Saudi heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) sector is forecast to grow 10 percent annually to 2015, according to Building Services Research and Information Association, a UK-based testing, instrumentation, research and consultancy organization.

With temperatures shooting up to 50 degrees Celsius in the Arabian Gulf during peak summer, the HVAC industry plays a critical role in the region’s construction sector.

Maintaining optimum comfort levels in terms of temperature, air quality and humidity may be essential, but the HVAC industry is strongly tied to the construction industry, which has seen strong growth in the early years of the century but has petered out since 2008. With signs of recovery on the horizon, construction appears to be on the growth path once again.

It said HVAC will grow by 6 percent in Qatar.

"We see annual growth in the region’s construction markets of 9 percent from 2011 to 2015 with Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait growing at 10 percent-plus annually," Andrew DeGuire, Vice President of Strategy & Acquisitions at Johnson Controls, told Zawya. "The UAE is forecast to be strong with the commercial construction market going forward with 8 percent annual growth from 2011 to 2015," he said.

Overall, the HVAC industry in the GCC has weathered the economic downturn much better than most developed markets around the world and seen average annual growth in expenditures of 12 percent from 2008 to 2011, DeGuire said.

"We see this market growing annually by 8 percent from 2011 to 2015. The UAE has not fared quite as well as the rest of the GCC but has still had solid growth compared to the global HVAC market. We see the UAE HVAC market growing by 3 percent from 2011 to 2015," he added.

DeGuire added that the top four global manufacturers - Johnson Controls, Trane, Daikin McQuay, and United Technologies-Carrier Corp. - represent more than 80 percent of the commercial market. Local players, such as Zamil, Golden Star and SKM, represent the balance of the market.

"In the residential market, there are substantially more players, including manufacturers from Asia, Europe, America, as well as local players from the region," DeGuire said.

Zawya independent research revealed that the list includes Mitsubishi, Carrier, LG, Aftron, Samsung, Voltas, Sinco and others as the leading players in the residential segment.

Technologies and innovation
The HVAC industry is seeing innovation in fields such as air conditioner equipment, building systems integration and building automation and energy management, DeGuire said.
"We have seen new compressor developments that drastically improve an air conditioner’s energy efficiency and cooling capability, which is very important given the Middle East’s harsh conditions and substantial cooling needs," he said.

Other changes include integration of the various systems present in a building (HVAC, security, fire alarms, communications, internet, etc.), which helps save construction costs and allows efficient facilities management. Also, control systems are adopting cloud-computing strategies to offer flexible and accessible monitoring and operations of buildings.

An important trend in 2012 is the wider acceptance of VRF systems, particularly in local villa projects in Abu Dhabi as well as the ECM fan coil units in hotels and high-end projects due to their higher efficiencies, low noise and communications, Berbari said. –