Peter Locks, CEO & Partner/ Board Member, Northcroft Middle East LLC • Interview

Despite the challenges of the past year, Northcroft Middle East grasped the opportunity to refresh its direction and vision for the benefit of its team and clients and progress forward.

What were the main highlights of 2013 and the first half of 2020?

There were a few highlights during this period, significantly two major milestones: being awarded Construction Consultancy of the Year 2019 for the Middle East and bringing together all the international independent Northcroft branches to establish the Northcroft International Group, which has over 15 offices throughout Asia, Australia, and Europe. Following these achievements, we focused on our growth strategy for the next two to three years, though unfortunately we were impacted by COVID-19 at the start of 2020. While presenting a unique set of challenges, we are focusing on the positive benefits and opportunities that the situation has created for the construction industry. We experienced exponential growth in the demand for our expert commercial claims and dispute resolution services.

What will be the state of the construction market after the wave of infrastructure projects we are currently witnessing is over?

Lately, there have been many major projects coming to fruition within Qatar, specifically in connection with the Doha metro and rail, the airport and ports expansion, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the gas sector and many more. These have a lasting positive and beneficial effect on Qatar as a whole, all of which has been inspired by the wise leadership and vision of Qatar’s leaders. The involvement of larger international contracting companies and international consultancies has provided local companies with exposure to joint ventures, complex and risky projects and sometimes very challenging circumstances, an experience which sets the precedent and has laid the foundations for local companies to operate independently with confidence and experience as we rapidly approach 2022. Qatar has proudly developed a core expertise in infrastructure works, and after 2022, the country will continue to benefit from the local construction sector experience and focus on the 2030 vision, ultimately the continued enhancement of Qatar’s superior infrastructure and development. Qatar has proven its ability to adapt and now has an enviable world-class built environment that will continue to develop for the foreseeable future.

How do your different divisions cooperate on projects to maximize value proposition for your customers?

Northcroft Middle East’s expertise lies not only with its ability to engage at an early design stage but has developed its business units and services to encompass all pre-contract and post-contract services, post contract commercial and contractual management, claims and dispute resolution and project management. Regardless of the stage of the project, our expertise enables us to work alongside architects and designers, with the ability to provide pre-concept design estimates, and as the design matures we mature the estimates with detailed bills of quantities. It is here that we are able to leverage our market knowledge and experience and utilize our cost database to provide a degree of certainty for the client and project team for the contract price. The development of the tender documents, oversight of the tender phase, and commercial evaluation and recommendations to the client is a natural progression. Our post contract team then provide the drafting of contract agreements, commercial management, and contract administration through to the final account settlement. The knowledge, experience and services provided by our internationally sourced, professional team serves to assist our clientele by ensuring that they optimize their project objectives, effectively monitor, and manage project risk events and instigate appropriate claim prevention measures where required. Our team of contract experts provide support and oversight should there be a requirement to assist with the defense of or preparation and submission of a project commercial claim inclusive of dispute resolution assistance. Our business units therefore are competently experienced to provide the whole project life cycle commercial and contractual requirements to protect stakeholder interests and influence the success of the projects.