JEDDAH — Amid the challenges brought about by the ongoing geopolitical developments and the prevailing weak oil prices, the GCC region's business opportunities remain encouraging, the Middle East managing director of a world-leading integrated project and program management consultancy Faithful+Gould said in an interview. It is part of Atkins – a design, engineering and project management consultancy. Campbell Gray, who sits at the helm of Faithful+Gould in the region, said there are concerns that if oil prices are sustained at a low level, that government spending in the GCC will be reined in. In the short term countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar have historical current account surpluses that can be used to weather the downturn. Yet, while record budgets were announced, the burn rate on the current accounts will be exacerbated and may lead to significant re-evaluation of programs. “In terms of market sectors, hospitality is not the most likely to be affected by government budgets. Instability within the region, combined with a strong dollar (which the GCC generally pegs it's currency's too) could start impacting tourism, which in turn will put some of the hospitality developments at risk based on feasibility. Having said that, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah have a strong pipeline for growth in religious tourism and this is likely to continue regardless, especially with additional capacity being added with the new King Abdulaziz International Airport, in part to cope with growing Haj and Umrah demands – which Faithful+Gould are proud to be engaged on, providing project controls and commercial management services with Saudi Bin Laden,” he said. Growth is likely to come from the market realigning to governments' reassessed priorities, he noted. Excerpts of the interview follow: • With your purchase of Confluence last year, there is no doubt that you're going global. What is your projection about the global construction/consultancy business vis-à-vis the economy – particularly in the Middle East – in the next three to five years, taking into account the ongoing geopolitical crises in the region? The Middle East represents a core part of our business. We're experiencing encouraging levels of growth and opportunities in the KSA, as well as our other core GCC markets in Qatar and the UAE, where there is a strong drive for major infrastructure. We are also leveraging on Confluence's extensive hospitality and retail experience, with key clients such as Majid Al Futtaim and Mubadala. In the next year we expect to see some great opportunities in the property sector including hospitality, mixed-use developments and social infrastructure (health and education), transport infrastructure (roads, rail), with the strongest investment in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. As such we will continue to support our parent company Atkins on the Doha and Riyadh metro projects, and other transport and infrastructure growth drivers. • What are the challenges to your continuous expansion in the Middle East region? How would you overcome them? With the market heating up, there is an obvious risk of escalation and logistics for the supply chain, as is getting the right people. It is a challenge, but really it is a typical challenge for the region, the kind we live with on a daily basis. The mobilization of big teams is why companies such as ours do so well, because we have deep resources and a reputation that attracts good people. Faithful+Gould's strategy for growth over the past few years and since it opened up has been a slow and steady approach and it is not so much challenges to expansion but ensuring that our service offering is in line with the expectations of our current and prospective clients. Faithful+Gould works on solutions that solve problems based on our extensive years of experience in the industry and this is how we have always dealt with challenges as they have come up, which in general, are no different to what other providers and clients face on a day-to-day basis. • With your expertise in Project Management, how would you approach this situation for a sustainable business endeavor? The feasibility for hospitality developments to cater to religious tourism is there and there is generally a huge undersupply of 3 and 4 star hotels in KSA. Jeddah has more hotels currently under planning and development than Dubai. I think in other market sectors, there were a lot of trophy assets being planned while oil prices were high. These are and have been reassessed and quite a few are now quietly being scaled back or cancelled. With regards to developing sustainable projects that provide social cohesion or return on investment (ROI), a feasibility and development management plan should be brought together before any engagement of consultants or contractors. Then I would advise engaging as early as possible with professionals who can bring their wealth of project experience, processes, procedures and lessons learnt to the project/program. • You have recently announced that your new business focus is on integrated project and program management services, what exactly do you mean by that? There's a significant trend for major client organizations wanting to be serviced at a worldwide level, and we see this as a big opportunity. This applies to international companies with offices in the Middle East, but also to Middle East companies which increasingly have a reach beyond the region. Such clients are looking for joined-up, high quality project and program management support from companies they know and trust, and who really understand their culture and vision. It is therefore essential (that) we're focused on meeting these needs. Faithful+Gould's core services, cost and commercial management, project management, program management, development advisory and project controls, will continue to be delivered, however, the integrated suite of services will provide a richer and more holistic offer. • How does Saudization and the current Nitaqat affect the viability and growth of business establishments in this respect? What's your advice? If you were to run such company, how will you handle it to make it grow? Project and Program Management can, and best practice dictates, should be applied to any project or program undertaken by any industry or development project. Faithful+Gould's industry is construction and development projects. Our focus is on the Lifestyle (hospitality and retail), infrastructure and industry. By bringing together an integrated approach, you can drive efficiency and harness global professionals to support specific programs and projects. Nitaqat has been a challenge recently for the construction industry, with 130,000 contractors in KSA closing their doors in recent times. However, there are a whole new generation of Saudi engineers, architects and project managers joining the workforce who will in time develop the requisite skills to drive the growth and productivity in the industry. Faithful+Gould exposes all graduates on our graduate program to global best practice and gives them the opportunity to gain experience on a wide variety of project types and locations to ensure future growth and the application of new best practice within the industry on a global level. This of course is filtered down on a regional, country and project basis. I do run a company that has to consider the aforementioned points and our strategy is to engage from graduate level through our management development plans and then on our leadership development schemes. • How will a PMO culture be established in a company in KSA? in the region? What are the dos and don'ts? What are the obstacles and the strategies & tactics to triumph over them? To establish a PMO culture in any organization or set of developments requires the buy-in from initially the senior management, but post this, the buy-in of all levels of the organization. Without the alignment of the business to developing and delivering PMO, it will either not be very effective or fail. Do look for global, regional and local examples of its implementation and lessons learnt – ensuring you engage with external organizations that have requisite experience and skill sets to design and deliver. Don't just order the implementation, engage at all levels of the business and get buy-in. Generally speaking, the obstacle to getting a PMO implemented is a lack of knowledge or understanding of the benefits and this does require time to educate. — SG
