Our journey in the Middle East started 19 years ago, in 2003 when our Brisbane team were engaged by Laing O’Rourke to provide structural design for the Dubai International Airport. We delivered the project remotely from Brisbane, with our project leaders Scott Wheeler and Jason Langer travelling back and forth to Dubai to coordinate with the construction team. It was our first chance to learn about the rapidly-growing Middle East region.
Fast forward three years to 2006, n opportunity presented itself through major developer Nakheel. Our Middle East leaders Hassan Taleb and Geoff McNeill took the opportunity to formally open a standalone office in 2007, in one of the villas built as part of one of our projects. We then continued to build our reputation and relationships with new and current clients, expanding our team to support a diverse range of high-profile projects – including Paris Sorbonne University, and Zayed University.
As our portfolio of projects grew, so did our team, and in 2011, we moved to expanded office space at Ibn Battuta Gate. For the next decade, we delivered iconic projects including multiple pavilions at Expo2020, Abu Dhabi Midfield Terminal, Kuwait International Airport, and many others. By 2020, our team had grown to nearly 90.
As a result of the construction complexity of many projects in the Middle East, our Dubai office has become one of the largest Construction Engineering teams within our global group. From our central “hub” office in Dubai, we now deliver projects across the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman. The team is led by several globally-experienced Directors – Rod Seely, Raid Al-Mahaidi and James Prineas.
Working in the Middle East continues to provide unmatched opportunities to learn about global cultures and working styles, as well as deliver engineering excellence on some of the world’s most iconic and challenging building and construction projects.
