Legal action for unpaid fees 'only if needed'

P&T Architects and Engineers, a Hong Kong-based international consultant, says it will consider taking legal action to recover unpaid fees only if necessary.
 
“We are no different to other architectural firms in this regard. We take whatever measures are required under our contracts to recover unpaid fees. If no other attempts have been successful, we follow what is outlined in our contracts, if legal action is required as a last resort then we will take this action,” company’s Group Director James Abbott told Emirates 24/7.
 
Although the firm has not worked on a full project design for a property developer in Dubai since 2008, it has worked with contractors instead.
 
“Our last new full project appointment by a developer in Dubai was in 2008 although we have undertaken work for contractors related to projects under construction in Dubai since then. Not surprisingly, considering the property market situation, we have not seen property developers active on new residential of commercial property development projects in the past years,” Abbott said.
 
The company has started work on a new hospital project, Brite Point Hospital in Abu Dhabi, and will soon start work on Isaa´q Bin Omran´s specialized Centre in Sharjah.
 
P&T believes Saudi Arabia has a growing property development sector based on good fundamentals.
 
“The Saudi market is strong and we believe this is based on good fundamentals, including a large young and growing population, availability of finance and a new, but growing property development sector.” 
 
Asked if the company had reduced it fees, Abbot said: “We can say for sure that reduced work opportunities coupled with the previous fast growth in our business generally pre-2008 has lead to situation now of very strong competition for work. We know that fee levels have dropped generally and that to remain competitive in this market we have had to follow suit.”
 
He added there was a limit to how far they could drop their fee levels without compromising service.
 
“As some costs in Dubai have gone down such as rent we are able to reduce our costs and pass on these reductions without reducing the quality of our service.”
   
In 2004, P&T was established in the UAE, winning a number of high profile projects including City of Arabia, one of the largest private development projects in the region and a key part of Dubailand. More recently, from the Dubai office, P&T has been working on projects in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Baku in Azerbaijan and Kampala in Uganda. P&T now provides services for the whole of the greater Middle East region and Northern Africa from the Dubai office. It has now relocated its Dubai office to Sheikh Hamdan Awards Complex Building.
 
P&T, formerly known as Palmer and Turner was established in Hong Kong in 1868. In 1982 the P&T Group was formed to enable expansion in both disciplines and areas of service.