The future’s looking bright for Ellerbe Becket, now part of the world’s largest architecture and engineering firm

The RAK lobby

Founded in 1909 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, venerable architecture and design firm Ellerbe Becket has consistently been recognised for leading large, complex projects in healthcare, workplace environments, commercial and mixed use development, sports and entertainment, government and higher education.

Despite the global recession, 2009 marked one of Ellerbe Becket’s best years on record. A strong backlog of work enabled the firm to avoid the drastic downsizing that plagued many architectural firms; in fact, their office in Dubai actually grew during 2009.

Last October, the Minneapolis-based healthcare design experts, with seven offices worldwide, were acquired by the largest engineering and architecture firm in the world, AECOM. For Ellerbe Becket, the merger came at a historic milestone, as they celebrated their centennial in 2009.

“For both Ellerbe Becket and AECOM, the acquisition could not have come at a better time, though not intentionally so,” says Randy F. Edwards, managing director, Middle East, Asia and Europe, for Ellerbe Becket,

“We are now poised – with our combined offering – to explore new opportunities in new markets and across new geographies within the region, including Tunisia, Libya and Morocco. Across the GCC, we will also continue to focus on clients in healthcare, sports and large mixed-use developments.”

Some excerpts from an interview with Randy Edwards:

Upbeat: Randy Edwards

Can you tell us more about EB’s recent acquisition by AECOM, and its implications for your operations in the Middle East?
AECOM is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, providing professional technical and management support services to a broad range of markets, including transportation, facilities, environment and energy. Regardless of project size, we can now offer all our clients economic and environmental analysis, planning and urban design, landscape architecture, high-performance building design, and program and construction management in addition to our core architecture, interiors and engineering services.

This was a good match in that our project portfolio and expertise in health care, sports and venue, corporate/mixed use and higher education design complemented AECOM’s existing architectural and building engineering practices. As part of AECOM, we join renowned firms such as DMJM H&N, EDAW, ERA, HSMM, Spillis Candela and others that have represent a new kind of planning, design and development consultancy, making us one of the largest and most diverse design firms in the world.  We are now better poised for expansion and leadership in new markets and geographies, especially in the Middle East.

What are the big changes you have observed in clients, programmes and budgets in the region?
In recent years, clients are more aware about technology and sustainability. In the healthcare market, we see more and more requirements to create synergies between external and internal environments to create ‘patient-centric’ healing surroundings.

Ellerbe Becket has long been a proponent of designing flexibility and adaptability into buildings to accommodate future change; with advances in technology impacting nearly every aspect of daily life – this approach is more important now more than ever. It is also a fundamental aspect of sustainability. For large developments that include residential and mixed-use facilities, clients are more and more seeing the need to develop ‘human ecosystems’, where nature and man can co-exist.

In terms of programmes, we continually respond to stringent programmes that aim to recover costs of investment quickly; and to get facilities up and running faster than ever before, with no negative impact on quality.  The key is in responding to these challenges with project-specific delivery strategies that are aligned towards meeting client budgets and programs – which ties in with the ‘single-source’ that I talked about earlier on.

Could you walk us through some of your most significant interior design projects in the Middle East?
We have lent the Ellerbe Becket brand to the interiors of several iconic projects in the Middle East.  Ellerbe Becket’s Interior Design Director – Middle East, Karim Khemakhem, is able to draw upon deep expertise, both within the region and from Ellerbe Becket’s offices in the U.S. This team integrates planning, design and aesthetics, lighting, interior detailing, furnishings, art, and wayfinding to create environments that are aesthetically exceptional and functionally efficient.

The firm’s notable interiors projects in the region include the public spaces at Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, as well as the interior architecture and design of the American Hospital expansion, the new City Hospital and University Hospital in Dubai, RAK Private Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah; as well as a confidential Medical and Research Center and ASPETAR Orthopedic Sports Medicine Hospital, both in Doha, Qatar.

What aspects are most remarkable about working in the Middle East? What would you wish were different?
One of the great aspects of working in the Middle East is the multi-ethnic dimension it brings to the plate - whether in the workplace or personal life. I now live in Dubai for the past couple of years, although I am not new to the region, having worked in Abu Dhabi previously. From an architect’s perspective, it is as exciting as challenging to create sustainable and economical designs for an environment that is exacting.

At the same time, it is a learning experience to create designs that are meaningful culturally and align with the future simultaneously. There is tremendous opportunity as more and more countries in the Middle East are envisioning massive projects that are designed to take healthcare, lifestyle and education to new levels altogether.

Please tell us about some of the current projects your office here is working on.
We have a prestigious hospital project in Doha, Qatar, which is ongoing. We completed the design for the University Hospital in Dubai Healthcare City, for which we won a “Citation of Merit” in the 2008 Healthcare Design magazine International Showcase,  as well as the “Best Hospital Design - Future,” in the 2009 Hospital Build Middle East Awards.

We also have several interesting opportunities in the pipeline that we hope to see closed by the second quarter of 2010.

Landmarks: Kingdom Centre

MIDDLE EAST PROJECTS

One of Ellerbe Becket’s first projects in the region was the Nile Hilton Hotel in Cairo, completed in 1960 (now operated by Four Seasons). Another Ellerbe Becket-designed project that has attained landmark status within the Middle East is Riyadh’s Kingdom Centre, a highly recognisable, mixed-use development. Prior to a Dubai office being established in 2001, Ellerbe Becket designed several cooling plants for Tabreed in Abu Dhabi, between 1999 and 2004. They have also worked on district cooling projects for Dubai International Financial City (DIFC) and Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC).

The firm is also regarded as one of the top healthcare architects in the Middle East, leading the design of some notable healthcare facilities: University Hospital and City Hospital at Dubai Healthcare City, a private hospital in Ras al Khaimah, and ASPETAR Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital and a large medical and research center in Doha. Two of these projects, the University Hospital and City Hospital, won big at the Hospital Build Middle East Awards last year.  Ellerbe Becket also designed the American Hospital Dubai in 2000 and is currently designing its expansion.

By SHALAKA PARADKAR