The 41-storey Spiral Orchid Residence ... to offer 364 residential units.
Kingdom Group to supply Bahrain landmark
01 April 2020
Bahrain-based Kingdom Group last month signed a major deal to supply building materials for the construction of the 41-storey Spiral Orchid Residence in Water Garden City in Seef District with the contractor Orchid Building Contracting.
As per the 18-month contract valued at BD2.5 million ($6.6 million), a number of companies under the umbrella of the Kingdom Group will supply a range of materials that they produce as a package, including readymix concrete, blocks such as standard as well as autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks besides cement and washed sand for the construction of the prestigious tower, which is owned by Orchid Developers.
The contract was signed by Dr Bashar Ahmadi, the Owner of Orchid Building Contracting as well as Orchid Developers, and Abdulla Shehabi, the Managing Director of Kingdom Group, a leading building materials manufacturer and supplier.
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Dr Bashar and Shehabi sign the deal. |
The latest contract boosts the value of Kingdom Group’s order book to BD10 million, according to KT Ramraj, the Group Sales and Marketing Manager.
Commenting on Kingdom Group’s latest success, Shehabi tells Gulf Construction: “Having set a benchmark for standards of building materials with our supply contract for the United Tower in Bahrain Bay, we have been keenly looking at participating in the most prestigious projects in the country – particularly mega developments or special high-rises – to reinforce the Kingdom Group’s brand image.”
“This is one of the biggest projects Bahrain has seen in the past two years and we were determined to secure this contract,” he adds.
The Spiral Orchid Residence is a luxury residential building with a unique spiral architectural style, which enfolds a total built-up area of 64,000 sq m.
The freehold property, which is also open to expatriate investors, will comprise 364 residential units, most of which are seafacing. Residents will enjoy access to the beach and will be in close proximity to Bahrain City Centre and the restaurants at Water Garden City.
The tower will provide a host of amenities including a mini golf course, indoor/outdoor pool, cinema, indoor/outdoor kids playground, squash court, volleyball court, mini-basketball court, bowling facilities, gymnasiums and sauna/steam rooms, games room and Jacuzzi.
Parking facilities for around 395 vehicles will be provided on seven above-ground levels, says the developer.
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Ramraj ... set to start work on foundation. |
The design of the prestigious landmark has been conceptualised by Dr Bashar himself, while Kooheji Consulting developed the detailed design and Global Engineering will be supervising the construction of the project.
According to Dr Bashar, the project is expected to be completed in two-and-a-half years and 50 per cent of the units have already been sold.
Ramraj says the piling work has been completed on the Spiral Orchid Residence tower, and Kingdom Group is gearing up for work on the raft foundation of the tower which will involve some 6,000 cu m of concrete. The concrete mix for the project will include fly ash and microsilica.
Shehabi attributes the group’s success to the quality of its products, its competitive pricing and its reputation in the market for supplying high-rise buildings.
Another key factor was that Kingdom Group has already supplied one of Orchid Developers’ recent projects – the Orchid Plaza.
“This win reinforces our image in the country, given Dr Bashar’s (who has a PhD in construction materials) in-depth knowledge of the technical and quality aspects of building materials. Dr Bashar was happy with our services and quality on this previous project and we are delighted to work with him as this gives us a sense of satisfaction in our quality and endorses the class of our products,” states Shehabi.
The contract will help offset the drop in revenue that the company registered last year, which was down 15 to 18 per cent compared to 2018, according to Shehabi.
“This year, we expect to recover from the setbacks we suffered in 2019 as we have already signed three or four big contracts,” Ramraj adds.
Kingdom Group also marked key milestones in February, having recorded the highest monthly production and sales figures for AAC blocks, which were launched by the company in the kingdom last year.
“We achieved a production of 15,000 cu m of AAC blocks in February, which is equivalent to 700,000 blocks. We also sold 550,000 blocks,” says Ramraj.
The Kingdom Group has focused on being self-sufficient through importing its raw materials via its own private port and vessels and manufacturing products to meet its inhouse requirements and serve the market, says Shehabi.
It also has its own dredgers to dredge sand, a sandwashing unit and a reverse osmosis (RO) plant while aggregates are brought in on its own barges from Ras Al Khaimah, UAE.
“Today, the Kingdom Group is 90 per cent self-sufficient,” Shehabi points out.
The leading companies under the Kingdom Group umbrella include its manufacturing ventures – Kingdom Blocks and Kingdom Readymix; its trading operation Kingdom Cement; its asphalt and contracting company Kingdom Asphalt; and Kingdom Sandwashing and Dredging.
The lion’s share of group’s revenue is generated by its readymix operation, which in turn helps drive business for other group companies that meet the former’s requirements, remarks Shehabi.
Kingdom Blocks, which has a capacity to produce 80,000 blocks per day, manufactures a wide range of products.
The new production line for AAC blocks has a capacity of 350,000 cu m per annum – sufficient to meet the demands of the Bahrain market. Within its first year of operations, the plant is supplying around 70 per cent of the requirements of the country, says Ramraj.
Kingdom Cement, supported by the group’s own cement terminal, procures cement from well-known sources in the region. It has cement packaging facilities to meet a significant share of Bahrain’s requirements of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and sulphur-resistant cement (SRC).
Meanwhile, Kingdom Readymix, claimed to be one of the largest readymix facilities in Bahrain, operates four batching plants with a total capacity of 480 cu m per hour. It also owns a fleet of 65 cement mixers with a capacity of 8 to 12 cu m and 26 concrete pumps including units that boast a reach of 62 m – the longest reach offered in Bahrain, according to Ramraj.
With Kingdom Blocks, Kingdom Cement and Kingdom Readymix already being state-of-the-art operations, the group has been focusing on upgrading Kingdom Sandwashing and Dredging, set up in 2004, which offers unwashed and washed sand. It has newly commissioned a state-of-the-art sandwashing facility, which is the largest of its kind in Bahrain with a capacity of 300 tonnes per hour (tph). This has more than doubled its capacity from 120 tph, states Shehabi.
He also reveals that Kingdom Group is pursuing plans to set up a technical training institute for construction materials at Amwaj Islands in August.
