Al Shirawi has successfully completed work on the 17-storey extension to the Al Fardan Tower in Sharjah. The Tower has been constructed above an existing 4-storey building and presented new challenges to the team. The
Dhs. 2.5 million contract comprised of the installation of plumbing, drainage and fire fighting works.

"The challenge really lay in accurately mapping and matching the old systems in the existing building with the new systems in the extension.
The 18 month project was completed absolutely on shedule," says a proud A. Ganesan, Al Shirawi's project Manager, Al Shirawi fitted entire bathrooms, kitchens and the pump for the fire fighting system.

Special Thanks

Ganesan singled out the Plumbing Supervisor, Achen Kunju and his team for praise. he particularly mentioned the coordination support provided by the draughtsman, Mathew Joseph. Above all, he praised his General Manager, Dr. Ibhrahim Khallouf for the unrelenting support he received from him throught out the project.

Everybody involved have been very pleased with the outcome including the consultants, CONCEPT and the main contractor, United Engineering Contruction Co.

In April, Al Shirawi were the proud recipients of the Certificate of Appreciation awarded by the Annual Suppliers Forum instituted by Dubai Civil Aviation (DCA).

Executive Director, Navin Valrani, collected the award from His Excellency Mohammed Al Abbar, Director General, Economic Department, in a glittering function held at the DCCI.

Set up in 1999, the forum consists of more than 350 suppliers. Al Shirawi has done several projects in coordination with DCA, including a Chilled water installation for AEI Danzas at DAFZ and has maintenance contracts with several companies in the Cargo Village. "Our overall service-focussed philosophy coupled with our emphasis on quality during every stagehas contributed to this award. We have come a long way since our restructuring in '97 - '98. This is a well-deserved pat-on-the-back for the organisation and I am proud of my team," said Navin smiling.

Al Shirawi has had long, mutually rewarding relationships with two giants in the Interior industry from Denmark - M/s Rockfon A/S and M/s Triva A/S. Recently, management changes have been announced in both these high profile organisations. Al Shirawi's team paid a visit to the factories in Denmark to welcome new directors in both organisations.

The new Managing Director at Rockfon is Henrik Frank Nielson, who took charge in Aug. 2002. Rockfon manufactures high quality ceiling tilesusing compressed rockwool fiber. Their products offer moisture and fiber resistance, acoustics & thermal conductivity and are 100% asbestos free.

Triva has a new management team in Managing Director, Bjorn Zebits and Sales & Marketing Manager, Mads Rordam. It manufactures the Triplan brand of relocateable partitions, which have steel profiles, are aesthetically sound and have higher acoustics & fire ratings when compared with the industry standard.

Al Shafar Transport & Contracting Co. has together with Al Shirawi successfully completed the Al Shafar Village, aptly nicknamed the '84 villa project'. It is the largest residential project in the Mirdif area. "Although we do a lot of residential projects, this was our own," said Pratap Rangwani of Al Shafar.

Why did they choose Al Shirawi for the Air Conditioning work? "Because they were very compititive, there workmanship is very good and predictably we are very happy with outcome," explained Mr. Rangwani simply.

Before awarding the air conditioning project, Al Shafar had extensively evaluated brands from several competing firms. They finally settled in Al Shirawi's Rheem A/c system from USA. "We had certain limitations on ceiling heights and had to choose compact equipment. Rheem's design was better," admits Mr. Rangwani. Al Shirawi used ducted and decorative split units that provided zone and special controls. Their engineers had offered customized solutions after a systematic study of the project.

Work progressed smoothly onsite and was completed on schedule. "Mr. Ali Shafar himself checked all the equipment as he is very interested and involved in the day-to-day on-site implementation. We would go on-site three times a week to conduct quality checks," he elaborated.

Despite the challenges, Al Shirawi has been extremely successful in executing the project. "The cooling performance is very good. The A/c machine covers were double skinned, so the noise-level is comparitively less," says Mr. Rangwani.

Although the project was completed only in the summer months of April/May, 60% of the villas are already occupied. "In fact, we started receiving booking even before the completion of the project." smiles Mr. Rangwani. The villas are essentially row houses with individual gardens, two car parking facility, split levels, double-height living and dinning rooms. The complex has 24 hours security, two swimming pools, one children's pool, gym, a soon to be opened cafeteria facility, a garden etc. The rents are moderate and competitively priced between Dhs. 60,000 - 70,000.

Al Shafar's Project Manager, Sushil Dube came in for praise from both organisations. The Final Analysis: "We have a long association with Al Shirawi. I share a great relationship with Navin and his team. They always have a couple of projects going on with us," states Mr. Rangwani.

They have done it again! After Marina Mall Cinemas, Al Shirawi has successfully conquered the Al Ghurair multiplex. The scope of works for the AED 2 million contract including the supply and installation of cinema ceilings and walls. The main contractor were M/s Khansaheb Civil Engineering while specifications were provided by M/s RMJM.

Although the completion date for the project shrunk by 30 days, they manage to complete the job on time! "At its peak, we employed about 90 people, working round the clock at times," clarified Raj Pal Saran, Manager for Interiors.

Using the D-stud system from BORAL, Australia, work on each area was inspected and certified by BORAL engineers.

Not only Al Shirawi pass the sound test in the first go, "but we even performed better than we were supposed to!" exclaims Raj Pal. He was all praise for the close co-ordination between Site Engineers, Pradeep Birole, and Sr. Sales Engineer, Solomon George. Khansaheb's Project Manager, Mark Jullian was deemed a great support. So successful was the project that Al Shirawi has been asked to undertake erecting the cinema walls and ceilings for the 8th cinema in the complex.

A. Ganesan, Project Manager - Plumbing and Drainage is fond of the letter P, standing as it does for Punctuality, Perfection and Prosperity, all in that order. "Punctuality is the most valuable factor in the management. The secret of the department's success is our belief in the motto 'Do It Today. Tomorrow, Today will become Yesterday!' The philosophy has propelled the department to over 120 people, with the capability of handling large projects.

A BE in Civil Engineering, Ganesan has been with Al Shirawi since 1994. A passionate advocate of quality, he firmly believes in settling targets and priorites. "Proper planning, co-ordination and communication between the project team is very important. It will control cost,quality and time," he explains.

He loves the Al Shirawi work environment because of the two way interactions with superiors and smooth procedures facilitated by the ISO certification. "We have an excellent management team, experienced engineers, creative draftsman, efficient technician and the perfect secretary. Everyone contributes, we are successful together!" he concludes.

The spry, turbaned Kartar Singh was loved by all and called 'papaji' in reverence. This 72-year old Service Supervisor finally retired in May 2002 and went back to Delhi after a long innings at the crease. "He had been in Al Shirawi for more than 25 years!" M.Mansingh, Service Manager. ' His departure saddened me because he was such an inspiration and source of information for the youngsters on our team." His electrical work background combined with vast experience in air conditioning made him invaluable. "He had re-joined us after an early retirement. Despite his age, he had loads of energy, even climbing ladders at night," says Mansingh. Some of the prestigious projects he worked on were Tower buildings, Ramada, Al Durrah Tower and the Enco Complex. Well, goodbye and goodluck!