A decking specialist that’s expanding in the Middle East has completed a project at a Dubai sky pool that regularly attracts world-famous guests.
Preston’s Lakeland Verandahs is set to complete 12 projects in its first year in the Middle East and estimates they will generate some £1m. It says negotiations are ongoing with hotels, commercial architects and luxury villa owners.
It recently installed 800 sq m of its Solidek product at Aura Skypool in Dubai, which bills itself as the “world's highest 360° infinity pool” and which has attracted guests including Floyd Mayweather and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The firm completed the job in three months – even working through the night so as not to impact the venue’s event calendar – and also developed a new “Aura” colour to match the venue’s colour scheme.
Lakeland Verandahs employs 40 people across its operations in Preston and Scotland. It was founded by Russell Milburn in 200 and last year saw sales rise to £6m.
Mr Milburn said the Middle East was a big potential market for its premium Solidek composite product as conventional hollow wood composite deck board “doesn’t usually fare well in a Middle Eastern climate.”
He added: “What we really needed was a high-profile installation and they don’t come much bigger than the Aura Skypool, one of Dubai’s most visited locations and 48 storeys from the ground.
“We undertook an amazing amount of due diligence together to showcase our product and why it would work and last better than the previous installation - agreeing to fit-out a dedicated area to provide a free taster of what they could expect.”
Once approved, a five-strong team of Ƶ fitters led by Mr Milburn and his son Sam worked with a local installation team to complete the job.
Sam Milburn said: “The timings had to be just right to fit in with Aura’s extremely tight events calendar and we even had to overcome some major issues with sea freight, instead switching to transporting 24 tonnes of decking by air.
“The hours of planning and the late nights were all worth it and we are justifiably proud to have our Solidek product fitted and performing very well at one the most ‘instagrammable’ locations in the world.”
Dean Stuart Jarvis, general manager at Aura Skypool, said: “Being 200 metres above sea level, we have our own microclimate, and we had to make sure that any decking product we chose could withstand the sun, the salt and the chemicals we use in our pool.
“Solidek exceeded our expectations, and we were delighted when Lakeland Verandahs agreed to customise our own colour.”
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