The fire safety market in the GCC countries is expected to grow to more than $3 billion by 2020 from $1.4 bn in 2016, Al Bawaba reported on Monday, according to Abdulaziz bin Hamad al-Ageel, Secretary General of the Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Gulf Safety Forum in Doha, Al-Ageel also stated that Saudi Arabia and the UAE were making up for 46% and 43% of the fire safety market respectively.

The growth is expected to largely be due to the need of safety measures to keep up with growing infrastructure and manufacturing sectors.

After a number of high profile fires in the GCC – and especially the UAE – in recent years, there have been claims of a lack of fire-rated cladding in place in older buildings, built before the implementation of new regulations in 2013.