Sharjah’s Beeah retains Saudi Arabia focus, seeks to expand in wider GCC
Beeah is also looking at North and East Africa, as well as East Europe, Al Huraimel said
Dubai: Sharjah alt-energy firm Beeah is intent on expanding its reach in international markets, says its CEO.
Already present in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the company now has its eyes set on the wider GCC region as well as parts of Africa and Europe.
“This year, the focus will be on consolidating our international position in Saudi Arabia and Egypt to further grow in these two markets,” said Group CEO Khaled Al Huraimel.
“Our growth and waste management will come from moving forward and will come mostly from the international markets.”
Beeah’s first international expansion was in Saudi Arabia, in 2020. So far, the company has deployed a manpower of over 3,000 as well as 500 vehicles for cleaning the city of Madina.
The second contract, a 15-year agreement, was for Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, the new urban community in Cairo that will house a new presidential district, government district, diplomatic district, headquarters of the House of Representatives, and 21 residential areas.
The group is also looking at North and East Africa, as well as East Europe, Al Huraimel said.
“However, our focus, for the time being, will be the GCC and Egypt.”
No IPO plans yet
While the group is on an expansion spree, it doesn’t have plans to go for an initial public offering at “this point in time”.
“All I can say is at this time is we are not looking at this option as we are focusing on maintaining growth as it is and not looking at going public at this time.”
The Beeah Group
Beeah has a management complex in Sharjah where it has facilities to treat different types of waste. The public-private organisation has been building these facilities, one of the largest in the world, for the last 14 years. The facility takes municipal solid waste and segregates it into the tyre recycling facility, construction waste, and industrial wastewater.
By 2018, the group had reached 76 per cent diversion - one of the highest diversion rates in the Middle East - away from landfill (waste diversion is the prevention and reduction of generated waste through recycling, composting, reduction at source, etc). “We started looking at what to do with the remaining 24 per cent and this is where waste-to-energy came into place,” said Al Huraimel. “In 2017, we signed a partnership agreement with Masdar, and we created the Emirates waste-to-energy company to develop, operate and invest in projects across the region.”
The first project is the Sharjah waste-to-energy project that was inaugurated in late 2022. The 24 per cent of waste diverted to landfills will now be diverted to the waste-to-energy project. The project will be producing 30 megawatts of power, and clean energy.
The headquarters
The 9,000 sqm Beeah headquarters, designed by the late Zaha Hadid, comprises a series of interconnecting ‘dunes’ orientated and shaped to optimise local climatic conditions, crowned by a 15-metre-high dome at the entrance. The design echoes the surrounding landscape shaped by prevailing winds into concave sand dunes and ridges that become convex when they intersect.
Ensuring all internal spaces are provided with ample daylight, the headquarters’ two primary ‘dunes’ house the public and management departments together with the administrative zone that interconnect via a central courtyard.
The headquarters also incorporates smart meeting rooms, a visitors’ centre and an auditorium.
The headquarters was built on locally procured materials and is equipped with future-ready technologies to enable operations at LEED Platinum standards with net-zero emissions and minimal energy consumption.
“This building would be one of the smartest and most sustainable buildings in the world due to its features,” said Hind Al Huwaidi, Managing Director of Bee’ah Education “The design embodies our vision - sustainability and digitalisation as well as has AI features - and is currently being developed by Microsoft, Johnson Controls and Evoteq.
The headquarters also features contactless pathways, a virtual concierge, smart meeting rooms and a companion app that automates day-to-day tasks. The building’s smart management system automatically adjusts lighting and temperature depending on occupancy and time of day. The rooms are also equipped for remote and hybrid work scenarios with powerful collaboration tools.