an impressive mix | an interview with sari gedeon An Interview with Sari Gedeon In May 2012 Dar Al Handasah concluded a deal with the international firm Currie & Brown headquartered in London and employing over 650 people in the UK, USA, Mexico, France, Jersey, India, Japan, Taiwan and several countries in the Middle East. Sari Gedeon, Director of the Project Management and Contracts Department recently sat with DarMagazine to talk about the successful bid, what gets him to be optimistic about the future, where is Dar looking for opportunities of growth, and how to navigate through a competitive market. Currie and Brown is a successful consultancy headquartered in the UK whose expertise includes strategic cost planning, cost and project management, contract management, asset management PFI/ PPP and due diligence services. Could you tell us about what engaged Dar to approach C&B and could you also tell us what were the overriding factors considered when investigating this new company joining the group? With the ever increasing size and complexity of projects Dar has been handling during the last decade or so, we have been working for some time to reinforce our project management capabilities. Just growing organically would not have matched the pace of growth required to manage the kind of projects we are undertaking. I believe we found in C&B the kind of established firm that has the ability to grow within our Dar culture and market footprint and the best potential to integrate into our Group and establish the kind of synergetic collaboration that will satisfy our own growth requirements and provide our clients with the kind of integrated offerings to match their project needs. C&B’s CEO Euan McEwan spoke of the global wave of consolidation sweeping our industry and the need to take part in it to maintain leadership in the market place. In your opinion what does this tie-up provide an established multi-disciplinary group like the DarGroup? And why is it attractive to an equally established firm like C&B? A tie-up with one of the oldest cost consultancies in the world not only reaffirms Dar’s position as a global player but also provides it with a specialized arm that happens to meet the service capabilities of all ten specialty firms making up our Group. Expansion as we see it is not only about integrated service offerings, this tie-up will assist in extending Dar’s reach to new markets such as Mexico and Japan where C&B has been established for some time now. The view from C&B is equally beneficial; Dar’s solid roots in the Middle East market, which is undoubtedly a market of great potential growth, our solid organizational structure, and the inner dynamics of our Group offer C&B a most enviable situation considering its growth outlook, financial restructuring incentive and ultimately its ability to retain its own identity and inner structure. In your position as director of the PMC Department, how do you see the role of C&B synergized into Dar program management and consulting services? Can you talk to us about the kind of momentum you are building on, how is the tie-up envisaged with other members of the group? The role of C&B can be synergized at various levels; first at the Project Management and Contracts Department (PMC) level synergies are harnessed through close interaction and knowledge sharing between the respective personnel for improved service delivery, at various stages of projects. It’s been a relatively short time since the tie-up and C&B capabilities have already been drawn upon on major projects. 38