Infrastructure Work Buoys Middle East

Construction spending in the six Gulf Cooperative Council nations is expected to rise from about $315 billion this year to $350 billion in 2010, according to new data from Proleads Global released on Aug. 13 in a SmartMarket Executive Brief, by McGraw-Hill Construction, the publisher of ENR, along with the Chartered Institute of Building.

Gulf Cooperative Council Construction Spending Forecast

+ Image

Image: McGraw-Hill Construction

Rapid spending on construction has been affected by the downturn in development in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai, says the report. Overall, residential and commercial activity in the GCC, which consists of Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is expected to drop late this year and in 2010. Infrastructure projects, however, are expected to fill the void.

In the region, the top local markets are in the UAE, “held afloat by steady activity in Abu Dhabi despite significant slowing in Dubai,” as well as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, says the 32-page report, which is available for free download.

One U.S. structural engineer, speaking from Riyadh where his firm is involved with parts of a 20-million-sq-ft project, corroborates the health of the Saudi market: “Just about every American architect and engineer affected by the brutal recession in the U.S. will be coming here seeking work in the next 12 months,” predicts Craig Schwitter, a principal in the New York City office of Buro Happold Consulting Engineers.

Nadine M. Post, ENR's editor-at-large for buildings, is an award-winning journalist with 45 years of experience covering trends, issues, innovations, controversies and challenging projects. Post has written about many industry giants, including 10 ENR Award of Excellence winners. And she has covered disasters, failures and attacks, including the 1993 bombing and the 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center. Project stories include the redevelopment of the World Trade Center; the 828-meter-tall Burj Khalifa; Los Angeles’ Disney Concert Hall; and Seattle's Bullitt Center and Rainier Square Tower. In 1985, Post wrote McGraw-Hill's book Restoring the Statue of Liberty (1986) for the restoration’s architects—Richard S. Hayden and Thierry W. Despont.

Post a comment to this article

The Groundbreaking Women in Construction (GWIC) conference is a leading event focusing on empowering women in the construction industry through discussions on leadership, diversity, and career development.

The annual conference features a wide array of topics, including infrastructure law, sustainability, and strategies to overcome industry challenges.

Coinciding with the release of the new 2024 Top 400 Contractors list, this annual webinar dives into the results of the Top 400 survey. We'll bring together a panel of executives from the largest contracting firms to discuss the industry’s pressing issues, from workforce challenges to data security.