Al Jawhara Tower brings new accounts for successful company trio from Kuwait and Austria
The Austrian company iku® intelligente Fenstersysteme AG, specialist for self-cleaning façade systems, currently finalized its prestigious account in Kuwait city. The Al Jawhara Tower, with a height of 135 m and 32 floors, has been equipped completely with the iku®windows Unitized façade. All in all 8000 m2 aluminium glass façade, totally 2000 Unitzed façade panels, has been fabricated and installed on site.
The rise of a jewel
The office tower is a new landmark of Kuwait city. "Al Jawhara" standing for "Jewel", now is perfectly shining always with iku®windows - self-cleaning facade systems, just at the touch of a button.
The start of the construction work was January 2007. The installation of the first facade panels on site started in August. In December 2007 nearly half of the building already had been glazed. Till July 2008 the whole façade construction was completed. During the second period of construction all electro mechanical works have been executed. After the finalizing of the power and water feed lines, 100 motors, which are carrying the wipers as well as the electronic units for the controlling of the cleaning cycles, have been installed. Till the end of 2008 the final test with numerous washing cycles have been conducted, which caused astonishment by the local construction people and passing by pedestrians.
Clear arguments for iku®windows in comparison with traditional cleaning methods
There are many advantages of iku®windows system for the building owner compared to traditional BMU systems: The cleaning of the whole façade, e.g. the Al Jawhara Tower, could take several months, depending on the weather conditions. Only seven hours will be needed to clean the whole façade with iku®windows - self-cleaning façade systems.
The investment for a traditional BMU system is about € 200.000,-. For the solution with iku®windows the investment is around € 300.000,-. Given the building is cleaned 12 times a year, which is a must in the countries of the golf region with its hot, humid and sandy air, the amortisation of the additional investment is reached already after 1.9 years. From this time on the owner makes a profit. Some owners are performing cleaning cycles once a week, as the use of the system is very simple - at the touch of a button. The running cost for one cleaning cycle is very low - only about € 10,- in the case of Al Jawhara Tower. And there are no additional costs for cleaning personnel. This way the running costs for a building can be reduced significantly. Not to forget the permanently rising personnel and maintenance costs for traditional BMU systems, which are important factors within the running costs.
Signing ceremony with Kuwaiti and Austrian politicians and business people
The success of the Al Jawhara project is based on one main reason: It was a congenial teamwork of three companies. iku®windows as the system supplier, British Link Kuwait Company (BLK) as the façade manufacturer and the sales team of the iku®windows licensed partner Al Ghanim Aluminium in Kuwait , who won the contract, supported by BLK.
The cooperation of these three companies has been expanded now in a further cooperation agreement. On the occasion of the visit of the president of the Republic of Austria, Heinz Fischer, in Kuwait and Qatar recently an economic forum took place in Kuwait City. Julius Thurnher, Master Mind of iku®windows, Khalifa Al Ghanim, Owner of Al Ghanim Aluminium, Khalil Al Ayoubi, Executive Manager, Al Ghanim Aluminium and Ibrahim Hanna, CEO BLK Kuwait, who act in place of Achmed Ali Hussain, Managing Director of BLK Kuwait, fixed a long term cooperation for further projects in a signing ceremony there. Ali Mohammed Thunayan Al-Ghanim, Chairman of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce (KCCI), Richard Schenz, Vice President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, Wolfgang Penzias, Trade Commissioner of the Austrian Embassy and Walter Koren, Head of Marketing of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, have been present at the signing ceremony.
A world patent from Vienna sets new standards in modern glass architecture
iku®windows, with its headquarters in Vienna, is rolling out into the world market with an invention as simple as it is genius - intelligent glass facades with integrated self-cleaning and numerous additional options. The technology is based on a world patent, which was invented by company founder Julius Thurnher. Electronically controlled wipers with automatic water supply are enabling the cleaning of large façade surfaces at the touch of a button. Benefits: Apart from enormous time saving the systems convince by usability, security and cost effectiveness. It pays for itself soon with long term low running costs. Also facades that are difficult to access, can be cleaned easily. The newly developed maintenance and evacuation units are already applied for patent. The extended use of Photovoltaic and solar cells in the façade of modern buildings will further lead to the success of the innovative system. Especially in the golf region, the permanent cleaning of the solar cells is a must in order to keep their efficiency in the energy production.
iku® intelligente Fenstersysteme AG - www.iku-windows.com:
The family business was founded in 2000 under the directorship of Monika Thurnher, daughter of the inventor and Director of Technology Julius Thurnher. The business objective is the development and distribution of intelligent window and façade systems and its additional options. The products are fabricated and fitted by regional manufactures, which are licensed partners of iku®windows. The intelligent components such as motors, electronics and accessories are supplied by iku®windows Austria. iku®windows is the owner of the patents and grants it to licensed partners worldwide. To date there are aside from Austria, Germany and Switzerland the following countries: Egypt, U.A.E., Japan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi-Arabia, South Korea und Taiwan.
- Ends -
For more information, please contact:
Martina Aigner
Marketing & Communications
Austria, 1230 Vienna, Slamastraße 27,
Phone +43-1-616 56 58-25
Email: martina.aigner@iku-windows.com
© Press Release 2009
