Dubai Market Outlook with Senior Partner Andrew Bereza

Words by BSBG Media Team, Tuesday 09 November 2021

Despite ongoing challenges in the UAE construction sector, Brewer Smith Brewer Group (BSBG) Senior Partner, Andrew Bereza, believes there is a sense that market activity and confidence are on the way to being restored. In our latest blog, we discuss the Dubai bounce back and the current position of BSBG in its three priority markets.

“Our performance as a business is intrinsically linked to the performance of Dubai,” Andrew says. “We always want our home market to be strong. 2020 was extremely challenging, but we had some significant project wins towards the end of the year. This enabled us to move into 2021 with a sense of cautious optimism.”

In 2020, BSBG announced its establishment in Saudi Arabia, with Bart Leclercq leading operations there, supported by key long-term members of the Dubai set up who have relocated to oversee an influx of new projects within the Kingdom. “Our main focus throughout 2020 was certainly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Andrew states. “We were also confident that market activity in the UK was going to come back in the third and fourth quarter of 2021, post-Brexit and post-Covid, and it has done so. However, we were far more cautious on what Dubai and the UAE in a broader sense could provide in the short term. We knew it would recover at some stage, but we didn’t expect it would start to come back as quickly as it has. The volume is perhaps not quite there yet in construction, but there is renewed confidence in certain sectors - in particular, high-end residential and high-end hospitality. These are key areas for us in Dubai.”

Andrew explains that the delayed Expo 2020 getting underway, combined with some big project wins in Dubai for some significant clients, meant the first half of 2021 exceeded expectations for BSBG. The recently announced Beach Mansion for long term project partner, developer Emaar, became something of a catalyst that provided added impetus for the group in Dubai. “Our engagement on the Beach Mansion project was swiftly followed by winning a design and delivery project for a new five-star resort on the Palm Jumeirah, and some fantastic redevelopment plans for some key existing Dubai development centres. These new projects will be a real focus of inspiration and entertainment for the broader Dubai market, and they are very exciting for us to be involved in.”

These new developments, Andrew explains, hold extra significance for BSBG as they are each full service, multidisciplinary projects that comprise concept design as well as delivery. “One of the great things to come out of the last six months is the emergence of BSBG’s +studio, under Group Design Director Mike Lewis,” he says. “The design hub is really starting to gain a lot of traction and awareness in the market, and we have seen people approach us for the award-winning front-end design work the team is producing, and then leading into the first-class delivery service we provide. The ‘one solution’ concept is a very unique and positive offering, both for BSBG and our clients. The team we have built is full of exceptional creative talent, and we believe that the seamless transition between design and project delivery at the level we are able to provide is a rare proposition – we are seeing recognition of this across the board.”

While there are visible signs of improvement in the Dubai market, Andrew explains that BSBG remains mindful of the legacy challenges still to be played out in the construction sector. He says that the impact of Covid-19 is likely to continue to influence the medium term, and that while BSBG has had some significant project engagements, “we have to remain focused on going out and winning that next stream of projects.”

He continues: “There are always challenges, no matter what junction of the market cycle you’re in, and for us as a business we need to ensure we are able to stay determined, resolute, and try to build upon a good 2021 as we move into next year. That means assembling the next collection of projects from our existing client base, and also finding some new clients. There are some new markets opening up for us and we need to remain agile enough to take advantage of these.”

Finally, with his recent promotion to Senior Partner representing one of the most significant internal changes within the group, how is he feeling about his own role within the business? “Of course, any promotion is a good promotion,” he remarks. “But for Kevin (Harper – also Senior Partner) and I, it’s been far more important to see people like Jamie Armitage (Partner) Demetri Tourtouras, Chris Brown and Steven Bailey (Directors), and some of our key technologists such as Mark Vaughan, Richard Griffiths, Chris Day and AJ Hutchinson getting the recognition they so richly deserve for the standard of excellence they each set. These are guys who have been with us for many, many years, and they are now able to take that next step up and continue to grow with us.”

BSBG Media Team

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