KUWAIT: Alghanim industries, one of the largest privately owned companies in the region, had two companies represent it in the Big5 Exhibition, held from 23 to 26 November 2015 at the Dubai World Trade Center, and considered to be the region's largest building and construction exhibition, bringing together suppliers and buyers since 1979. Kirby Building Systems, the global leader in the design and manufacturing of pre-engineered steel buildings and structures, and KIMMCO, the major provider of insulation products in the Middle East, Africa, the Far East and Asia both had major presence at the exhibition.

Kirby Building Systems has been manufacturing steel buildings and supplying construction material in the Middle East and North Africa region for over 40 years, and as the construction market in the Middle East continues to grow, the exhibition allowed Kirby to reaffirm its prowess as one of the leading construction companies in the region.

The Kirby team was provided with opportunities to speak to consultants, builders, contractors, project managers, engineers and government officials and was able to demonstrate Kirby's capabilities to design and deliver steel structures and buildings, as well as showcasing many of its other products. The company's booth was located in Hall 8 of the exhibition and attracted over 250 visitors. Kirby used the 6m x 6m assigned space to set up a unique booth that displayed the company's quality structures and designs.

Various Kirby products like I-beams, open web joist and metal tubes were shown as part of the booth's display. The inside of the stand had a large video wall that highlighted different Kirby projects from around the world. There was also an architectural scale model of a building with all the Kirby products incorporated in it. The display of the model created a lot of curiosity among the visitors who were interested to know more about Kirby products and their usage in various applications.

The Mezzanine area of the booth displayed Kirby Engineering Excellence and Sales & Distribution networks, as well as providing an exclusive area for meetings with prospective clients.

James Minato, Senior General Manager of Kirby Kuwait said: "The Exhibition was quite successful and as usual gave Kirby the opportunity to showcase its global capabilities and re-visit with its customer base. In addition to its traditional product, Kirby's stand this year focused on marketing its commercial capabilities, with a stand consisting of a two-story steel building with Glazing all around, in line with its strategy to further penetrate the commercial sector."

New products

The exhibition also served as the perfect platform for KIMMCO to launch two new products, the 'KIMMCO Climaver' and 'KIMMCO EcoBuild'. Climaver is a lightweight pre-insulated ductwork system which enables designers to meet the stringent thermal, acoustic and fire-performance requirements of the HVAC (heating, ventilating and air-conditioning) market.

Mark Westermayer, Director of Marketing at KIMMCO said: "According to a recently published report, 20 per cent of the air that moves through the metal duct systems is lost due to leaks and poorly sealed connections. Climaver is the solution! It provides energy-efficiency in order to keep the operational costs as low as possible and helps to meet a variety of challenges faced while designing and executing a project due to its on-site fabrication and installation".

A presentation on the features of the product was conducted by Mark Westermayer, along with a live demonstration of the product by Benju Thomas, Marketing Supervisor at KIMMCO. Various benefits of the product were showcased, including fire performance as well as thermal & acoustic comfort.

The EcoBuild product launch generated great interest among visitors to the booth, which featured a live falcon as a symbol of the EcoBuild product. Visitors took photos with the falcon in front of the EcoBuild backdrop. "The EcoBuild range is 100% natural, high performing and provides high value and quality. With a focus on building applications, EcoBuild is providing excellent thermal, acoustic, fire performance and, on top of this, it is improving the quality of the environment in which we live and work. EcoBuild meets the most stringent European requirements, statutory or voluntary, on emissions of formaldehyde and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in indoor air and additionally reduces energy consumption and hence, CO2 emissions" Mark Westermayer said.

In an effort to raise awareness about the role of insulation within the building industry, Manhal Jaweesh, Sr. Manager of the Technical Department at KIMMCO, conducted a seminar entitled "Mineral Wool Insulation, a Comfort Value Proposition in Building Industry" at the sustainability theater on 25 November 2015. During his presentation, Manhal explained the criteria to choose the best insulation for building, insulation and environment insulation in green building, indoor air quality, and air leakage in HVAC systems.

The exhibition gave KIMMCO the opportunity to meet existing and potential customers, and to reiterate its commitment to providing the best insulation solutions and HVAC systems in the GCC and the wider region.