Improving quality of life in the region

Arcadis offers design and consultancy for natural and built assets with an aim to improve the quality of life. Excerpts from an interview with Dr Kamiran Ibrahim, Managing Director in the UAE:

Arcadis has a legacy of almost a century and a half in business. Give us an overview of the business, its expanse, details on the global footprint, employees, etc.
Arcadis has a long and rich history, tracing its roots back to the Association for Wasteland Redevelopment in the Netherlands in 1888; whilst Hyder Consulting, which Arcadis acquired in 2014, can trace its history back to 1739. From our strong heritage, we have grown organically and through acquisition to be a leading global Design and Consultancy firm for natural and built assets.
Our Middle East journey began over 110 years ago where the pioneers of what is Arcadis in the Middle East today started to shape our legacy. In the region, we have grown bigger and stronger through the unification of firms such as RTKL, Malcom Pirnie, EC Harris, Hyder Consulting and Callison. From supervision, structural design and engineering of the world's tallest tower Burj Khalifa to delivering Qatar's strategic water storage network in four years, we have been supporting our clients' businesses and creating sustainable and exceptional outcomes in all the projects we undertake on their behalf, delivering throughout the lifecycle of natural and built assets.
Our vision has quickly become our passion to improve quality of life and be recognised as the best, and we do this in partnership with the UN-Habitat through sharing knowledge and expertise to improve the quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world. 
How wide is your presence in the region and what are your interests here?
We apply our deep market sector insights and collective design, consultancy, engineering, project and management services by working in partnership with clients across the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman. We employ 2,200 people in the Middle East and have a global network of 27,000 people in over 70 countries.
We have four business lines - Infrastructure, Water, Environment and Buildings - with strengths and strategies that enable us to work across disciplines and geographies to deliver integrated solutions for our clients' complex challenges. 
The Arcadis International Construction Index recently stated that Dubai and Doha are among the cheapest cities for construction. Your comments?
Every year we issue an annual International Construction Cost Index, which details the relative cost of building in 44 of the world's major cities. In 2015, Doha and Dubai remained some of the least expensive cities for the construction industry in the world. Arcadis releases a number of global and regional viewpoints and reports each year such as the Sustainable Cities Index and Infrastructure Investment. 
How important is the region to the group?
Emerging markets such as the Middle East are one of our global key priorities, given the market opportunity and number of large-scale iconic projects. The Middle East region often collaborates with our six other regions across the global network, working seamlessly as a global team. For example, in the past year we have been combining Arcadis Europe rail capability with the local Qatar team to serve Qatar Rail. In 2015, we were appointed to provide architectural, branding, design and construction consultancy services for the Gold line metro line in the city of Doha in Qatar. 
Tell us about some of the distinguishing projects undertaken by the firm.
A few of our current distinguishing projects in the Middle East include delivering Qatar's strategic water storage network, which will increase the country's water storage, security and efficiency through an ambitious, first-of-its-kind mega reservoir project - five interconnected sites, each containing four-to-five reservoirs due to be delivered by 2018. We are also developing the architectural vision for a new, comprehensive public transport system in Jeddah.
A portfolio of milestone projects we have completed or are involved in include the Burj Khalifa and Downtown Dubai, Dubai Frame, Dubai Creek masterplan, King Abdullah Sports City stadium in Saudi Arabia, Emirates Towers, Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque (Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque), Lusail City development, Hazza bin Zayed stadium in Al Ain, Dubai Marine Yacht Club, Atlantis The Palm, The Galleria on Al Maryah Island, Museum of Islamic Art, and the Mall of the Emirates expansion. For more about our projects, visit www.arcadis.com/en/middle-east/what-we-do/our-projects/ 
Arcadis has benefitted from a series of acquisitions in recent years. Are you looking at inorganic growth in the region too for wider presence?
We are always looking at organic and inorganic growth opportunities in the region. Our current global strategy is Sustainable Growth, Performance and Collaboration, whereby three elements of sustainable growth is based on accelerating organised growth, focusing on key clients and adding strategically aligned companies to strengthen our existing leadership position. 
Climate change and safety of environment are top concerns in the construction industry across the world. How does your firm strike a balance?
Rising sea levels caused by climate change are an unprecedented challenge. This creates demand for our solutions to lower greenhouse gases and carbon footprints, manage water resources, and improve water management and flood protection systems. Moreover, health and safety is of utmost importance to Arcadis. We are fully committed to adhering to the highest possible standards and continual improvement in our own health and safety record across board.
Our vision, strategy and values link back to the global trends that affect developments in our markets and the needs of our clients. We continuously develop our organisation and core values propositions to benefit from the changing conditions and use them to create value for our clients. While demand may fluctuate across our business lines - Infrastructure, Water, Environment and Buildings - and geographies, our balanced portfolio is the best guarantee to benefit from the long-term growth drivers and key client trends including climate change, sustainability, globalisation, urbanisation, mobility, scarcity, asset productivity, energy and natural resources. 
Is there anything else you would like to add?
In July 2015, Arcadis became a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF), a comprehensive and integrated platform that aims to strategically shape global, regional, national and industry agendas. We contribute through our extensive experience helping clients deal with some of the world's most pressing macro issues bringing a unique perspective to the WEF agenda. Our main focus will be on the Infrastructure and Urban Development. This year, we participated in Davos for the first time and used this as an opportunity to further establish our role within WEF.
- suneeti@khaleejtimes.com
 
Arcadis Story 
From climate change and rising sea levels, to rapid urbanisation and pressure on natural resources, our world is a more complex place.
Arcadis helps you navigate this complexity by understanding the bigger picture. Whether it is maximising space in cities, making wasteland habitable or simply taking what you do further, we deliver exceptional and sustainable outcomes safely and consistently.
Connecting your vision to our know-how, our people work collaboratively to create value through built and natural assets that work in harmony with their surroundings - from shopping centres in Shanghai or clean water in São Paulo, to new rail systems in Doha and reducing air pollution in Los Angeles.
Our global operations and diverse experience mean we apply collective wisdom to every challenge - big and small. In this way, our experience protecting the Dutch coast for generations is applied to securing New York's flood defenses today. So whatever your challenge, our teams bring the necessary perspective to provide the right answers, now and in the future.