A Century of Consultancy

John Williams believes the construction market is changing post-recession, with more developers becoming asset owners.
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It’s been 100 years since EC Harris was founded and, having spread its wings across a number of regions and markets, the built asset consultancy now regards the Middle East as one of its most valuable business hubs.

But like most other construction firms, the company was not so lucky that it managed to come away from the global economic recession unscathed.

After experiencing a substantial fall in new business, it was forced to make some difficult decisions and was compelled to diversify, both in terms of geography and sector. The result was a re-defined growth plan, being driven forward by the firm’s key executives today.

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The man behind EC Harris Middle East, John Willams, is in some ways what you would expect of a regional managing director. Positive, knowledgeable and forward-thinking, while slightly cautious about giving away too much. On the other hand, he is rather surprising, almost shy and relaxed.

Hence why, when he is asked about how the company has fared during 2010, he gives what seems like a very honest answer.

“I think most people would agree that it’s been a really tough year, but there are some signs of recovery,” he says optimistically. “We’ve had a good couple of months in terms of new project wins, and we see the market picking up towards the end of 2010.”

For EC Harris, the downturn wasn’t as much about losing customers as it was about losing a market. According to Williams, the company’s focus had been on the commercial property market in the UAE – this being among the hardest hit by the declining financial situation.

“Previously, we were heavily orientated towards the commercial property sector because the market pulled us that way. It was difficult to focus on much else because that’s where the investment was. Then when the recession hit, consultancies like ours had to look at their client bases. The fact that projects were stopped in Dubai generally, obviously, affected everyone, and it influenced decision-making everywhere.”

Luckily, Williams explains, EC Harris had already begun to diversify its markets, putting it in a good position to make the quick changes that became critical to every business’ survival.

“I would say we probably weren’t hit quite as hard as other firms because we had diversified already in terms of sectors and geographies. So work in Saudi, for example, helped us, and fortunately we had invested in building some infrastructure in the oil and gas sector.

But we did have to make some changes very quickly and it wasn’t easy. We’re still operating very much in Dubai, but obviously the commercial market there has completely changed.”