The Middle East market is changing fast, says Antony Oliver

In fact, to be slightly more precise, the landscape of relationships are changing. Certainly the design and construction professionals who gathered at the summit from across the Middle East remained overwhelmingly upbeat about the prospects for continued growth in the region. And certainly there was no shortage of ambition to continue the nation building programme that is thrusting the region to the global top table.

This is after all, a region that has historically built its success around ambition. It has thrived on the concept of forming partnerships which can turn big ambitious dreams into reality in return for a share of the reward. And as the survey of company bosses carried out by NCE’s sister title MEED demonstrates, places such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi are still considered to have this ambition to remain major growth markets this year and next.  

So while the private sector property bubble – exemplified by Dubai’s exponential growth over the last decade – may have catastrophically burst, there is still the desire to get stuck into huge public infrastructure and housing programmes. But as consultants and contractors working in the region now increasingly accept, the scale of the region’s property crash, combined with impact of the global financial meltdown is having an inevitable impact on the whole market, pretty much across all sectors and regions.  

To be slightly more precise, the landscape of relationships are changing

And increasingly the Middle East’s problems, for the short to medium term at least, are focusing around the issue of relationships – specifically the gradual breakdown of solid bonds. So for all the cheer about prospects outside Dubai being good, unless things change, there is a real risk that we will see some unprecedented – perhaps even ugly – scenes.  

Law firms are already circling. Contractors and consultants are owed vast sums of money. Clients are cancelling jobs without warning. Contract conditions are being altered seemingly at will. News that 96% of firms predict a rise in contract disputes over late payments this year does not make good reading anywhere in the world. But in a region that is founded on close, established and trusting relationships it is a worrying statistic.

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