2012: The year of competition

MEP Middle East talks to three of the foremost MEP experts in the region about expectations in the industry and how the lessons from 2011 can help growth in the coming year

Given that 2011 ended on something of a high note for the MEP industry with nascent signs of growing cropping up throughout the region, it seems only fair that we should look ahead to 2012 with some optimism and a sense that better things lie ahead of us.

With that in mind, MEP Middle East spoke to three of the biggest names in the industry: Khaldoun Tabari from Drake and Scull International, David Crowder from Atkins Middle East and Adrian Palmer from Ramboll Middle East.

All three gave us their expectations for the industry over the coming year and highlighted the sectors of the industry that they felt would offer the best promise for growth.

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As a whole, 2011 seems to have been a largely positive year for the MEP industry. Did it live up to your expectations?
Khaldoun Tabari: 2011 was a challenging year for the regional construction industry. We had to contend with changing macro-economics, shifting political winds and fierce competition.

However, we are satisfied with our solid performance across all our subsidiaries for the first nine months of the year despite a challenging macro-environment.

The first nine months showed revenues of $607.13m, a solid increase from the total revenues of the fiscal year, 2010, which received $503.67m.

These results reflected our operating capability, portfolio strength and financial flexibility. Our initial target was to achieve a 25% top line growth for 2011 and we’re delighted to have exceeded our expectations.

David Crowder: 2011 has exceeded our expectations. In the transportation sector, we were awarded some major projects, including the MEP design for Jeddah Airport and Etihad Rail. This has allowed us to maintain staffing levels despite the tough economic climate.

The market was extremely competitive, but our performance figures have been good thanks to our success in securing such a diversity of work across the region.

Adrian Palmer: Yes, it did live up to our expectations, in that it was very challenging! We had a disappointing first half of the year, but from the second half onwards, there has been a significant improvement.