Successful precast concrete production on the Arabian Peninsula for 45 years now

UPH Group was first established in 1977 as a joint venture company between the Haji Hassan Group, Bahrain, and NTR Holding A/S (previously known as Rasmussen and Schiotz Holding A/S), Denmark. The group went through changes until it was fully acquired by Haji Hassan Group in early 2006 to be added as a division of this conglomerate of manufacturing and trading companies. Following are the major milestones:

Bahrain Precast Concrete 1977

United Precast Concrete Dubai 1997

United Precast Concrete Abu Dhabi 2003

United Precast Concrete Qatar 2003-2020

Rebranding to United Precast Holding since 2020

Today, the three precast concrete factories United

Precast Concrete Dubai (UPC DXB), United Precast Concrete Abu Dhabi (UPC AUH) and Bahrain Precast Concrete (BPC) are part of the United Precast Holding (UPH). The company is currently managed by Mr. Maitham Al A’ali, Mr. Ahmed Waheed Al A’ali and Mr. Peter Guldmann.

The product portfolio comprises the entire range of structural and architectural products, hollow-core floor slabs, walls, beams, columns, infrastructure elements and colored architectural elements. This was added by products made of UPHC in 2022. Latest Addition of products made with Ultra high Performance concrete branded as “Evolve Concrete” you can review the products on the instagram handle ‘evolveconcretebh’.

In this regard, Regional Manager Peter Guldman stated: „We are always looking for new products of interest for the market. Full system villa projects and hollow-core floor slabs have historically been the largest segments. UPH has a long reputation for being a quality manufacturer with an excellent track record of timely completion of even very large and complex projects. In 2022, we have introduced the Evolve brand, a product line for urban concrete furniture and landscaping elements made of ultra-high performance concrete. Also in 2023, we will add new technologies and products. We are planning, for example, to increase our capacity for prestressed beams in the near future.“

State-of-the-art production technology

The concrete plant of United Precast Concrete in Dubai Industrial City (DIC) is one of the largest in the Middle East region. The factory erected on a plot of land covering 206,000 m² was initially designed by Elematic as a 100% hollow-core slab plant. The production facility running in three-shift operation is able to process up to 500 m³ of concrete per day, including approx. 2,000 m² of hollow-core slabs.

The facilities of the United Precast Holding Group are spread all over Bahrain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In addition to a production area of more than 95,000 m², there is a storage yard of approx. 81,000 m² which is part of the production facility. The equipment also includes 182 tilting tables and 48 hollow-core casting beds. 28 HCS beds of HCS Bahrain Precast Concrete- 12 Beds, Abu Dhabi- 6 Beds, Dubai Industrial City -10 Beds. It has to be said that not all the beds are active and depends on market requirments. Both the production areas and the storage yards are comprehensively equipped with overhead and gantry cranes. The hollow-core production plants comprise 21 extruders for slabs being 150 mm, 200 mm, 240/265 mm, 320 mm, 400 mm and 500 mm thick. With this plants, the UPH Group has an annual production capacity of about 57,000 SQm a year of hollow-core slabs and 249,600 cum of precast slabs, thus being the largest precast concrete group in the entire region.

Close cooperation for many years

When asked about the partners for the production technology, Peter Guldman stated: „From the first day, we have maintained a very close relationship with the Finish manufacturer Elematic, which supplied the equipment for all our factories. This successful cooperation has already lasted for 40 years now – just this probably speaks for itself. Annual condition checks by certified engineers are helpful for close coordination of the preventive maintenance as well as the day-to-day operations.

Besides Elematic, Kone Cranes should also be mentioned: this manufacturer supplied most of our more than 30 overhead cranes. Moreover, there has always been a close cooperation with municipalities and local authorities, respectively.“

Specifically, the four bays of the factory are fed by two batching plants via shuttles to the casting beds and production tables. The plant is operated by supplier software, being added by our in-house software developments on top.

Membership in IPHA

„In addition to the partnerships mentioned, we also benefit extraordinarily from the membership in the International Prestressed Hollowcore Association (IPHA). This is a must for us anyway, as being a manufacturer of prestressed concrete products, to be aware of the new technologies in the market, while we get the most benefit from the annual conferences and the special events. Only in October 2022, we had a lively exchange with many international colleagues on the occasion of the IPHA sales and marketing seminar held in Barcelona. I am already looking forward to the next annual conference taking place mid May 2023 in the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius.“ Carsten Friberg, Executive Director of IPHA, confirmed: „The association’s activities are of course based on the commitment of our 80 members from 40 countries worldwide. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our members for their important engagement in IPHA before I will retire soon.“

Positive market prospects

According to the estimate of Peter Guldman, the market prospects in the United Arab Emirates are bright because the number of residential projects has increased over the last six months and it looks like to continue. Recently, many school projects have come to the market for execution in 2023. The number of projects in the oil and gas sector increased as well. Although in UAE with an expacted increase in turnover 20 %, R&D will be cut back a little bit despite this positive forecast, to ensure that the growth will be healthy managed.

The market in Bahrain is developing rather slowly, but BPC had been lucky to secure many contracts and expects that the outlook in the first quarter will improve when the new budget year starts.