The wild wild Middle East

There was no tar road then. We would use four wheel drives, but it could take you as long as a day and a half to get there (Abu Dhabi).

Back in the day, when Dubai’s deserts weren’t a well-kept secret, camels were a common site and talk of erecting skyscrapers from the sand would have risked your expulsion from the arab state, four pioneers found themselves charged with the task of forming, what is now the region’s largest listed construction company – Arabtec. Company CEO Thomas Barry revisits those years.

Ten minutes into our chat and it became quite clear that the Irishman sitting in front of me had led quite a full life. Barry, who looks like he’d be in his mid-50s was one of those wild, adventurous sorts.

“Yes, 1976 is when I came here,” he said looking out of his office window in Al Quoz.
 

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“Dubai at that time had oil and they were going to use a lot of their oil money to establish and build the infrastructure for the city and I mean, ports, airports, roads, hospitals, schools etc. So we knew there was going to be a lot of construction activity here.”

Some of the biggest names in UK construction were already in the Middle East including Costain and Taylor Woodrow who in a joint venture worked on the Dubai Dry Docks.
 
Due to the lack of any notable local construction companies in the region, the thought of not establishing one was simply mad.

Four friends including Riad Kamal, Colin Weekley, Peter Bruce and Barry himself, all of whom worked at UK-based Sir Robert McAlpine at that time, decided to get together and start up Arabtec.

Barry recounts: “I worked for Sir Robert McAlpine in the UK at that time and Riad Kamal, Arabtec chairman, also worked for the same company. Riad’s idea was to start a construction company locally.

He had the means and the backing to put it together and he asked three of us to join him and that was when Arabtec was formed. It was formed in 1975 and then I came out in ‘76. All of us worked for McAlpine; Colin went back to McAlpine shortly after, while Peter left but stayed on and started up his own interior design company here.”

With Barry now having been with the company for over 30 years, it’s quite safe to assume that he’s a stayer. He agrees, but with a flash of regret.

“Dubai was different then. It was really an adventure for one to come out here then, as you felt like a pioneer in a new country – things weren’t easy. Getting around was even difficult.