With the UAE’s construction industry booming once again, the cautious optimism expressed over the past two years is now becoming a watchful confidence – and with good reason too, says Andrew Elias, CEO of Kele Contracting. “The UAE’s construction sector has now, after many years of turbulence, entered a renewed period of stable growth. From our perspective, as contractors, it is clear that investor confidence is building,” he says. “Project turnaround has increased and developers across the board are looking to expand their portfolios. This is an exciting time to be in the industry in the Emirates and we expect to stay very busy, well into the foreseeable future.” A rise in income levels, better job opportunities and favourable government policies in the UAE paint an optimistic picture of the country’s residential construction market, which is supported by the recent findings of a survey by Careerstructure.com. It not only discovered that 91 per cent of the UK’s architects, engineers and other professionals working in the built environment sector would consider working abroad, but that Dubai and Abu Dhabi rank as their top two choices. In its 2013 GCC Powers of Construction report, Deloitte reveals that the UAE has, for the first time since the crash, overtaken Saudi Arabia as the biggest construction market in the Middle East region. The economic impact of this positive shift has also been significant.
According to Business Monitor International, the UAE’s construction industry’s value is forecast at approximately $41 billion in 2013, growing at an annual rate of 4.5 per cent. In Dubai alone, the property and construction sectors recorded 21 per cent of the Emirates’ total GDP growth in Q1 2013 – putting it second only to the retail and wholesale sectors. “It is clear that the UAE has, once again, become a nexus of growth in the world’s construction industry,” adds Ellis. “As confidence in the market continues to grow, we can look forward to an increase in the flow of liquidity, which means that projects are developed, completed and handed over on time. A consistent flow of investment, which is needed to secure a solid and stable growth pattern within the market, and an extended period of sustained growth is what we are all aiming for.”