Business News

Byrne Looby Partners opens new office in Dubai

By Business & Finance
07 January 2014

Byrne Looby Partners (BLP), a leading Irish and international consulting engineering practice, today announced the opening of a new BLP office in Dubai (UAE).

The Dubai office represents a further increase in the company’s footprint in the Middle East and compliments its existing 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.

The company has also made two senior appointments to bolster the company’s 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  rngineer 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 underway, 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 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.

Mike White, Byrne Looby Partners regional director Dubai, commenting on the company’s new Dubai office noted: ‘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.

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 oversea experience and expertise to benefit projects which we work on in Ireland.”