Currie & Brown cuts quarter of Middle East staff

By Emily Wright and Emily Wright Emily Wright2009-04-24T00:00:00+01:00

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Currie & Brown has slashed staff numbers in the Middle East by a quarter in the past seven months

The consultant confirmed that it had reduced staff numbers by 19% between October and March. However, it is understood that the figures from September to April show that it has cut its workforce in the Middle East by about 25%.

The losses took place as redundancies or transfers, and reduced the total number employed in the region from 245 in September to 185 at present.

Last month, at least 20% of Currie & Brown’s staff in Oman were made redundant and the company’s billing and measurement activities were made “dormant”. It was this unit that processed bills of quantities for Currie & Brown’s cost consultancy work across the Middle East.

Having a measurement and billing centre is commonplace for firms doing QS work in the Middle East as it is local clients’ preferred system for drawing up bills of quantities.

“A billing centre is a barometer for how healthy the firm is and how much work it is doing,”

A billing centre is a barometer for how healthy the firm is and how much work it is doing
Industry source

said a senior industry source. “The fact that Currie & Brown is in a position to shut theirs down suggests they have little pre-contract work to process in the UAE at the moment.”

A senior source close to Currie & Brown confirmed that the centre was no longer in operation: They said: “This section of the business is not currently doing anything but the Oman office itself is still open.”

The firm denied that it had permanently closed the billing centre. The news of the redundancies comes after Currie & Brown announced last month that it would be focusing on the US market.

Euan McEwan, the firm’s chief executive, spent two months in Abu Dhabi over Christmas working for Al Qudra Holdings, one of the UAE’s biggest clients.

However, he will now be working in New Jersey for two to three months. He flew out to the US two weeks ago to support David Burns, Currie & Brown’s former executive director for the south of the UK, who has been appointed president of its American operations.