All Norr Group projects on track, says V-P

Norr Group has not cancelled any of its current projects, said a senior company official. "None of our projects has been cancelled to date," said Yahya Jan, AIA, Vice President and Design Director, Norr Group Consultants International.

"But on some of our projects, clients are going through a time of reappraisal, which has to do with looking at the documents and the status of the design, going through value-engineering exercises and ensuring that the product that is being designed fits the changing market conditions. That would consist of editing and adjustment of the design going forward."

But schedules are changing. "We are in a period of closer scrutiny and a slippage of design schedules. It is getting stretched out," he said.

"Certainly Dubai has been a very good market for us in terms of design and construction here. But we are finding that Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan are moving forward. In Abu Dhabi, we are currently working on a number of residential and commercial projects."

"In Kuwait, we have recently completed construction on the Avenues retail mall and have two office towers currently nearing completion (Trade Center Tower and Al Sour Garden Tower) with a third commencing construction later this month. Other projects include the Al Hitmi Complex in Doha, now nearing completion, the Villamar development in Bahrain, and office/hotel towers in Jeddah, Riyadh, and Amman."

He said that he is cautiously positive. "Things are still cleaning themselves out. These are the early days."

"As a group, we are well-placed to weather some of the storm. During the boom, we were quite cautious about not growing to a size that could be difficult for us to manage a downturn."

In the past five years, Norr has grown into a 180-sized firm with offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

"There was a temptation to grow in the last five years but we made a decision to remain a moderately-sized but effective group," he said. They have a strategy to diversify geographically and provide diverse services such as engineering, interiors, infrastructure design and Leed consultancy.

The firm has laid off 15 people, he admitted. "In a given year, we have a turnover of 60 people. As a consultant, as project types and phases change, we have to make adjustments in our staff at time depending upon the expertise necessary at that stage (whether we are in the design or construction phase).

"We did let go of 15 staff in the last month," said Jan. "It is higher than our monthly average turnover of five but we have already hired four new staff from overseas."

He sees a lull in new work. "I am seeing a bit of a hiatus in new projects and the starting of design work. End-2008, clients are taking a deep breath and I see a slowdown coming in," he said.

He disagrees that there has been a lowering of construction costs in UAE. "It is still early to see a lowering of construction costs. While there was a lowering of concrete and steel, I do not think that prices have stabilized. Our estimators say that prices seemed to be stable but they do not see any dramatic change in prices."

Depending on building types, construction of residential towers (including parking) could roughly average at Dh600-650 per square foot at the high end, according to him.

"Office towers are roughly the same, though core and shell, and might be slightly cheaper. Hotels are expensive because of interior fitouts. Large retail malls could incur costs of around Dh400 a square foot."


Works under way

Norr has projects in various stages of design and construction throughout the Gulf, Jordan, and Russia. Previously completed projects in Dubai include Emirates Towers, Shangri-la Hotel, National Bank of Dubai, Al Fattan Marine Towers, Marina Terrace, Waves, Emaar Business Park, and the Commercial Bank of Dubai.

Projects currently in design include commercial and residential towers in the Dubai Marina, Burj Dubai District, Business Bay, Dubai Waterfront and Downtown Jebel Ali.