Materials & Supplies

US Firm to Set Up Concrete Admixtures Factory in Nairobi

X-Calibur’s Nairobi office will serve as its Africa and Middle East headquarters.

Updated on

October 13, 2015

Cement mixing — Workers use cement at a construction site. PHOTO | FILE

US-based X-Calibur Construction Chemistry Inc., which manufactures a range of construction chemicals, is setting up base in Nairobi – joining a growing list of foreign companies that are expanding into Kenya.

The company has announced that the proposed Nairobi office will serve as its Africa and Middle East headquarters, effectively shifting base from the United Arab Emirates where operations are presently run.

X-Calibur, which mainly produces waterproofing and flooring systems, said on Monday that it would open its factory in Nairobi by the end of 2016 to meet the rising demand for construction chemicals in East Africa.

“We are going to major in concrete admixtures, which improve performance and durability,” X-Calibur managing director Brian Davies said on Monday.

The factory, which is under construction on Mombasa Road, is projected to produce one million litres of concrete and cement additives annually.

Concrete admixtures are used primarily to reduce the cost of concrete construction; to modify the properties of hardened concrete; and to ensure the quality of concrete during mixing, placing, and curing.

Mr Davies said that X-Calibur has previously supplied its products to several large projects in Kenya, among them The Hub Karen, Muthaiga Heights, and Tullow Oil projects.

The firm also supplied aluminum joints for the construction of the new terminal at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

The rollout of mega projects in roads, rail, and ports is enticing foreign companies to expand into Kenya as they seek to position themselves to ride on the current construction boom.

In July, South African chemicals manufacturer Chryso Southern Africa Group announced plans to set up a concrete and cement additives plant in Kenya – a facility that is hoped to make the company more efficient in serving the region where it already has a presence.

A year earlier, BASF, the world’s biggest chemicals maker by sales, opened a Sh1.2 billion plant for concrete admixtures on Mombasa Road in a bid to “better meet” the demand for its products in the region.

Dick Purchase, BASF vice-president for Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, and Russia, said: “the new plant would help the firm to increase efficiency while lowering costs”.