ALARABI Decoration and Construction Company recently won a contract or the prestigious King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (Kaust) in Thuwal, near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The company also won contracts for a guest palace hotel and symposium centre in Riyadh, to further boost its extensive portfolio which over the past three decades has included most of the landmarks in Saudi Arabia.
Kaust is an international, graduate-level research university. Its core campus – which is being built over more than 36 million sq m – and the surrounding community will incorporate a distinctive blend of traditional regional architecture and modern styles and amenities.
The guest palace hotel is being built by Saudi Oger.
For these striking new projects, the Jeddah-based company is providing decorative gypsum works, which has been its forte in the market.
Other major ongoing gypsum projects include the prestigious Le Meridien Hotel and Towers in Makkah, where it has been supplying and installing some 93,000 sq m of gypsum ceiling and cornices.
Apart from decorative gypsum works, however, the company offers a host of other services including special painting works, various artistic decorations, decorative swimming pools, and tiling works.
At the recently-completed Mall of Arabia in Jeddah, for instance, it has supplied and installed Prodema natural wood ceiling and acrylic ceiling works as well as supplied marble. Haifa Al Jazira Company is the main contractor on the project.
Alarabi’s reputation in the market and its extensive range of services has ensured that the company has so far been spared the effects of the global financial downturn, says  general manager Renato Zimmerman.
“Alarabi has seen steady demand for its services and products over the past year and continues to be a leading subcontractor in the kingdom, particularly on most of the royal palaces in Jeddah, Riyadh and Makkah,” he says. “Our turnover has exceeded our targets and with the massive developments being planned in the kingdom, we feel that this trend will continue over the coming years.”
The company recently completed the decoration works at Al Nour Mall, Madinah; modification of various royal palaces under a subcontract from Saudi Oger; Mall of Arabia, Jeddah; extension to the Mall of Dhahran, Dhahran; Equestrian Club in Jeddah under a subcontract from Bouygues Saby; Red Sea Mall, Jeddah; Sephora Rashid Mall, Al Khobar; Al Hofuf Mall, Hofuf; Star Avenue Mall, Jeddah; Christian Dior outlets in Jeddah and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Doha (Qatar); Louis Vuitton outlets in Doha; as well as various private villas and residential compounds in Jeddah and Riyadh.
In addition, Alarabi has supplied and installed gypsum suspended ceiling works at the Development of King Abdul Aziz Endowment, Makkah and fibrous gypsum works and painting works at Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs’ building in Jeddah.
About the company’s plans for next year, Zimmerman says: “We are in the process of reorganising our company’s structure and increasing the number of skilled workers to give the best quality service and increase our output.”
He is optimistic about prospects for the construction industry in the country, and particularly for the company. “A number of buildings initiated during the boom days are in various stages of construction and will soon require our services as they enter their finishing stage. Thus, during this year, we have set our eyes on increasing our market penetration, improving our organisation and the quality of our services, in readiness to take on an increased demand for our services.”
Alarabi Decoration and Construction Company was established in 1982 and was converted to a limited company in 2004. It has a workshop spread over 2,000 sq m in Jeddah, and another over 1,500 sq m in Riyadh, where it has a branch office. The company employs several architects, artists, a dozen engineers and about 800 craftsmen.
Alarabi’s sister companies include the Alarabi International for Decoration in Kuwait, which started operations in March 2004 and is continuing to capture a bigger slice of the country’s market.
Another subsidiary is Alarabi Decoration, Abu Dhabi. This company started operation in January 2006 and has been involved in a multi–million refurbishment of Intercontinental Hotel, Abu Dhabi, in cooperation with Kocache Enterprises.