New JV warns about critical-facilities investment

LZ Technologies Middle East managing partner Bassem Hariri.

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There is a real misunderstanding when it comes to critical facilities, argues LZ Technologies Middle East managing partner Bassem Hariri.

"A lot of owners, if they have never done it before at the same scale, sometimes they oversimplify the complexity and what it takes to build and operate these critical facilities," says Hariri.

"Sometimes because they have been working mainly with vendors and contractors, building smaller data centres, they also get get influenced by vendors that try to oversimplify things because they want the project no matter what."

Hariri says there is still under-investment in the critical facilities sector, which is just maturing in MENA. This is because many companies grew so fast in the boom period "that they did not pay attention and invest in their infrastructure.

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"They are still growing, but have found that they have under-invested in these critical facilities, and now it is time to invest over the next 15 years."

LZ Technologies Middle East has just entered into a JV with the Syska Hennessy Group of the US. Based in Dubai Internet City, the new company is called Syska Hennessy Group MENA.

Its flagship projects include work on the CMA Tower in Riyadh and for the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. It is also active elsewhere in the UAE and in Oman.

Read the full interview in next week's Construction Week magazine.