Future Proofing

Nigel Eckersall, general manager of Tangram Qatar, on the road ahead for the Gulf state

Tangram has invested heavily into opening up our local office in Qatar. The reward of working on visionary projects makes it worth the effort.

New York, London and Sydney became the cities they are through international involvement and the sharing of international expertise. If Doha wants to play level with the other great cities it must have external influence, but it should be through the local office network if possible.

The need to deliver at a fast-track pace with very highly organised projects requires people with a long history of working in Qatar and in the GCC. I fear that if Qatar opens up to too many new companies, we do run the risk of having firms with no experience of working in the region.

Quality of design is different to build quality.

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We are all effectively part of Qatar’s future, but how do we ensure that we can better service the country’s development? I feel that Qatar has attracted some of the best design companies and project management companies in the world. The build quality is the bit we have to get to grips with; how do we increase it?

We need to speak with the stakeholders and make sure the majority of the population can use the metro and the railway network like in London, Melbourne or Sydney, even in the heat. If we can get that to work it will be a success; if we don’t we will absolutely fail.