Construction Week Newsletter 18th December 2004

Editorial Leader|~||~||~|Many happy returns

Construction Week, the industry’s best news resource for construction and associated sector professionals in the Middle East, is one year old. This is our 52nd issue and we are happy to reach this milestone and proud to be part of an industry that is leading the economic growth of this part of the world.

Currently, the construction industry and the real estate development sector is energising and fuelling the economies of not only the Gulf, but the wider Middle East. New words like “waterfront” and “reclamation” have joined the lexicon of the Gulf. The area is on a building spree with no end in sight. Just the current projects under development are worth a conservative US $100 billion — in the Gulf alone. Of course, you have Beirut and Nile City and other locations where billions more are being spent. Truly, construction is the second biggest sector after oil and gas for the oil-rich Gulf states.

Companies have sprung up all over the region, like Emaar and Nakheel in Dubai, the latter claiming that it has US $12 billion worth of projects in hand, a number that speaks volumes on its own. It is in this scenario that Construction Week was born. Despite the growth in the construction industry and in real-estate, there was no credible source of information that could tell key industry players what was happening outside of their own projects. The market was, and continues to be, rife with rumours. What was needed was a responsible medium that could sift through the various layers and present the truth about the industry and its projects.

We, at Construction Week, pride ourselves on the quality of news that we provide, and that is attested to by the fact that in a short span of just a year, we have acquired a dedicated and loyal group of 10 000 signed up subscribers from across the region. Going by the industry practice that a publication is read by at least four people, we can safely claim that our editions are read by at least 40 000 people a week. How many times have visitors to your office picked up a copy of Construction Week and rifled through its pages?

The reader profile is very high level, comprising developers, clients, project owners and senior professionals in management such as managing directors, general managers, consultants and the like. But the publication prides itself on being of equal interest to all concerned with the industry. There is something for every one from across the very wide spectrum of the construction industry.

As an ever-evolving product, Construction Week has opened new horizons. We have added a regional focus that now includes all major Middle East industry players, developers, contractors, architects, consultants and specialist firms: in fact, all facets of the construction and property development sector, from financiers and bankers to academics and lawyers to HSE and recruitment specialists, Gulf wide.

We see no end in sight for the construction boom in the Gulf. Projects in hand will run for the next three to four years, and there are still many more that have been announced and on the drawing board that have still to get underway. Everyone from the industry tells me they expect the situation to continue for the next decade at least.

Construction Week will continue to grow with the industry and will continue to bring credible and well researched news about what is happening in the industry, Gulf wide. Construction Week is your platform. It is the place where your can voice your opinion, interact and network. We want to hear more from you. Our job is not only to service the industry by proving information, but it is also to help educate, make aware and improve the standards that are being applied, whether by the government or by the private sector.

We invite you to work with us to help raise awareness about the industry.||**||