2023 | The Year Ahead

Words by Andrew Bereza, Tuesday 21 February 2023

BSBG Senior Partner Andrew Bereza provides his annual thoughts as to what lies ahead for the industry in the next 12 months.

There are three key global components to consider as we plan our strategy for 2023: high levels of inflation, potential recession and varying degrees of confidence depending on geography. We are conscious of the inflation and recessionary pressures impacting some countries, but there is optimism in the US, which seems to be managing these pressures, with hopes for a soft landing. This will be good news for the global economy as a whole. China has now dropped its Zero Covid Policy and is repairing international supply chains, which is a very positive development for our industry. In addition, our two key markets of the UAE and Saudi Arabia are growing, and we hope they will continue to gain momentum.

Given all of that, while in some markets this year will be challenging, we believe that for us at BSBG, 2023 could be very positive, particularly as we move into the second half of the year.

The UAE

As I have said many times before, we consider ourselves fortunate to be headquartered in one of the most dynamic and exciting markets in the world. With the recently announced D33 Dubai Economic Agenda, the leadership of the UAE has once again laid a blueprint for the future and a commitment to creating 100 transformative projects with the target of doubling the size of the economy in the next decade. It’s the ambition and drive of the leadership which continues to position Dubai as one of the world’s best cities to live, work and do business.

Last year in Dubai, records were broken in the real estate sector, with average property prices increasing by 9.5%, and transaction volumes reaching 90,881 – more than the previous record set in 2009. We expect to see the market soften slightly in Dubai, but there remains confidence in development, exemplified by our strategic multi-project partnership with Ellington Properties, who have now taken their place as one of the leading developers in the UAE market. We’re very pleased with the way in which the first of our projects together, Upper House, has been received - with all units now sold, and we look forward to completing the concept for the next one shortly; from what I’ve seen of the early work in our +studio design hub, it’s likely to create a huge buzz once formally announced. In addition to our ongoing partnership with Ellington, we are delighted to be partnering with a developer coming into the market for the first time from Europe, the details of which will be announced in full in due course.

This year we are also looking forward to the handover and opening of The Lana by Dorchester Collection. This Foster + Partners design is one of the most highly anticipated project deliveries I can remember in the UAE. It has been a challenge to execute, but also a fantastic experience for everyone at BSBG, particularly for our site teams who are doing such a great job in overseeing its delivery.

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is really kicking on now, as more projects aimed at contributing to the Saudi Vision 2030 are announced. We are very fortunate to be working as project partners with some of the key development authorities and developers in Saudi on some truly wonderful projects - the majority of which remain highly confidential, for now. But we have a firm base of clients in the Kingdom, and we are now beginning to work on the second and third generation of projects with many of these. Of course, as with any emerging market, particularly one with such a huge level of financial backing, the volume of activity in Saudi has meant we’ve found ourselves presented with hundreds of opportunities, however we have remained very selective with the projects we commit to, and we’re very comfortable with the quality of the clients we are working with.

This year we expect to be able to announce many of our new large-scale projects across the Kingdom, with multiple jobs progressing to site, and we will also see our first KSA project, Misk School, open up. The school is on a 21-hectare site, with nine eco-friendly and digitally connected school buildings for students aged three to 18 years. The complexities involved in coordinating an education facility of this stature and nature are hard to comprehend. What an amazing job our teams on the ground in Saudi and back at our Dubai HQ have done on bringing the school towards completion. I personally can’t wait to visit the facility later in the year.

United Kingdom

It’s undoubtedly a very challenging market currently in the United Kingdom. Inflation is high, but the outlook for the UK, particularly if this improves towards the end of the year as we hope, is less pessimistic than one might expect. There remains positivity in the UK that things will start to turn around.

In terms of ongoing projects, this year we are completing the handover of The Silk District Phase 2 with our long-term client, Mount Anvil, and we are looking forward to reaching some major milestones on our One Clapham Junction project with the same developer. We are also in discussions with some of our key existing clients regarding projects that they hope to bring forward in 2023.

The London office continues to go from strength to strength in terms of personnel, and we also have some exciting projects in the pipeline - one hospitality-led mixed-use scheme in Tower Hamlets in particular, which I’m sure will be of huge intrigue to all those with a vested interest in the London market. I continue to visit London regularly, and there is a shared optimism that big things could be just around the corner.

In 2023 at BSBG, we are aiming to sustain the growth that we have seen in the UAE and Saudi during 2022. We have great faith that our reputation and continued commitment to first class design and delivery in our key markets will enable us to do so.

Our position, as always, is strengthened by our people. We are fortunate to have an amazing pool of talent across each of our three locations, with lots of energy and enthusiasm, working on world-class projects for fantastic clients. As a senior management team, for that we are very thankful.

I would like to wish a great year ahead to our clients, partners and staff for 2023.

Andrew Bereza

Senior Partner

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