The year ahead - 2020

The year ahead | 2020

Words by Andrew Bereza, Tuesday 25 February 2020

BSBG Partner Andrew Bereza gives his annual thoughts on the year ahead in our 2020 outlook. Last year the cloud of Brexit, many of Trump’s policies both on the Middle East and domestically, combined with general investment caution, created a challenging market that would prove to further test the resolution of even the most well-established organisations. This year, there are more reasons to be optimistic…

This time last year I referenced ‘global uncertainty’, and it largely determined the direction of the article. As 2019 continued, regional challenges developed alongside a handful of other politically charged events internationally, all of which were less than helpful in stabilising investor confidence.

Reasons to be cautiously optimistic

However, as we begin 2020 there is a cautiously optimistic mood. Many of the challenges in the region seem to have calmed down, the direction of Brexit is now clear, and the US and China have reached a truce/trade deal that halves tariff rates on $120bn worth of goods (from which many predict Vietnam will be the prime benefactor). These have all had a stabilising effect on investor confidence.

It would be remiss not to mention Coronavirus at this point; the outbreak has the potential to cause severe economic disruption and market dislocation. However, to what extent that happens will ultimately be determined by how well governments respond, and by how the virus spreads and evolves, which is almost impossible to predict.

MENA outlook

2020 brings an opportunity to showcase the region in a positive way. With Dubai Expo 2020 and the G20 summit to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the eyes of the world will be on two of the region’s key players. If these two events go smoothly, a different aspect to the Middle East will come into focus – one founded in the warmth, generosity and great hospitality that Arab nations are renowned for. Particularly for Saudi Arabia, hosting the G20 in November has the potential to assist the nation in moving quickly towards its goal of creating a viable post-oil economy. One key to this goal is tourism.

Saudi ambitions

At BSBG, we are very excited about the potential of Saudi Arabia. The mega projects announced there will be extremely challenging to execute, and we know how well the strengths of our own proposition align with the fact that developers in the Kingdom are serious about producing high quality, sustainable and impactful architecture to help elevate the country’s appeal as a destination.

Businesses based in the UAE such as ourselves will have a huge part to play in this. The experience of delivering similar scale developments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi will be extremely important to developers in Saudi. King Abdullah Financial District ($100 billion), Neom in the Red Sea ($500 billion) and Al Qiddya Entertainment City ($500 billion) are just three of more than 80 announced projects with a value of over $1 billion, targeted at meeting the objective of increasing visits to 100 million a year by 2030, attracting big foreign and domestic investment and creating thousands of jobs.

A further boost to those of us with operations in the UAE is the recently signed Double Tax Treaty (DTT) with Saudi. The DTT effects some important changes which will reduce both taxation and compliance obligations for UAE resident businesses with aspirations within the Kingdom. This is a hugely positive outcome and is surely driven - at least in part - by Saudi construction ambitions and the wealth of big project expertise located just next door.

The region’s design hub

The UAE and Saudi between them account for 69% of the GCC construction market. For us, large projects such as The Island in Dubai and the recently announced SHA Emirates serve as examples of continued investor confidence in big UAE projects. We hope to see this continue in the run up to a successful Dubai Expo 2020 and beyond. For the region, as the central design hub of the Middle East, Dubai practices will play a significant role in major developments throughout 2020, and that is a very positive outcome after a challenging few years.

The Island is one of our key projects for this year, and unquestionably one of the most ambitious BSBG has ever undertaken. For the benefit of the project, we’ve formulated a creative hub within our Dubai headquarters, from where our +executive and structures teams work side by side with external parties, including design architect UNS and façade consultants AESG. We have established a cohesive team, working together across disciplines, in recognition of our need to be agile, responsive to the challenges of the project, and also to stimulate the innovation that can occur when different disciplines and ideas come together. The results of this approach for us have been key to the success of the project so far.

A shift in traditional leadership

Last year, we welcomed Michael Lewis as the Group Design Director, and the output from the BSBG design hub +studio has been phenomenal. Michael’s leadership style and his role in the development of his team were two of the many reasons we brought him to BSBG.

Management is, for us, about a culture of support and guidance, developing and fully utilising the talent you have at your disposal. I keep reading articles that refer to a concept which suggests a modern, successful manager is not a manager, they are a coach. This, for me, is indisputable; in Michael and throughout our management structure we have leaders whose passion is to guide and mentor. The output of (BSBG design hub) +studio since Michael came onboard is testament to the success and response of this approach.

Our purpose

Our strategy for 2019 was to consolidate our position in the new markets we had entered. The commitment we made to our new London studio has been vindicated; we have now been awarded three projects in the UK’s capital, moved into a new office space in Holborn, and have grown both our London and Ho Chi Minh City teams further during the year. We believe 2020 will be a solid year for us in the UK and Vietnam, and we are currently in discussions regarding multiple key projects that could have a huge impact on our international business.

We remain driven by our purpose, which is essentially to continue offering our bespoke design and technical expertise with the goal of enriching the lives of people, and providing value and assurances to our clients. However, our purpose as a business runs far deeper than that.

We continue to invest in young, ambitious people, who, combined with the wisdom and knowledge of our more experienced heads, are producing a level of work on demanding projects such as The Island, The Residences Dorchester Collection Dubai, SHA Emirates, Visa Middle East Headquarters, Nobu Hotel London Portman Square and Green Park Hotel, that is truly world class.

These projects and our business strategy have a commonality, in that they are targeted at enhancing the experiential worth of architecture, connecting with people, and providing a sustainable future with long term value. These are the components that make up the BSBG purpose, and as we look forward to this new decade and all the promise and potential it holds, I remain convinced that the strength of our business will continue to reach new heights year on year.

I’d like to wish all our clients, partners and colleagues a successful 2020.

Andrew Bereza

Senior Partner

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