Al Shirawi Contracting Company has added another high-profile project to its portfolio after beating off stiff competition to secure it and meeting the high-spec requirements of the Le Meridien Al Aqah beach resort development.

The company was awarded the waterproofing works for the entire project in the face of severe competition and after a thorough evaluation of the product range by the consultant Archon, says S Sekhar, contracts manager with Al Shirawi.

"The size, the prestigious nature of the project and the proximity to the sea demanded a very watertight system which would stand the tests of time and the vagaries of the water table levels. The work involved 44,000 sq m of basement waterproofing, 13,000 sq m of wet area and 10,000 sq m of roof areas," explains Sekhar.

Al Shirawi Contracting Company, a member of the Al Shirawi Group, was established in 1971. Today, the company's civil engineering division is a leading specialist in waterproofing application works and continuously seeks to improve its services to this important segment of the market. New product lines and application methods have been introduced to offer customers wider product applications and state-of-the-art service facilities.

"We offer comprehensive waterproofing systems for pile and raft foundations, wet areas, concrete and metal roofs with a 10-year guarantee," he says.

Al Shirawi is the sole distributor for waterproofing materials manufactured by Bitumat of Saudi Arabia, one of the largest manufacturers of bituminous waterproofing membranes in the world.

Bitumat manufactures a wide range of APP and SBS membranes, liquid coatings, construction chemicals and water stops. Bitumat membranes have gained acceptance all over the world in countries including Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia as well as in South America.

For the beach resort project, Al Shirawi approached Bitumat for a specialised product - Premierflex 3000, a 4 mm-thick SBS membrane which was laid in two layers in the basement to take care of the fluctuations in the water table in the area (since the project is located on the seafront).

Additional protection was given by the application of HLM 5000, a polyurethane coating from MBT Middle East, above the raft slab. The wet areas and roofs were covered with Polyflex MS, an APP-modified membrane from Bitumat with a 200 gsm polyester reinforcement.

Both Premierflex 3000 and polyflex MS membranes have been used extensively in the UAE in various projects for basements and roofs and were chosen for their cold flexibility, puncture resistance, tear resistance and tensile strength, says Sekhar.

Waterproofing works on the project started in October 2000 and were completed last November.

The project presented a number of challenges, according to Sekhar. Al Shirawi worked very closely with the main contractor Fujairah National Construction (FNC) to match its programme while also working simultaneously on several major buildings such as the main hotel, accommodation blocks and service blocks - without compromising on the quality of application at site, he adds.

"Quality control inspections were undertaken at every stage of the waterproofing works to ensure that the work was carried out to the required standards and to the fullest satisfaction of the main contractor and the consultants," he says.

"We are very proud to be associated with this grand and prestigious hotel and will cite this project as a shining example of our capabilities in all future endeavours," he comments.

Al Shirawi Contracting Company has an impressive record of undertaking prestigious projects at airports, ports, municipalities and defence establishments as well as from several large commercial complexes in the UAE as well as other major construction contracts in the Arabian Gulf. The company is managed by a team of professionals specialized in waterproofing works.