UK construction giant sees no Mideast growth in 2009

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MIDEAST SLOWDOWN: The UK's Laing O'Rourke is predicting its business in the Middle East to be flat during 2009. (Getty Images)

Laing O’Rourke, the UK’s biggest privately owned construction company, expects its growth to be flat in the Middle East in 2009 as new contracts dry up, company chairman Ray O’Rourke has said.

The region had been a strong area of growth in recent years, with the value of orders in the region swelling to $615m in 2008, accounting for a tenth of total company revenues, O’Rourke said.

But O’Rourke said the company could treble its Australian business over the next two years.

“Any adjustment going on in the Middle East is more than compensated by what is going on in Australia,” he told Construction News in the UK.

Despite a slowdown in the construction sector affecting most international markets, Laing O’Rourke’s business would grow by a quarter in 2008-9, posting revenues in excess of $7.2bn, he said.

In January, Arabian Business reported that Aldar Laing O’Rourke, a joint venture between the construction company and Abu Dhabi’s largest property developer, was cutting more than 520 jobs following a reduction in the amount of work available on the $14bn Al-Raha Beach project in the emirate.

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