Prime Consultant

Colin Morris

Colin Morris has been tasked with leading Gifford’s consultancy operations in the Middle East. He says the contractual regime in the UAE significantly lags the UK. MEP Middle East asks how things can be speeded up.

Morris says many contractual relationships in the UAE are still dominated by the tried-and-tested methods of the past. “You get an initial concept, an architect develops some excellent graphics and visualisations, and then the project is put out to tender. Unfortunately, often the cheapest consultant takes it to delivery in the shortest time possible. As long as projects were produced on time and developers got their money, they often did not care enough about the actual product delivered.”

This situation is now changing by dint of the global financial meltdown, which has dealt a serious blow to the UAE’s real-estate market, particularly in Dubai. Declining rentals have meant that customers are faced with more choices and control over where they want to live, work and play, combined with a growing emphasis on environmental awareness.

“In the past, developers were not really worried about the actual outcome of projects, but were focused on optimising time and money,” said Morris. Now the lifecycle costing of buildings is increasingly being taken into account, along with ancillary issues such as operating costs, energy efficiency and resource optimisation.

Morris says part of the problem was that the built environment had always been looked at in isolation. “Developers were not questioning the social and economic viability of what they were doing, which meant they were not looking at producing sustainable communities.” However, an example of the radical shift in attitudes is Abu Dhabi’s 2030 Plan, which addresses these issues and focuses on harnessing renewable energy and ‘green’ master-planning.

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LONG-TERM PLANNING

“Dubai is only now starting to look properly at these issues. Part of the current crisis is due to the fact that the built environment was never supported by social or environmental considerations. Now that the economic support has given way, an entire industry has been revealed to lack stability. The current crisis has shown the lack of proper support and integration, which in short points to a lack of long-term planning,” argues Morris.

Dubai has another potential ‘green’ time-bomb in the wings, namely retrofitting existing buildings to become energy efficient and compliant with internationally-accepted environmental standards. “A lot of buildings were not built with space optimisation in mind; they simply had to be taller or better looking than any others. No one was thinking of how much it would cost to operate such buildings in the long run, as this was simply not a priority at the time. Now aspects such as occupant-friendliness and integration with local infrastructure and transportation networks are becoming vitally important factors,” says Morris.

The focus has shifted from iconic structures to integrated communities, which have clearly defined centres and adequate infrastructure, including transportation. The Dubai Metro is a start in the right direction, though Morris says there are still parking and inter-connection issues that need to be ironed out, such as adding extra lines to turn it  into a “fully workable” transport solution for Dubai.

REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE

“Even then, the question of linking it up to the broader regional infrastructure still has to be addressed. There is also the huge cost associated with the project, and whether or not it might have been cheaper to adopt, say, the Rapid Bus Transit System deployed in Brazil, for example,” says Morris.

Morris is a highly qualified and experienced tri-chartered engineer, as well as being the youngest Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He has degrees in mechanical engineering and building services – and even in defence studies. (His achievements include qualifying as a pilot with the Royal Air Force, and having completed the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC) at the Joint Services Command and Staff College.)

Prior to Gifford, Morris was a regional director at Halcrow, where he headed up project management and site supervision in the Middle East for 18 months. He was project director on a number of high-rise buildings and resorts, including working at Dubai Marina, while in the UK he led the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) Estates Special Projects. He was programme manager for the Catterick Super Garrison redevelopment programme, which had a price tag of a billion pounds. Morris has also worked in Saudi Arabia, managing a variety of engineering programmes between the Kingdom and the UK. He led the first zero-carbon development at Whittington Barracks in the UK before moving to Dubai.

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