Author: Mehak Srivastava

Despite Dubai-based developer, Damac Properties, posting a 45% drop in its net profit for the first three months of the year, to AED484mn from AED880.4mn for the same period last year, the developer reported a total revenue AED1.9bn in Q1 2018, with booked sales reported at AED1.6bn. The group’s net profit stood at AED484mn in the first quarter, marginally higher than AED459mn reported in the fourth quarter of 2017. Total assets too increased by 4.6% to AED26.5bn compared to AED25.3bn as at December 2017. Ali Sajwani, general manager operations for Damac Properties, said: “With Expo 2020 just around the corner, we…

Read More

Muhammad BinGhatti has been leading the developer into its third generation with the ambition of creating a renaissance of business in the region. Inspired by the Arab region’s traditions, history, and culture, Binghatti Holding’s CEO and head of architecture has been successful in developing an identifiable and branded visual identity across all the company’s subsidiaries. As a result of it, the total number of projects that are currently under construction by the developer is 25 and the total value of these projects is AED3.5bn. BinGhatti tells CBNME: “Essentially, our vision at BinGhatti consists of illustrating art in all our products…

Read More

In September 2016, two of Italy’s construction companies formed a joint venture, headquartered in the UAE, to bring architectural, turnkey, manufacturing, engineering, as well as project management and building solutions to the region. Cimolai Rimond Middle East, operating from its regional base in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, offer complete turnkey construction based on the latest advances in integrated project delivery solutions using Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology. Both partners have been associated with some of the most challenging projects, across a wide breadth of market segments including hospitality, healthcare, education, exhibition centres and pavilions, transportation, and marine infrastructure. Cimolai and Rimond both worked on the…

Read More

Stuart Jones joined Bechtel in 2018 as the regional president for Europe and Middle East, following a 30-year career in the United States Foreign Service. In September 2017, he stepped down as acting assistant secretary in the Bureau for Near East Asian Affairs at the Department of State, a position he held through the 2016 Presidential transition. Prior tours included serving as US Ambassador to Iraq from 2014 to 2016, US Ambassador to Jordan from 2011 to 2014, and deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Other foreign tours include Turkey, Egypt, Colombia, and El Salvador. Jones…

Read More

Since taking over the role of CEO in September 2017, Matt Squires have focused on four specific areas, including leadership team performance, allocation of capital, setting strategy and direction, and modelling and setting the company culture, values, and behaviour. Considering geographical opportunities, Saudi Arabia represents the largest market opportunity for SSH. Individual project opportunities lie mainly in Kuwait and the UAE territories. Squires says: “Current GCC market complexity means that identifying the opportunities that will ‘go’ from our ‘get/go’ analysis is our biggest challenge.  Competition is very high and focusing our teams on the right opportunities is key.” The value…

Read More

Richard Beard is the managing director, responsible for Ramboll’s Middle East and Asia businesses specialising in buildings, transport, water, environment, and health and energy. The Middle East and Asia region is spread across 10 offices located in Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai, and Riyadh in the Middle East; Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai in India; as well as Singapore. During his tenure, Beard has been responsible for many new initiatives. Despite an improving market, there are pressures on margins and the priority to deliver projects timely and on budget. With that, major priorities were identified and implemented throughout the…

Read More

Ermis Marques is responsible for determining and leading the strategic direction for the business of Aurecon in the Middle East. During his tenure, his achievements include spearheading the establishment of Aurecon as a leading engineering and infrastructure advisory firm in the Middle East through harnessing digitisation and innovation; establishing high standards for performance; improving profitability by 160% over the recent four years; focusing on developing the next generation of engineers and designers; improving client and project delivery; doubling the number of women leaders in the Middle East business; aligning health and safety practices to international standards; and providing leadership based…

Read More

It has been an incredibly busy year for ARADA, which was founded in December 2016, as the UAE’s newest developer. The developer launched its first project, Nasma Residences in March 2017, with the first phase selling out in less than a month. ARADA’s second project, the Aljada mixed-use megaproject, was launched in September last year. Over the course of the 12-month period, ARADA launched two phases for sales, and began enabling works onsite in April. In addition, a series of key contracts was awarded at Aljada, including the infrastructure design contract to Jacobs Engineering, and the design for the Central…

Read More

One of the leading master developers in the UAE, Dubai Properties, is responsible for shaping some of Dubai’s most renowned and iconic real estate destinations. As a member of Dubai Holding, the global investment holding company, Dubai Properties has developed large-scale, mixed-use destinations across the emirate, including Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR), Business Bay, and residential projects in Dubailand. In February 2018, the former CEO, Abdulla Lahej, was replaced by Raed Al Nuaimi. Previously with DXB Entertainments, Al Nuaimi was in-charge of a new entity that was created to manage multi-billion dollar development projects for both Dubai Holding and Meraas Holding.…

Read More

Saeed Al Qatami serves as the chief executive officer and managing director of Deyaar Development since 2010. He also served as the vice president of business development at the Dubai-headquartered property developer since 2007. In that role, he was primarily responsible for developing Deyaar. The developer’s revenues for the first quarter of 2018 went up by nearly 25%, climbing to $47.9m (AED176m) from $38.7m (AED142m) in Q1 2017. The company’s net profit, meanwhile, rose by more than 25% to reach $10.9m (AED40m), compared to $8.7m (AED32m) in the same period last year. Qatami said in a press statement: “Deyaar’s steady performance…

Read More