With more than 20 years’ experience and a wealth of knowledge, Patrick Rouse stood out as the ideal person to lead LITE as Chief Development & Projects Officer. He has worked for clients, consultants and contractors alike combining an extremely broad range of knowledge and experience into an exceptionally comprehensive profile
Construction Business News ME caught up with Patrick who gives a deep dive into the launch of LITE and the unique offerings LITE can provide on development management, design management and project/construction services.
Please introduce us to LITE and its purpose under the Eltizam umbrella.
LITE is a development management services organisation and is in effect the final piece in the jigsaw in terms of Eltizam Group’s capability to offer a holistic ‘full lifecycle’ solution of development and physical asset management. From inception through design and delivery onto the management and maintenance of the built asset, Eltizam now offers the full spectrum of end-to-end services.
With values based on excellence and innovation, our service offering is a major compliment to the Eltizam Group as a whole. Why is there a need to develop a specific company such as LITE? How do you see this brand filling a gap in the market?
LITE has been created in order to provide development advice to clients and investors who don’t have the expertise or in-house teams to develop assets on a large scale. We believe that there is no other organisation in the market that can provide the comprehensive set of development services across all sectors that our experienced team can offer. For some organisations, they don’t want to have to invest in an in-house team as it’s not their core business and have often struggled with the traditional consultancy model.
Since the inception of LITE, the feedback from the market is that there is a need for a company that applies the same focus on quality, delivery and end user consideration – whatever the size or value of project – and behave, both contractually and practically, like a true
partner.
What are the initial goals and objectives set out by LITE for 2022 and what are the growth plans put in place for the brand?
2022 is about establishing the brand and concentrating on our initial projects to ensure we hit the ground running and out-perform for our current clients. Our core leadership team of Salma Aboul-ela, Michael Harvey and John Poole and their central teams are now in place
and we will continue to add members in the coming period based on our current workload. We have a number of additional exciting opportunities we are discussing at the moment and this will keep us very busy for the foreseeable future. While our initial focus for 2022
is primarily focused on the UAE and in particular Abu Dhabi, we are not limiting our horizons and will seek to explore future opportunities with key clients.
We are in a fortunate position that Eltizam Group has been planning the establishment of LITE even before our team was on board, so our progression on securing contracts is well advanced. We look forward to updating the market on these contract wins as they get finalised throughout the year.
Has LITE secured any projects and what type of services are you offering?
LITE has been appointed as the developer for MIZA, an urban regeneration scheme in Port Zayed. LITE are responsible for the full development scope including Feasibility, Masterplanning, Procurement, Project and Commercial Management. We are honoured to be chosen as the custodian of this historic area of Abu Dhabi to create a distinctive mixed-use urban regeneration to build upon the legacy
of the modern heritage of the area.
We also have some additional project announcements coming in the not too distant future. By the end of Q1 we will have signed contracts to manage in excess of AED 1bn worth of developments. We are offering the full range of development management services from inception and feasibility to design, project and construction management alongside lifecycle cost management.
In terms of the market overview, where have you identified opportunities?
The UAE is now a diverse market with opportunities across the industry. Our team has significant experience in hospitality, residential, masterplanning, commercial, retail, industrial and infrastructure to name a few. There is a continual evolution in the hospitality field with lots of new operators entering the market, an area in which we have substantial and very relevant experience.
On the technology side, the development of datacentres continues to be a much needed growth industry within the UAE, again a sector LITE is well placed to add value to our clients.
There is an increasing demand for asset management today – right from design to project, construction and post delivery. How do you see this concept evolving further?
With the exceptional vision and oversight provided by the leaders of the UAE, the economy will continue to expand exponentially and the market will continue its growth to maturity, bringing with it the increased interest from international institutional investors. This will drive the need for a higher quality product that has both functional and aesthetic designs that provide true lifecycle consideration for building owners and operators.
Therefore, there is an opportunity for clients to really develop assets that give thorough contemplation to the end user experience. Whilst LITE intends to remain efficient on our headcount, focussing on quality over quantity, Eltizam as a group has over 6,500 employees with wide ranging expertise across the asset management spectrum – all available to support LITE and their clients.
If we were to compare the development management scene in the West to the Middle East, what are the key differences in your opinion and where are we still lacking? How do you see LITE bridge that gap?
The UAE has come a long way in a relatively short space of time with many globally recognised developments successfully completed. The next stage of progress will see an increase in the quantity and diversity of developers and an increase in the quantity of significant property transactions. Up to this stage, this has been mainly limited to the sale and purchase of individual residential units. The emergence of institutional investors would perhaps entice new investors/developers into the market as this will provide the opportunity for them to exit projects earlier and focus on their core business of development/investment. One element that has driven the success in the UAE is the ability of its leadership to provide concise guidance allowing for quick decisions and implementation and this is an attribute that they must maintain.
What are some of the key challenges and opportunities LITE foresees in this domain?
Like any new company, brand recognition will be key to our success, however we have the full support of the Eltizam Group which is already a recognised leader in all of its current sectors of operation. Coupled with the backing of our shareholders IHC and ADQ, we believe that LITE will become a force in this domain in a short period of time.
The opportunity exists in that we are truly the first of our kind in the market providing a bespoke individualised service to all of our clients. With an agile and experienced team, we are flexible in the models of delivery we can offer to clients depending on their requirements
and desire for involvement.
Tell us about your experience within the industry and what potential do you see with LITE.
After spending 8 years in Ireland predominantly working for Ireland’s largest contractor John Sisk & Son, I moved to the UAE in early 2008. Since then I have been fortunate to work for some of the region’s largest developers including Emaar Properties and Al Futtaim Group, on iconic developments such as The Address Skyview and Il Primo in Downtown and both Dubai & Cairo Festival City Mall’s.
Additionally, I have a broad range of experience within the industry and have overseen the development of regional shopping centres, luxury hospitality and residential towers, healthcare and commercial facilities to marinas and major infrastructure. It’s been an intense 14 years, but that’s why so many of us love working in the UAE – you can pack a whole careers worth of experience into a 10-year period! Hence, having worked for large established organisations, it is exciting to be part of a new venture in which we have the ability to reset the model on how developers should work free from the thought process of “this is how we do it”.
The varied background of both my team and I, puts us in an excellent position to support in some of the most complex and innovative projects in the region.
What attracted you to Eltizam and specifically LITE?
I was immediately attracted to Eltizam because of the tremendous growth achieved by the organisation during the last eight years which has been driven by the energy and overall vision of our Group CEO, Chris Roberts. Once I sat with Chris and heard his plans for the company and the significant role that LITE needs to play in the development of the organisation, it immediately resonated with me as something I wanted to be part of. It is incredibly exciting being involved in a start-up and the opportunity afforded to me in leading this venture is something I couldn’t turn down.
With your vast experience in the industry, how has construction evolved in the past 10 years and where do you see it going in the next decade?
If we just consider the UAE, there has been significant changes across a number of sectors particularly in the quality and diversity of the assets now coming into the market. The selection of options available for end users in retail, hospitality, commercial and residential is unrecognisable from 10 years ago.
During the first major building boom in the UAE it was led by the introduction of international contractors but as we look across the industry now there are very few remaining and they have been replaced by local contractors who now possess the skillsets and experience to deliver large scale projects.
What are some of the key trends in the construction industry?
A major focus of a lot of groups now is the introduction of modular construction and increased off-site production. The opportunities in this sector are significant for both large and small companies. Increased production in off-site and controlled facilities generally leads to a higher quality product and reduced construction times. Therefore, there are benefits for all parties in continuing to grow and advance this sector. Digitalisation is at the forefront of most companies’ thoughts at the moment. More and more organisations are investing resources to develop their digital processes and to drive efficiencies throughout their workstreams.
Lastly, what steps can the construction industry take to be more sustainable?
I believe the word sustainability is all too frequently monopolised by companies, with little substance behind it. To achieve sustainable development, you have to embrace it and instil a culture of innovation in the team from the outset. In order to really make an impact in sustainability in construction, there perhaps needs to be some initial form of incentivisation to the industry which over time can be removed once the long term benefits are seen by clients and contractors alike. The age-old important tri-factor of “cost, time and quality” is still
central but sustainability should be discussed in the same breath and we’re encouraged to find that this is a key driver in the aspirations of our current client base.