GOIC organizes a meeting on "New Developments in Building Materials"

Engineer Ahmed Sultan Al Kawari, the Assistant Managing Director for Technical Affairs in ASHGHAL opened the meet. In his speech, H.E. Ahmed Dhaif, Assistant Secretary General for Information in GOIC stressed the importance of holding such a meeting in view of the construction boom which GCC member states are witnessing and the importance of implementing new developments in the building materials as well as the construction methods being adopted worldwide.

Mr. Shambhu Prasad, a senior expert at GOIC, gave an introductory presentation on the new Developments in Building Materials. The presentation highlighted the various developments currently occurring in building materials sector clarifying that the global building material market is now exceeding US $ 710 billion; while the compound growth rate in this market had been 1.3% CAGR during 2000-2004. Also Growth rate in 4 year period was 7%; and Asia Pacific region generated 245.1 billion $ in 2004, 34.5% of the global market.

During the meet, four international keynote speakers gave presentations on different updates in building materials industry. Mr. Jan Glaenzer, from Germany, gave a presentation on the Application of Nanotechnology in Construction Sector: Roads and Infrastructure, Building with Ultra Strong Concrete, Solar Energy and Room Conditioning, and Managing Facilities. On his turn, Mr. E. James Parks, from USA, gave a presentation titled "Insulating Concrete Forms: Meeting Speed, Insulating, and Cost requirements in construction". Then, Mr. Chris Jensen, from USA also, gave a presentation on the Future of Metal Framing in the GCC: Partitioning space with speed, flexibility, and sound isolation. And finally, Dr. Leo Jacob, from Australia, gave a presentation on The Impact of new Technologies on the Growth and Sustainability of the GCC Glass Industry. The meet concluded with an open house discussion where participants and attendants interchanged views and asked questions.

It is worth mentioning that the meet was attended by a large number of stakeholders in the building and construction sector covering engineers, architects, constructors, building material suppliers, Public Works Authority officials, and others.