Byrne Looby Partners opens new office in Dubai
Irish and international consulting engineering practice Byrne Looby Partners has announced the opening of a new office in Dubai, bringing to nine its total number of offices across the world
Irish and international consulting engineering practice Byrne Looby Partners (BLP) has announced the opening of a new office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Dubai office represents a further increase in the company’s footprint in the Middle East, as it already has two offices in the region – Doha (Qatar) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). The new Dubai office brings the total number of Byrne Looby offices, in Ireland and internationally, to nine. BLP currently employs 100 people across Ireland, the UK, Europe, Middle East and North Africa.
The company has also made two senior appointments to bolster its presence in the UAE. Mike White, regional director of Byrne Looby Partners Dubai, will now be joined by Ronan Duffy as new regional business development manager and Mohammed Nimeri as senior project engineer to the Dubai office.
BLP first entered the Middle East market in 2009 with ventures in Saudi Arabia. Since then, the company has expanded rapidly and has been involved in a number of key infrastructure projects in the region. These include the Hodariyat Bridge and Marina in Abu Dhabi, a major Jordanian port, the Lusail Expressway in Doha, two major wastewater treatment plants also in Doha and the construction of a 40km wastewater tunnel (the STEP project) in Abu Dhabi.
In 2013, in addition to projects already under way, the company commenced work on a number of large infrastructure projects in the region including a tanker facility upgrade and a major water and irrigation utility project, both in Saudi Arabia. BLP was also recently awarded new contracts for construction works in Lebanon and Kazakhstan.
For the past two years, BLP has been working closely with ASCO Consulting Engineers as a joint venture partner. This relationship has now been formalised with the creation of a jointly owned Qatari company, ASCO BLP. ASCO BLP will now work toward delivering critical water and infrastructure projects in Qatar as the region continues to develop and expand in the run up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
‘The opening of the Dubai office is a further signal of BLP’s ambitious growth plans in the region and the significant opportunities which exist for our company in the Gulf States,” commented Mike White.
“BLP’s growth in the region is reflected in the fact that the Middle East now accounts for a third of our annual turnover. We see further opportunities not only for growth, but for increased job creation within our company. Having a truly international reach is also something which we believe can also benefit Ireland, by allowing companies such as our us to use our overseas experience and expertise to benefit projects which we work on in Ireland,” added White.