Firms in Dubai must recruit hundreds to tackle boom

Top British QS and project management firms are recruiting swathes of reinforcements to their Middle Eastern offices, as the fast pace of construction in the region continues.

Mace told QS News it would add between 60 and 100 project managers to its Dubai branch during 2006. The office currently has 185 people on the payroll. They form part of the firm’s 245-strong Middle Eastern operation.

Faithful & Gould plans to increase its Dubai presence from 70 to 100 QSs and PMs by year-end, while Currie & Brown intends to add a similar number across the Gulf in the same timeframe.

It currently has 77 in Dubai and 45 elsewhere in the Middle East.

EC Harris added around 50 people in Dubai over the past 12 months, bringing the office up to 80-strong, and the firm will hire a further 20 professions this year.

Davis Langdon also confirmed it would recruit more people to its Dubai office during 2006.

Mace offers project management exclusively in Dubai, in contrast to its UK business, which also offers multi-disciplinary services. Jonathan Toms, associate director for Mace, based in Dubai, said the recruitment drive was being driven by the weight of current and anticipated business. The firm recently won the project manager role on a £1bn water-themed resort. The Aqua Dunya project covers 8m ft² and includes an outlandish giant boat containing a 330-bed hotel and theme park.

It’s not the hardship post it used to be so salaries here are similar to back home

David Stapleton, managing QS, F&G

Mace’s other massive jobs include project managing the construction of Jumeirah Beach Residence, a £900m scheme comprising some 36 high-rise residential towers and four hotel towers.

Over the road from the development, F&G has a role on Jumeirah Lake Towers, a 77-tower scheme. F&G is providing QSing and PM on the centrepiece tower, six tower blocks, infrastructure works and parking facilities. It has 40 people assigned to the scheme but is likely increase this to 50, according to David Stapleton, managing QS, Dubai.

Currie and Brown is providing cost management on Motor City, a £500m scheme within the Dubailand area for developer Union Properties.

Most of the new recruits at all these companies will come from the Indian subcontinent, particularly Sri Lanka. Stapleton said: “It’s difficult to attract people from the UK to Dubai. It’s not the hardship post it used to be so salaries here are similar to back home... expertise from outside Europe is catching up so it’s not worth our while to employ ex-pats to do basic cost management.”

He said further opportunities were opening up in the Gulf in areas such as Bahrain and Kuwait. Within the UAE, Abu Dhabi is also emerging as a strong source of potential business following a change of regime in November 2004 due to the death of its ruler Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who was succeeded by his son. Mace set up in Abu Dhabi in March 2004 and now employs 20 staff there. The death of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, this month is not expected to result in any change in the pace of development.