Bovis Lend Lease is planning to expand across Latin America over the next three years

The contractor’s main focus this year will be on moving staff into Brazil and expanding its office in São Paulo before exploring opportunities in Colombia. The group will also expand its presence in Peru, Argentina and Chile.

Bovis employs 250 people on 77 projects across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Raul Berarducci, head of Bovis in Mexico, said: “The next market we will be looking at is Brazil – we’re working on a plan to expand that should be complete in two or three years. After that we will look at Colombia. It could be the next emerging market.”

The bulk of Bovis’ South American work is in Mexico where it has 106 people working out of offices in Mexico City and Guadalajara. Berarducci said it had not yet been decided how many people would be taken on in the expansion.

Mexico City has 1 million m2 of office development in the pipeline and the government is offering tax breaks to developers planning offices that reach LEED certification.