Dear colleagues,
We are pleased to inform you about the new organisational and management structure of BESIX Middle East. The new organisation has been designed to adapt to our ongoing challenges and will continue to evolve in the coming months to strengthen our capabilities to face the future with confidence.
Johan Beerlandt: “The greatest strength of BESIX Middle East is that we have people of immense competence and fantastic loyalty to our group. The Middle East managers and teams have demonstrated this repeatedly over the last few years, which have been challenging years marked by a slower economic activity in the contracting sector. Despite this, our group has lived up to its reputation by delivering magnificent projects, most of them masterfully executed, and by developing activities that strengthen our long-term presence in the region, specifically in concessions. On projects where we had difficulties, our Group was also able to count on their commitment, and their efforts continue today. These same people, some in new roles, will continue to write the great history of BESIX Group in the Middle East, uninterrupted since 1965. On behalf of BESIX Group, I thank them for their trust and wish them the best. I am convinced that BESIX Group in the Middle East could not be in better hands.”
The communication below details the new organisation of the Group in the Middle East through (1) Executive Management, (2) Contracting, (3) Concessions & Assets.
(1) B.U. Middle East Executive Management
Appointment of Peter Lembrechts as General Manager
After 12 years in the Group, Peter Lembrechts, Head of BESIX Concessions & Assets Middle East, is being promoted as General Manager BESIX Middle East.
Since starting as General Manager for Ajman Sewerage Private Company Limited (ASPCL) in 2010, Peter has gradually positioned BESIX as a profitable investment and long-term asset owner.
With his team, he has been integral to the growth of the concession activity in the Middle East, culminating with the financial close of the multifaceted project of the Waste-to-Energy plant, hence supporting BESIX in achieving another major milestone in the Group’s sustainable diversification strategy.
Over the next six months, Peter will continue to lead the C&A business while gradually taking over most of the responsibilities for the Upstream part and Support services of the Contracting business. Jean-Pol Bouharmont will continue leading the ongoing Contracting activities directly, with a particular focus on supporting the Operational Leaders in their challenges on the many mega-projects BESIX Middle East is working on.
Benoit Vadani is taking up the global Middle East Business Development leadership.
Benoit has been instrumental the last 10 years on (re)positioning BESIX towards key Stakeholders both on C&A and in Contracting, and we are confident that under his leadership we will continue to be perceived as an important player in the Region.
Benoit and his team will be supported by Rachid Ghamraoui (Vice President Business Development & Special Projects), with Tony Tytgat leading all Contracting tender activities and Nico De Koning leading on PPP bids.
Vinh Hung Le will continue to be the pillar of our financial strength, both in Contracting & C&A. Together with his team, he is responsible for balancing day-to-day operational requirements, medium-term analysis, and long-term planning. While the organization needs to continue to adapt to the ever-changing business environment, those support services remain the backbone of our global operations in the Region.
(2) Contracting
The contracting activities of BESIX Middle East are marked by ongoing mega-projects, whose success is fundamental to our Group. These require the full attention and energy of our Senior Operational Leaders, all of whom are remarkably dedicated and capable of delivering these outstanding projects.
Valery Paquier will continue leading the Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences project in Dubai, with a grand opening scheduled for later this year, also focussing on strengthening our operations in Qatar.
In Doha, Boudewijn Bartholomeeusen will continue leading our ongoing activities in Doha and especially focus during the next few months on leading the team on Lusail Towers project.
Yasser Laroussi will continue leading our ongoing activities in Ras Laffan.
In Abu Dhabi, now that Yves De Rue has taken the lead on the Guggenheim Museum, David De Visscher will focus on the Zayed National Museum, one of BESIX Group's most ambitious projects, while keeping an overarching consistency between the two museum projects, which have the same client and the same joint venture partner.
In Dubai, Bernard Patze will continue driving the delivery of the RTA Shindagha Corridor and the Dubai Uptown Tower projects.
Benoit Collin will continue adapting our operational support services to better support all projects through our internal resources and specialist departments. Together with him, Patrice Thomas will support the teams in the setting-up and more importantly the closing and finalisation of projects that still require essential follow-up, while Benoit Meulewaeter and the Design / Engineering team will continue adding value wherever possible both in tender and execution.
(3) Concessions & Assets
BESIX Middle East's Concessions & Assets business has grown tremendously in recent years, and have become the backbone of our Middle East profitability.
Elias Sfeir will manage all concessions that carry commercial risk and oversee and develop BESIX's multiple investments in Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Sharjah, and Qatar.
Nico De Koning will manage both the bidding cycle, from tender to financial close, and the monitoring of ongoing PPP investments.
Eric Tranchant will oversee the current portfolio of operations and maintenance companies and focus on developing the business through stand-alone and PPP-related operations and maintenance opportunities.
We trust that Elias, Nico and Eric with their teams will successfully take up their increased responsibilities and continue leading this division into further growth.
BESIX Group thanks all and their respective teams for their strong commitment and for their daily achievements, which are the foundations of our continuous success.
While not being able to name all colleagues of BESIX Middle East, let them all be convinced of the importance of their role for the Group and of the gratitude of the whole management towards them!
Johan Beerlandt, Pierre Sironval & Jean-Pol Bouharmont
