ABEL or Alstons Building Enterprises Limited is a member of the ANSA McAl Group of Companies. It is the largest manufacturer of clay building blocks and Metpro steel and aluminium windows and doors and Astralite and Spectra uPVC windows and doors in the English-speaking Caribbean. For over sixty (60) years, ABEL has been at the forefront of the buildings material industry and has earned the reputation for quality, variety and innovation. To complement its range, ABEL added the Metpro PvC windows and doors line in 2005 and is presently looking for suppliers for clay flooring tiles.

In 2005, the air-condition division of the Ansa McAL Group was brought under the ABEL umbrella and is called the ABEL Air Condition Division. ABEL Air Conditioning Division provides a full range of air conditioning equipment and services to the Trinidad & Tobago market. As the authorized dealer for Carrier equipment in this market, ABEL represents the oldest and most respected air conditioning brand in the world. ABEL can supply your every air conditioning need from the smallest room to multi-storey structures.

In 2007, ABEL Air Conditioning Division began to expand its product line by introducing the Katashi range of air conditions and in May 2007, added the Carrier Generators to its product mix. Among its achievements in the recent past are air conditioning works at West Mall, ANSA Finance Building and Unicell Paper Mills. Most recently, ABEL Air Conditioning was awarded its largest contract ever for Park Court – the proposed RBTT banking centre located at St Clair Avenue. For this project, ABEL will supply 750 tons of air conditioning capacity in the form of two screw chillers with central station air handlers.

Bestcrete: over fifty years of trust

For over fifty years Bestcrete Limited has been the trusted name in concrete building products. This company was acquired by the Ansa McAl Group in 1993 and was partnered with ABEL, with both companies reporting to a common Management Team.

Production facilities at Bestcrete presently include six (6) fully functional plants, with the most recent upgrade, the Colombia 1600, which was commissioned in June 2007, making it one of the most modern plants in the Caribbean. With the introduction of this plant, Bestcrete is now able to increase its production capacity by 30%.

All ABEL and Bestcrete’s products are manufactured to internationally accepted standards, with the companies being ISO 9001 – 2008 certified. The range of Bestcrete products have been used on a number of prominent projects throughout the Caribbean. Most noteworthy is the interlocking pavers which were used at the Grenada Stadium and the Port of St. George’s (Grenada), the St. Vincent Cruise Ship facility, Sandals Resorts (St. Vincent and Jamaica), and the Piarco International Airport and the Brian Lara Promenade (Trinidad & Tobago).

In order to efficiently reach the widest cross section of the buying population, ABEL / Bestcrete has segmented the market into that of hardware dealers, contractors and the retail trade. Each member of our sales team has been assigned to one of these segments and it is their responsibility to ensure that every customer receives the highest level of service.
Our distribution channel for the retail trade comprises of a number of Product Centres which is shared with fellow group member, Penta. Here, the entire range of products are displayed and customers receive expert advise on their building needs from our staff. These Centres are spread throughout Trinidad and Tobago, to ensure easy access. Presently there are five Centres – Cipero Road, San Fernando; Montrose, Chaguanas; South Quay, POS; EMR, Arouca; and Scarborough Tobago.

The Birth of ABEL Building Solutions (ABS)

Combined, there are five divisions under the ABEL/Bestcrete Divisions – ABEL Clay, Metpro, Air Condition Divisions, Projects Department and Bestcrete. Whilst there is one Board of Directors and one common Management team overseeing the operations of the various Divisions, we have traditionally approached the market as separate entities.

These divisions, however, offer complementary products to the market and provide synergies and services that other companies do not. As such, driven by the Managing Director and supported by the Executive Board of Ansa McAL, an initiative was undertaken to bring all the various sales, marketing and technical expertise under one umbrella, hence, the birth of ABEL Building Solutions.

Thus, this organization is, in essence, a “one-stop shop” where customers can source many of their building needs, from flooring systems to roofing systems and everything in-between. This Division will serve as a consultancy firm that will assist the customer through the entire building process by utilizing the expertise of our trained team of engineers and technicians.

Government Campus Plaza, Trinidad

The Government Campus Plaza is a government complex, currently under construction on Richmond Street and Wrightson Road in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. It fulfills the Government’s goal of ensuring that the public can quickly and conveniently access the services of five of its Government Ministries/agencies.

Currently under construction on Richmond Street and Wrightson Road in Port of Spain, the Government Campus Plaza will be one of the projects that will change the skyline of the nation’s capital.

Located just across from the POS International Waterfront Centre on Wrightson Road (a busy East-West transport artery in western Port of Spain) on a 1.154 million square foot quadrangular piazza, the Government Campus Plaza will provide not only office accommodation and parking, but also an aesthetically pleasing public plaza with manicured gardens and entertainment space. In the plaza, just below the state-of-the-art, outdoor 40 x 70 ft screen mounted on one of the plaza’s two 23-storey towers, nationals and non-nationals alike will benefit from an outdoor performance area, which will be used for showcasing cultural festivals and performances.

Facilities

The complex consists of:

• The Board of Inland Revenue Tower (23-Storeys)
• The Customs and Excise Headquarters Building (23-Storeys)
• The Ministry of Social Development Building
• The Ministry of Legal Affairs Tower
• The Government Campus Plaza Parkade
• A state-of-the-art, outdoor 40 x 70 ft screen mounted on one of the plaza’s two 23-storey towers

Special Project Features

Curtain Wall and Composite Cladding

The Government campus Plaza comprises of two – twenty three storey “towers reaching to the heavens overlooking two eight storey structures.”

This intrinsic design is one of the largest curtain wall and cladding projects undertaken by a single local contractor in the region. Financed and commissioned by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, the contract price of this project stands at US$40m.

Nicholas Towers, Trinidad

It has an elliptical floor plate and stands 21 floors tall and 88 Meters high.

Special Project Features

Specialised Glazed Curtain Wall
The developer’s vision of an elliptical building could not have been realised without the input of ABEL/Bestcrete and its Canadian partners, Fulton.

From early in the design process, frequent meetings were held between Issa Nicholas Developers and ABEL/Bestcrete to ensure that the concept was readily translated into reality.

The end result is a totally engineered, specialized glass curtain wall that seems to seamlessly envelope the entire building.