New in store for Bahrain

The site and company in question act like a series of Russian
dolls, as within this complex, about half a mile from the front gates and another
half a mile from Mina al Salman port, lies Bahrain Investment Wharf (BIW). Within this lies Majaal, a project and a company
of the same name under development by First Bahrain Real Estate Development Company,
a Kuwait-based developer that has focused on the industrial sector as a fertile
ground for steady returns.

Majaal is a series of warehouses covering 65,500m2 at the Bahrain
Investment Wharf (BIW) in Hidd. It provides modern facilities to small and medium-sized
companies.

The key is on higher-quality space that can provide storage and
offices, as well room for some light manufacturing if need be. It aims to attract
both local companies as well as international firms looking to establish a foothold
in the region.First Bahrain
has leased six plots from BIW, a $1.6 billion development by Tameer that is the
only privately-owned, operated and managed industrial park in the Kingdom.

Amin Al-Arrayed, general manager of First Bahrain, explains that
after a severe market correction for commercial and residential building in places
such as Bahrain and Dubai, industrial-focused
projects provided a less volatile context in which to develop. It also met a local
market need.

“Due to the market dynamics today, it makes sense for us to go
industrial, and I think it was a wise decision on our part to say okay, we will
focus on this sector,” says Al Arrayed.

“So for us, it was a sensible and clear decision to say the economy
is weak, and this is a sector that is getting a lot of government support. It should
do well during a recessionary period, so let us invest.”

Majaal’s development – launched mid-2007 – is split into three
phases. The first phase, built by Abdulla Al-Darazi & Sons, a local contractor,
was finished last year, and comprises three warehouses that will be split internally
into areas from 250m2 to 1,000m2. These have been leased to a range of tenants,
from banks and manufacturers to drug companies.

Phase one was designed by Dutch company Tebodin Consultants &
Engineering, a broad-service consultancy that posted a turnover of $276.3million
in 2009, has a network of offices around the Middle East, and has been in Bahrain since 1997.
The three warehouses cover 12,000m2 in total.

Construction began in February 2009, with Abdulla Al-Darazi using
its local contact book to procure materials and services. Kirby Building Systems
supplied the steel structure, along with a clutch of other projects in the country,
with Al Moayyed International Group providing the fire safety equipment and the
MEP works.

“There has been a mix of companies, some that are here for the
first time in Bahrain,”
says Yasser O. Abu-Lughod, head of development at First Bahrain. This includes foreign
companies from Europe. “It is the only place in
Bahrain
where you can have security 24/7,” he says. “Each unit has an address. There are
[also safety features such as] fire alarm systems.”

Inside the smaller of the two warehouses, walls for partitioning
have already been put in place, though this is still a sizeable space. A single
office has been constructed aloft in one corner of a unit, with small kitchen facilities
underneath. “There are lots of facilities provided for the tenant to build on, or
if there needs to be a mezzanine, for example,” he says.

The warehouses use simple innovations to reduce tenancy costs,
such as broad skylights to reduce the need for artificial lighting, along with many
elements of the design and construction deployed to accommodate the wear and tear
involved with heavy loads and complex machinery. The floor is a particular innovation,
made from concrete infused with steel fibres. This compares to a standard slab cast
around steel rebar mesh.

Sushil Kher, executive director at Mohamed Salahuddin Consulting
Engineering Bureau, a local architectural consultant, which was contracted to design
the second phase, said this is an innovation from Europe.

“Slab floors are traditionally made from concrete reinforced
by a steel mesh. In this case, it is a particular grade of concrete combined with
steel fabric rather than mesh. [European companies] have been using and testing
the system for years. The overall effect is that it can take a much heavier load,”
says Kher.

The floors were provided by the Luxembourg-based firm Twintec
International, a specialist contractor for steel-fibre reinforced concrete as applied
to industrial flooring. The company’s key product is the Freeplan joint-free floor
that can be produced on ground or on piles. As with any innovation, however, it
is typically more expensive to install than more orthodox flooring.

“We keep upgrading our products, and compile case studies to
show clients. We receive a briefing from the manufacturer, and then in turn we brief
the client,” explains Kher.

Fawzi Al-Darazi, a co-managing director at Abdulla Al-Darazi,
says projects have been emerging at a steady rate recently, and that the market
was not as severely hit by the wider recession as property-heavy Dubai was.

First Bahrain
awarded the design of the second phase to Mohamed Salahuddin Consulting Engineering
Bureau in August last year.

Sushil Kher says the design and eventual construction of the
second phase – a single 13,000m2 warehouse, which will be divided into 1,000m2 units
– intends to be more ‘user-friendly’ than the first phase.

“One major difference is that phase one has no docking levellers
to park trailer trucks,” he says, an additional feature that will be present in
the upcoming facility,” Kher says.

A feature retained from the first phase is the flexibility to
accommodate diverse end users. “The areas in one warehouse were 1,000m2, but the
design has the flexibility that if a potential client wants to use 5,000m2, all
of it could be theirs, or they might want only 2,000m2.”

Yasser O. Abu-Lughod, head of development at First Bahrain, adds
that a new tenant had requested a 4,000m2 space, for example. “We will be able to
hold off the construction of the partition wall until near the end of construction,
although even if the wall had to be built, it can be knocked down again if the client
wants it,” says Kher. “It is a joint process with the client; we are working closely
with them to assess which tenants will be in the warehouse.” Tenders for the construction
of the second phase closed at the end of December last year, and negotiations are
still in process, according to Abu-Lughod.

Further down the line, he reveals that the company is keeping
in mind plans for the third phase, which will be another single warehouse. But unlike
the warehouse of the second phase, this is intended to house a single tenant. Abu-Lughod
would not reveal the potential tenant, though speculated that it could very well
be a shipping company.

For Abdulla Al Darazi, this is just one of a number of industrial
projects earmarked for the region. “We are in close contact with potential clients
to commence with two projects in the industrial sector, and are anticipating to
start working on this in early March this year,” says Nishad Abdul Samad.