SCP waterstops ... providing sound protection to numerous projects in the region.
SCP steps up to seal deals in Gulf
01 May 2013
SCP Concrete Sealing Technology, a major supplier of jointing and sealing materials, has shifted its focus to the Gulf, raking in numerous projects, in a bid to offset the drop in business in its two other main markets.
Owner and managing director David Twyford explains: “Traditionally, we have had three main business streams – the UK, Libya and the Gulf. Unfortunately, business in the UK has really gone down in the past few years – this year’s awards are about one-tenth of last year’s. And with the revolution in Libya, all of that business has dried up. So my major focus is on the Gulf now and prospects are very good with all the projects that are going on here.”
SCP supplies a wide range of materials including PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and hydrophilic waterstops; polyethylene foam expansion joint filler boards; resin-bonded and bitumen-bonded cork expansion joint filler boards; joint sealants; slip membranes; tanking membranes and accessories to contracts ranging from drinking water reservoirs through water treatment plants and sewage treatment works, to culverts, underpasses, basements, bridges and similar structures.
However, Twyford is quick to point out that SCP’s unique offering is not so much in equipment and materials it supplies but rather that the company is a repository for literally hundreds of years of engineering expertise – an invaluable resource for the new generation of consultant engineers who may not be as experienced as they should be in dealing with concrete waterproofing.
“We are quite a small company,” he explains. “Our turnover is about £3 million ($4.57 million) but we are very focused and we have brilliant expertise. Our guys are well trained in offering advice and expertise.
“For example, we can tell when an architect or consultant has picked up previously used specs and know it does not work – in some cases that practice was tried and stopped 20 years ago! We know just by looking at them (the specifications).
“For example, in one recent contract the consultant specified a particular method of construction that was used in the 1980s but it can’t be done that way. So I had to explain to the consultants that they have specified a system that was tried for two years a long time ago and failed!”
Historically, the company has been active in the Middle East since 1979 when Twyford first visited the region as marketing manager and started what was to become a long and fruitful relationship with the various water authorities, consultants and contractors in the area supported by SCP’s local representatives: Mac Al Gurg in the UAE, Mohsin Haider Darwish in Oman, Saleh Bin Mubarak Alkhulaifi in Qatar, A K Almoayed in Bahrain and Binex in Saudi Arabia.
SCP has been most active in Oman and the UAE and while these areas continue to generate good business for the company, Qatar is presenting a number of high-profile opportunities and Twyford is eyeing projects in southern Iraq as well.
Unfortunately, work on the biggest project SCP has ever been associated with – Libya’s Great Man Made River (GMMR) – has been suspended following the regime change last year but Twyford is still in contact with the GMMR Authority and is hopeful that the project will restart soon.
Nevertheless, the firm has been busy in the Gulf and the total number of reservoirs supplied or in the process of being supplied in Oman alone over the past two years is in excess of 30 sites, apart from many commercial and other developments.
SCP has supplied waterstops, expansion joint filler boards, sealants, slip membranes and associated materials for several projects including the Al Khoud, Deem, Al Amerat, Qabil and Ibra reservoirs in Muscat; culverts at Muscat International Airport, the Southern Expressway and Batinah Highway; the water reservoir at Salalah Airport, the Barka reservoir and the Adam water supply and has just started to supply a project for a further eight drinking water reservoirs with Al Hassan Contractors.
Indeed, Twyford estimates that SCP has supplied about 90 per cent of the reservoirs in Muscat working with contractors that make up a veritable Who’s Who of the civil engineering sector in the sultanate including Galfar Engineering, Towell Infrastructure Company, Sands Convoy, Al Hassan Engineering, Consolidated Contractors Company/TAV Joint Venture, Desert Line Projects and Nagarjuna Construction, to name a few.
Meanwhile, Sogreah, Mott McDonald, Parsons, CSE Consultants, W S Atkins, KEO/Haya Water, Cowi-Larsen, and Halcrow are among the consultant engineers that have approved SCP sealing materials on these and many more contracts in Oman.
In Abu Dhabi, SCP has supplied a specially formulated hydrophilic waterstop to many of the Abu Dhabi Sewerage Service Company (ADSS) contracts over the past 10 years as well as membrane protection boards for below-ground structures, through Mac Al Gurg.
In Doha, where heavy-duty waterstops have been specified, SCP has supplied its 10 mm web Extaseal and internal waterstops in both construction and expansion types. These waterstops have been supplied for six reservoirs at Duhail and Umm Qarn with Al Habtoor Leighton as contractor and KEO as consultant; Doha North sewage treatment works with HBK Contracting; Doha North storage lagoons with CFE Engineering; Doha North irrigation lagoons with Como Engineering and a potable water reservoir with Al Waha. SCP is also involved in tendering for a mega reservoir contract in Doha, which comprises 50 potable water reservoirs, being designed by Hyder Consulting.
Most recently, SCP has been invited to submit bids for work on rebuilding Basra in southern Iraq, which calls for the construction of 16,000 homes.
“The contract has been awarded to Daiwoo who have asked SCP for a letter of introduction for sewage works, reservoirs, pumping stations and other infrastructure,” Twyford concludes.
SCP has been supplying jointing and sealing materials to the civil engineering Industry since 1975 – formerly as part of Schlegel Engineering and currently as an independent company following a management buyout in 1995.
