Construction World March 2016

RESEARCH and Leading construction chemicals producer, The Chryso Group plans to use South Africa as the springboard for increased penetration into the African continent will be boosted by the establishment of a new Research & Development facility at the Chryso Southern Africa head offices in Jet Park in early 2016. DEVELOPMENT centre

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specific products for the African market, and for more efficient and prompt testing services for Chryso customers in sub-Saharan Africa. The new R&D facility in Jet Park will be equipped with the most modern, high-tech facilities and will include, to a significant extent, the R&D equipment we operate in France, Turkey and India,” Bernard said. “The construction industry today demands innovation and new solutions to 21 st Century building philosophies and techniques – and that is an important motivation for opening the new South African R&D Centre. Local demand in the field of construction chemicals has to be catered for – from the industry's doorstep, not from another conti- nent,” he added. “It will be unique in its field in Southern Africa in the services it offers.” Bernard said Chryso planned to expand its African presence even further than the recent opening of production facilities in both Kenya and Algeria. “Future African penetra- tion will be either through acquisitions or greenfield developments. There are three

This was announced by Thierry Bernard, Global CEO of Chryso based in France, during a recent visit to South Africa where he met

with the Chryso executive vice-president, Norman Seymore, who is also CEO of Chryso Southern Africa, which will next year celebrate its 20 th year of operations in South Africa. Bernard says although Chryso is an inter- national company doing business in more than 70 countries with subsidiaries in 20, it regards Africa as one of its most important markets. “A total of about 25% of Chryso total sales are to African countries, with South Africa and Morocco by far our major markets on the continent. We have made substantial capital investments in our operations in South Africa in recent years and in future want to use South Africa to drive further investments in Africa, some of which are imminent. “But we also realise that our South African operations need to maintain and improve the service it offers to customers. There has been a growing need to develop

Thierry Bernard, Global CEO of Chryso, based in France, who announced the opening of a new R&D Centre at the Chryso head offices in Jet Park during a recent visit to South Africa.

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areas, in particular, that we are currently targeting. The first is Egypt. Then there is West Africa, particularly the French-speaking coun- tries such as the Ivory Coast and Senegal, where we are already doing business; and finally, there is Nigeria, which has a strong economy and substantial business prospects. The Chryso entry into these countries will be carried out in phases over the next two to three years.” Global future expansion plans for Chryso included increasing its operations in Sweden where a production facility to serve the Scan- dinavian market is on the cards, as well as in a Middle East Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country where the establishment of Chryso operations has virtually been finalised, with an announcement in this regard due before the end of the year. “Chryso also needs to be more active in South-East Asia, so that's another region where we are planning to increase our presence.” He said Chryso's expansion globally, and in Africa's emerging markets, hinged on being flexible and selective. “We are not ‘putting all our eggs in one basket’. The economies of African countries, in particular, are volatile and subject to unexpected slowdowns, so expansion plans have to be very selective in the first instance and avoid relying too much on one particular country,” Bernard added. Chryso, originally part of the Materis Group of companies, was acquired by leading European equity firm, LBO France, last year and now operates as a stand-alone entity with enhanced credit resources for global expansion.

SUPPLYING LESOTHO LODGE

Tile Africa Commercial supplied a natural look and feel of 400 m 2 of Urbis Genova Porcelain Floor Tile to Lesotho based Maliba Lodge.

The new building came about as a result of a distribution fire in 2013 which nearly completely destroyed the original lodge. “It was very important for us to retain as many of the elements of the original building and keep the same footprint. We wanted a hard wearing, large and natural looking stone tile that matched the natural organic feel of the lodge”, says Dwain Elliott, director Maliba Lodge. “Tile Africa Commercial specifiers match the product with the specification while keeping the technical aspects in mind, ensuring that the tiles supplied are suited in terms of traffic and durability”, explains Vaughn Dyssel, Tile Africa Commercial sales manager. The Urbis Genova Porcelain tiles that were supplied, provided not only a cost effective and sustainable design but also blended in with the >

remaining infrastructure on site. Natural building materials of stone and thatch were also used to incorporate the original look. “The new building design allows a lot more light and flexible spaces and is a lot easier to heat in winter. The new floor surface not only looks good, but is safe, durable and easy to maintain”, adds Elliot. Tile Africa Commercial offers an extensive range of technical and aesthetic products that cover every requirement and applica- tion. Due to its strategic distribution centres, centralised co-ordination for national projects as well as specialised advice from its experi- enced consultants and specifiers, Tile Africa Commercial provides customers with a profes- sional service and peace of mind from concept to completion.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD MARCH 2016