix concrete, glass and aluminium via conveyor belts.

The new production lines have been set up utilising the latest CAD/CAM computer systems with the plant reconfigured to facilitate the production of the “revolutionary” building system and the precast elements.

Al Kobaisi Group already covers the entire construction spectrum from building, carpentry, readymix, block work, aluminium and glass, sand and aggregate, electrical contracting, mechanical workshops to transportation and on-site work. The group now has the ability to build quality houses faster and more cost effectively whilst maintaining stringent quality control throughout the production process.

It is this ability to integrate the various construction components into a quality-assured building system that makes KBS such a formidable value proposition to deliver on fast-track housing projects during a period of increasing demand from rising populations not only in Bahrain but across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

Quality control ... assured by a TUV/ISO certified laboratory.

Earlier this year, KBS successfully delivered 17 two-storey villas, each with a total built-up area of 348.7 sq m, for a project in Sanad. So confident is Al Kobaisi of his integrated production processes that he considers it possible to erect a house on site in 24 hours using the modular KBS system.

Al Kobaisi Group has long pioneered quality construction since its foundation in 1972 and has worked as main contractor on many housing projects for the Ministry of Housing including in Jidhafs, Busaiteen and Hamad Town.

As a private developer, the group has also been responsible for villa projects in Arad, Janusan, Busaiteen and Sanad. Its reputation for quality is now taking traditional construction methods to the next level in the KBS modular building system, a flexible concept that Al Kobaisi believes will revolutionise the construction sector.

According to Al Kobaisi, KBS provides a complete building solution from design, production, transportation to on-site erection that can facilitate affordable housing. As well as the reduced construction programme involving an estimated saving of 70 per cent in the time needed, the requirements for formwork, scaffolding, and labour as well as building material wastage are all significantly reduced.

Al Kobaisi was ably assisted by Hinrich-Detlef Tode, general manager of KBS and KPC, in setting up the new production processes. Tode has almost 20 years experience in the construction business starting with Eurobau in Germany where he specialised in innovative construction systems including precast concrete. Very much a technologist, Tode helped install and develop a new precast facility in Doha and more recently, he was working in Saudi Arabia establishing a new precast facility.

Working alongside Al Kobaisi, Tode helped design, develop and implement new production processes and develop the technical solutions for workflow for the new blockwall and precast factory. He has introduced a new production quality control system, which focuses on consistent quality performance. KBS guarantees 100 per cent quality assured production which is embedded in its quality assurance and quality controlled system regularly audited by TUV Bahrain. Part of the KBS quality system is a TUV/ISO certified laboratory assuring consistent control of building materials and semi-finished products.

Part of the new facility includes hollowcore production with possibly Bahrain’s largest nameplate capacity. The new production facility for hollowcore is equipped with the latest extruder technology made by Weiler of Germany. KPC can produce slabs with widths ranging from 340 to 1,200 mm, thicknesses of 150 to 400 mm and lengths up to 21 m.
As Tode explains, the design of the production process in Hidd also facilitates the manufacture and installation of tiles into the house as well as the electrical, mechanical and plumbing works. Eventually, the various factories of the Sitra-headquartered Al Kobaisi Group will be fully integrated under one roof which, in general, means that about 70 per cent of the work required on a housing unit can be achieved in the factory with the remainder including erection and floor slabs executed on site.

Very much hands-on in all respects of the business, Al Kobaisi explains that the integrated system is about the sequencing of the various construction processes in a quality-controlled environment from the design of a house or building, through to the shop drawings, the CNC machines, the procurement of rebar, readymix and cement. The KBS products include prefabricated structural and architectural blockwall products including architectural prefabricated block walls, decorative elements, cladding and structural blockwall elements.

Precision ... walls are constructed on a horizontal bed.

The system allows key building components including footings, wall panels and roofs to be manufactured on the production line which substantially reduces the time taken to transport materials to site. According to Al Kobaisi, the benefits of the automated system include quality assured production and an estimated cost saving on a home of 40 per cent compared to traditional building methods. Other benefits include lower maintenance requirements and substantially reduced on-site labour costs.

The KBS automates much of the construction process involving traditional materials from cement and concrete blocks. On a typical construction site, walls are constructed vertically whereas at KBS, the walls are constructed on a horizontal bed where blocks and reinforcement are placed, ensuring the precise distribution of concrete and cement.

“Naturally, I am proud that we have developed a patented system (EP2 233 656A1) in Bahrain that can reduce costs and meet the demand for houses whilst improving the quality of the housing stock for the nation,” concludes Al Kobaisi.