Kingspan expanding in Gulf
by Benjamin Millington on Nov 26, 2009
Kingspan is hoping to achieve at least US $20 million (AED 73.5 million) in turnover from the Gulf region within the next three years according to its commercial director for industrial panels Tom McGuinness.
The Ireland-based company is a well established global player in the insulated panel industry and is opening an office in Dubai next month to expand its presence in the region, he said.
“We’ve been supplying individual projects in the Middle East for the past 15 years but it’s only been a trickle. Now things are looking pretty good for us in this region,” he said.
Last year Kingspan won a $1.6 million contract to supply wall panels for depot stations on the Dubai metro project and has since won a wall cladding contract for the Doha International Airport, currently under construction.
McGuinness said the environmental credentials of Kingspan’s products would help them outshine some of the competition currently in the market.
“Europe leads the world in environmental and sustainability issues, which is because of legislation that has been in place for many years now,” he said.
“So we are green by definition and have even sought to push that legislation and set new benchmarks for the industry. While this market is progressing, we still stick out above many of the competitors.”
Kingspan’s insulated panels achieved a Green Guide to Specification A rating from the UK’s Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).
The company is currently operational in 56 countries and has manufacturing facilities in more than a dozen countries worldwide.
