Building the Burj Al Arab - a personal recollection

I can still clearly remember arriving in Dubai for the first time back in 1993 for the project which would become known as the Burj Al Arab. As we crossed the Maktoum Bridge we saw a colossal tower appearing over the horizon – the World Trade Center, which had been the region’s tallest building since 1977.

My awe at this sight was mixed with a feeling of excitement and trepidation that we were about to set to work on a project which at 321m-tall was going to dwarf it.

Over the years since this extraordinary project came into my life, amazing opportunities have come along for Atkins to design incredible projects that have helped to shape and improve the new cities of the Middle East. Many of these achievements have been created or delivered by some of the 250 Atkins people who lived and breathed the Jumeirah Beach Resort, Wild Wadi and Burj al Arab from 1993 to 1999.

It still amazes me how one major project had the power to change a business by changing the people within it – to grow our belief that “we really can do this”, and to achieve it. This is what happened and many of our colleagues from that project have gone on to do other fantastic things in their careers; I think empowered and inspired by that single seminal project, infused with the confidence that with a truly shared goal in a project or in a business, we can succeed.

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Building the Burj Al Arab – a personal recollection