Turner & Townsend said its Middle East revenue had risen 45 per cent last year to £25.9 million thanks to new contracts and work at airports.
The UK-based construction consultancy’s growth in the region has been spurred by work in the airports sector.
It is involved in the expansion programmes at airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as at Muscat and Salalah in Oman.
The company is also advising on phase two of the expansion of Hamad International Airport in Doha.
Turner & Townsend, which specialises in cost and project management, has a 4,102-person workforce in 90 offices across 38 countries. Its overall revenue last year rose 8 per cent to £380 million (Dh2.2 billion), driving a 10 per cent rise in net profit to £27.3m.
The company employs about 250 people in the GCC, up from about 50 five years ago.
In the past year, the company has secured new clients in the region such as General Electric and Emaar Properties, for whom it worked on the upgrade of the Manzil hotel last year.
Turner & Townsend has since been awarded another two hotel upgrade projects by Emaar, and it is working on the development of Damac Properties’ Aykon Nine Elm tower, its first project in London.
Mike Collings, the company’s managing director for the Middle East, said last year’s revenue increase was largely because of its work on infrastructure projects. He said the company had since secured more contracts in the property and natural resources markets.
“This year, we’ve seen a big increase in the amount of property work,” said Mr Collings. “Property is growing very rapidly in an increasingly busy Dubai market. It isn’t quite the boom of 2008, but there are plenty of cranes on the skyline again.”
Turner & Townsend has four offices in the Arabian Gulf – one each in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha and Muscat – and plans to open an office in Saudi Arabia. Mr Collings said the company had spent a lot of time to identify the right local partner and the best route to market, but he was expecting to open an office in the kingdom within the next three months.
“It’s a big country and we think there will be plenty of opportunities there for us,” he said.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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