OVER $ 85BN WORTH of building contracts were handed out across the GCC last year , and with a yearly increase of 7 % that upward trend should continue through 2018 . There can be no doubt that the Middle East is one one of the key regions , globally , for the construction industry .
One of the region ’ s specialist consulting and commissioning firms , AESG , has been a major beneficiary of the GCC building boom , with the company doubling in size over the course of the last calendar year . Some organisations struggle with that scope of change , but AESG seems to have taken the growth in its stride . However , Managing Director Saeed Al Abbar insists that the company isn ’ t “ growing for growth ’ s sake ”, and that growth has been a by-product of success rather than a goal in and of itself .
“ We didn ’ t really set out to double in size in 2017 , but it did happen ,” he reflects . “ I think it ’ s with the ambition our team has . Everyone wants to strive to be the best at what they do , and naturally with that , you tend to work on bigger projects . I think a testament of that is that 80-85 % of our work is repeat work . If we were truly focused purely on growth , we would be spending a lot more time and assets on advertising , but it ’ s more that if clients grow , we grow with them . So that ’ s been the path we ’ ve had .”
Al Abbar is a passionate advocate of sustainable development and green building techniques and has consequently presented at a number of local , regional and international conferences as well as authoring a number of papers on the issue .
Al Abbar recognises that flexibility is paramount to survive in this industry , as is the experience of having been involved in over 300 projects . He outlines what are , in his opinion , the key trends for the building industry in the year ahead .
Zero and near-zero energy buildings Since the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 , we have started to see a move towards the decarbonisation of the global economy and according to the terms of that , building stock has to reach net-zero by 2050 , and preferably a great deal sooner .
The building industry is already having to adapt and this is something that Al Abbar believes is set to continue . In fact , he thinks the idea