A sunny horizon Coiver Contract

A SUNNY HORIZON A SUNNY HORIZON

Despite the current global crisis, Coiver Contract Srl, part of the Coiver Group, can afford to have a positive outlook on the future, thanks to its track record and to the experience and credibility it has acquired over the years. Barbara Rossi talks to Gianni Dessi to find out more about this innovative producer of thermo-acoustic solutions for a wide range of industry sectors.

Coiver Srl started operating in 1977, in the field of thermo-acoustic insulation for industrial plants. Over the years the activity has evolved, gradually diversifying and becoming increasingly specialised. Today the group is composed of various companies, including Coiver Contract Srl, Coiver Coibentazioni Termoacustiche Srl, Ferlegno Srl, Coiver Sign and Color Srl, and Coiver Cladding Srl, as well a company located in Rome (Coiver Contract Centro) especially dedicated to the projects in south Italy.

Coiver Contract Srl operates in the field of civil/industrial construction and carries out internal finishes. Mr Dessi explains, “We are active in the construction sector, where our specialisation is dry finishes. We focus particularly on large public and private construction projects, for which we build partitions and false ceilings, offering an added technical value in terms of acoustic comfort and fire resistance, as well raised floors. In addition to this, we also take care of the construction of architectural projects. The types of projects that we work on include hospitals, shopping malls, office blocks, airports and residential buildings.”

Coiver Contract Srl is part of the Coiver Group. The group’s headquarters and operational site are located on the outskirts of Milan (specifically Cormano), where Coiver occupies a 4000m2 area. Around 1100m2 of this area is covered and is used for housing offices, while the remaining area is for production and stocking. Here Coiver Contract manufactures mobile wooden walls and furnishing accessories, as well as technical processes such as light carpentry and aluminium and steel metal sheeting. The R&D department is also based here and so is the warehouse for materials used in startup work taking place at the construction sites distributed all over Italy. Investing in innovation

When asked about significant investments, Mr Dessi says, “Our main investments are aimed at the acquisition of innovative technologies, something to which we pay the utmost attention. For a market leader such as Coiver Contract, being able to guarantee a continual update of our technical offer to our clients, in addition to correct installation carried out by skilled personnel and managed by an efficient construction site structure, is essential. In terms of further developments we are organising ourselves to transfer our vast experience abroad. We have actually already completed some large projects outside of Italy, an example of which is the Mater Dei Hospital in Malta for whose construction we worked together with Skanska, one of the world leaders in the sector. Our ambition is to replicate this experience in new markets, especially in developing countries.”

Coiver’s activity in the construction sector can be described as global. The company has carried out a diverse range of projects to date, from the largest shopping malls to rail stations, from airports to large residential buildings. Mr Dessi adds, “Our red thread is and has always been the design and construction of innovative dry structures for which we widely employ our chalk sheet technology in all its forms, as well as our whole range of metallic products, mineral fibres, calcium silicate and all the special products that we select on the basis of the project’s requirements.”

Venturing abroad

As previously mentioned, while so far the company has been mainly active on the Italian market, it has recently been extending its activity to foreign based projects without setting limits to the type of projects to be carried out. Up to now, starting from Coiver

Contract, the leading company within the Coiver Group, Coiver has developed in a significant way, through a series of spin-offs, thanks to which the numerous specialised companies within the group have been set up. In this way, it is able to offer a unique range of services, which in addition to the Coiver Contract activities includes signage and communication systems, ventilated facades, mobile walls, furnishing accessories and thermal insulation.

“We are keen to highlight that each of these activities is offered by a specialised company, equipped with a technical structure and a construction site management which replicate that of the leading company within the group, but obviously on a scale commensurate with their turnover. Currently the market offers many opportunities and, because of this, we don’t exclude the possibility of acquiring a company if it proves interesting in terms of technical assets.”

The global economic crisis would suggest a cautious attitude, a course of action that the company would obviously adhere to. But as Mr Dessi has to explain, “Let’s say that we add a healthy dose of optimism to this view, at least because notwithstanding the difficulties in the market (and those of the construction market in particular) the Coiver Group has always maintained a constant growth trend. We are convinced that during these difficult times we are reaping the fruits of the credibility we have gained throughout our years on the market. As a consequence we’ll carry on with our habit of paying a lot of attention to a concrete and reliable company structure to which our clients will be able to refer to, as always. After all, crises do not go on forever!” n