Construction Week Middle East – August 03, 2019

FORMWORK

38 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 3 - 30 AUGUST, 2019 WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM

T

he Middle East’s construction

industry is rapidly adopting

construction technology

advancements as cost, time,

and efȌ ciency pressures increase for

regional contractors. For instance,

speaking to Construction Week in

March 2019, executive manager of

Acrow UAE, Khaled Amin, said the

GCC was rapidly becoming a saturated

market for formwork suppliers.

Commenting on how challenging

market conditions are driving change at

formwork companies, Amin said: “The

sales focus has changed from quality

and speed to reusability and long-term

returns on investment.

“That seems to be where market

requirements have migrated over the

last couple of years.”

That contractors are choosing to

reuse or upcycle their products is a

commendable trend, especially as

global industries opt to operate through

the ‘circular economy’ model that is

considered the ideal mechanism to

drive a zero-waste community.

As such, it is important for

contractors to understand whether

a formwork product will be reusable

in the mid- to long-term. For

instance, plastic formwork can be

Ȍ xed with ease, does not shrink or

swell, and does not absorb moisture.

Understandably, reusable plastic

formwork is a preferred item for

contractors around the world –

especially as it can also be easily

assembled onsite through modular

systems or interlocking.

Global formwork companies are being driven to adopt new materials

and building techniques as contractors seek to stay competitive

amid challenging market conditions, Ranju Warrier reports

The global formwork industry must

evolve to succeed [image: Shutterstock].

Regardless, the choice of formwork

must be driven by the project types

that the contractor is working on.

Plywood formwork was commonly

used for structural construction,

but was replaced by aluminium and

plastic due to its ease of use and

affordability. The latter materials

were also helped by their ability to be

easily detached from concrete.

Technology is also a key factor in the

formwork industry. Take the example

of an indoor tennis centre that is being

developed as part of Kuwait University’s

Student Activities and Athletic Facilities

Project (SAAF) in Al-Shadadiya.

Formwork company Peri announced

in July 2019 that to efȌ ciently translate

the vision of the project team, its

engineers designed the 3D building