A villa a day in UAE: How cutting-edge technology in construction made it possible

In a remote corner of the garden city of Al Ain, there is a chain of companies under the umbrella of Nael General Contracting Group. And their task is to literally make a villa a day. Factory units driving the process include Nael cement, cement products, ready mix concrete, steel structures and stainless steel, marbles and granites, aluminium and glass, joinery and interiors and crusher.

Nael group's journey itself is quite remarkable. It was in 1982 that Nael General Contracting Group managing director Oommen Varghese landed in Abu Dhabi. Oommen was part of other contracting companies before launching Nael General Contracting Group in 1999.

"We started with less than 20 staff and today have grown to 7,000-strong workforce. We are Special Grade Contractor. We are marking 20th year now but there is long way to go," Oommen said.

Group general manager Joseph Varghese said visionary steps have powered growth. "We reinvested our profits in factories to add products which can support construction. We made efficient use of technology to establish 14 factories to produce different products," Joseph said.

"In 2006, we started producing cement. We named it Al Ain Classic and have now started exports to India. We also supply products to 120 companies in the UAE. We also have a cement factory unit in Djibouti."

300 villas in 300 days

Joseph said advanced precast technology helped the group to fast track work and realise a villa a day Al Hayer - Emirati housing development project.

"Our chairman Nayel Rashid Saif Al Shamsi supports Abu Dhabi government's vision. Last year we finished 300 villas in 300 days. But now we have increased our capacity and can deliver more. We have learnt to be more efficient. We have our own engineering methods. We do road construction too," he said and noted the cohesion between all units helps to handover every project on time.

The Group has 15 to 20 projects this year and enough work to be occupied till 2020.

"We have projects worth Dh2 billion per year. Our profit margin is 10 to 12 per cent. We have 8-10 ongoing projects in Al Ain."

Schools in remote areas

Nael reaches remote locations of Liwa, Bada Zayed, Dalma Island, border areas among others.

"We aren't visible like other commercial contractors. We have Abu Dhabi government projects. We are associated with Abu Dhabi General Services Company (Musanada) from the inception. We are working closely with military services. We have finished 30 schools for Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek) in last five years. We delivered one school in Dalma Island too. We have four more schools to complete in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Then there is a school for autism students in Al Ain. We have police training centre in Al Foah. We have housing project for the government. To top it there are malls and hotels," Joseph added.

Amid slowdown and deliberations at Cityscape over innovative solutions, Nael is charting a new path for rest to follow.

Nael says no to plastic

Sustainability is core of Nael General Contracting Group. There is a zero use of plastic and workforce is provided aluminium drinking bottles and tiffin boxes.

Corporate HSE manager Dr Haridas S. Nair said the management is committed towards health, safety and welfare of workforce.

"As recognition we have received 12 international awards. We are first contractor to receive Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) award for innovative solutions in the Middle East. This is also first award to be presented outside the UK. All our projects are environment friendly. We also executed Abu Dhabi government's concept of sustainable construction technology. It is called Estidama, which is Arabic for sustainability," Nair said and noted how they are following Khaleej Times' anti-plastic drive.

How villa a day realised

A villa will have 90 to 200 panels which will be casted, produced, demolded and transported to the site. The panels are built on top of a pallet and filed with concrete. Up to 92 panels are raised in a day with hollow core 'pre stress slabs' for roof. These 92 panels are installed at site to make a villa. High load carrying capacity slabs are made through pre-stressing technology. In between insulation will come and then conduits like electrical switch boards, pipes etc. Apart from superstructure, works of steel, stainless steel, aluminium cladding and glass, joinery and interiors, woodwork, flooring and painting, and landscaping is done in tandem at other factories and assembled on site.