The foreign legion

The newcomer - Bahrain

Name Kevin Rolph

Job title Commercial manager

Company GP Zachariades (Overseas)

Current project Riffa Views, a $350m golf development with a golf course, Boris Becker tennis academy, international school, mosques and 1,000 villas all in a walled community

‘I came out here in August last year with my wife and two children as we thought the time was right to give it a go. The children are four and five and they love it out here. The plan is to do two or three years and then go back home. Everyone comes with the same aim and many are still here five or 10 years later.

‘I do a six-day week of 10-hour days, which is the norm here. You don’t come out here and have much free time – they do expect their pound of flesh. That’s because the construction economy here is absolutely booming.

One of the biggest projects going on is the $2.5bn Bahrain Bay development, which is being built on reclaimed land, and they are about to start building a causeway to Qatar costing $3bn. It will be the longest single link bridge in the world – 40km.

‘Four or five of the biggest contractors are Greek or Cypriot and on the consultant side firms like Mace and Davis Langdon are out here. Generally, though, on the construction side we’re playing catch-up and I would say that there are opportunities for other companies out here.

‘There is a lot of red tape and processes to deal with, though, and getting a visa for work can be hard. Most companies have a local Mr Fix-It to smooth the path.

‘The workers tend to be mainly Malaysian, Thai and Indian, and the professionals are European, Australian and South African. When you open your mouth and people realise you’re English they think that you know what you’re talking about! They do try to follow UK standards – but at the same time the situation is like it was several years ago, pre-Construction Act as things like pay-when-paid conditions are normal. In health and safety they also try to follow the UK but it’s a long way behind.

‘Because of the heat, most things that you can get up to out of work are indoors. There are shopping malls to die for out here and there are also a lot of ex-pat clubs with tennis courts and you can go diving, sailing, ten-pin bowling. But you’re always bumping into the same people and everyone knows each other’s business – it’s a fairly claustrophobic community.

‘The thing I miss the most about home is walking the dogs across a wet field. We’re going home at the end of July and I said to my wife that I hope it rains! My advice to anyone considering making the move would be to go for it – you’ve got nothing to lose. The salaries are better, the lifestyle is good, the healthcare is good, the education is good. But it’s bloody hot – and it’s not the UK.’

The pioneer - India

Name Stuart Senior

Job title Managing partner

Company Gleeds

Current projects The firm is working on integrated townships, hotels, bars, retail, shopping malls

‘It’s totally different from the UK – it’s a very hard business market, and they are very tough negotiators. Everything is done very much the Indian way. Labour is very cheap and if you get out into deepest India, you walk onto site and there won’t be any mechanical equipment whatsoever. There’ll be a husband and wife working side by side on some labour-intensive work and the children will be playing and keeping themselves occupied close by.

‘When you see what life is like over here for most of the population then it puts into context some of the HR issues within our everyday working life. I think it would do everybody within the British construction industry some good to experience some aspect of life over here.

‘We’ve been there for a year as we merged with a business based in India – we’re known as Gleeds Hooloomann here and have offices in Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai. The staff are all Indian but we do have new projects coming together where British expertise and staff are required for work based in India and in Britain.

‘The Indian market is now starting to understand what the British professional services offer can be. It is extraordinarily tough, though, in terms of selling in British professional services. The cost base in India is substantially lower than the British from a salary perspective and selling in the services themselves has its obstacles because they’ve not heard of quantity surveyors and their project management services are different to ours as well. And they’re not used to paying £100 an hour for anything.

‘There’s an enormous amount of work here – it’s difficult to ascertain any credit crunch reaction. But material prices are increasing rapidly and the cost of oil is having a knock-on effect on materials as well.

‘The big thing without question is infrastructure – roads, rail, new metros, new ports all need billions of pounds of investment. The second thing probably is residential accommodation, particularly integrated townships. These are gated communities of 100-300 acres and they can house up to 10,000 people. They’re going up all over the place.’

The boss - China

Name Neville Smith

Job title Country manager for China

Company Gardiner & Theobald

Current projects The firm is working on a centre in Chengdu, a software park for Oracle in Beijing, large retail and commercial projects in Beijing

‘I’ve been in China for 12 years – it’s very different here but I’m so used to it now it’s more of a shock when I go back to the UK.

‘The biggest difference between here and the UK is that the government is much more involved in construction and there’s more of a traditional approach. The traditional approach to construction is much maligned in the UK but when it’s done in the right way it is an easy, flexible system.

‘When we first came out in 1996 we were challenged by Kodak to use local designers and equipment and that was a real baptism of fire, but we’ve learned from that and have been very successful in the process of working with foreign investors and with Chinese companies.

‘There are no international contractors in China – a few years ago efforts by international companies to get licences were not successful so it’s at the consultancy end that British firms are having more input. There tends to be more of a market for input in specialist environmental and equipment areas.

‘People are currently getting excited about the Shanghai Expo 2010 – British and Western companies should get a share of the action as they have for the Olympics. China is one of the few countries that lives up to its projections – currently growth is predicted at 8% of GDP and there is no reason to doubt that it won’t reach that. We’re growing 100% in China and we’re continually recruiting and developing.

‘I miss my family and friends but I’m in the UK a couple of times a year so that helps. My advice to anyone looking to make the move out here would be to give it a go. The problem is not getting people here, it’s getting them to go home again!’

The old hand - Russia

Name Glenn Collins

Job title Project manager

Company Turner International

Current project Moscow’s Federation Tower

‘I’ve been in Russia for three years – it’s a good place to live. There are lots of theatres, art galleries, ballet, opera and cinemas. There are also lots of good restaurants and the food is very cosmopolitan, but it’s very expensive. You can spend $200-$300 on a night out and inflation is nearly 12%. The price of renting accommodation is also extremely high – a good two-bedroom apartment costs $5,000-$8,000 a month depending on location.

‘I was in the Gulf for 14 years and coming here it’s nice to get back to European type of culture. When I first got to the Middle East it was a shock to be working 12 hours a day, six days a week but what you gain is the experience of working on mega-projects. Here I do five days a week, 10 hours a day. And Moscow is a very exciting place to work – you don’t get too many 93-storey buildings [like the Federation Tower] in London or Paris. Currently Moscow is experiencing a construction boom; it’s like the Dubai equivalent of Europe. Just from my apartment I can count eight tower cranes on the horizon.

‘A lot of companies are looking to get a foothold here. All the big boys are looking for new headquarters and they’re looking for iconic buildings to operate from. There’s plenty of work here to keep expats working for a few years to come.

‘The visa restrictions and business practices here are nothing like they are in the Middle East or Europe.

We have a quota system on the amount of foreigners allowed to work in a company so big international firms are limited to the amount of foreign expertise they can bring in. And obviously the language barrier is something to contend with. We have a group of translators who speak Russian, Chinese, Turkish and Italian – it’s very much a multicultural society.

‘Something you do have to realise when you come from a different culture is that you can’t belittle people and tell them they’re doing it wrong – you have to make sure that you’re giving them advice, rather than showing them up.

‘I would say to anyone working overseas, don’t go and think you can change the world to match where you’ve come from because you’ll never do it. That said, the British education system is very respected and the fact that there’s an institute of architects and a Chartered Institute of Building does mean something here.

They recognise your qualifications and they recognise and respect experience.’

The country hopper - Dubai

Name Malcolm Freeman

Job title Commercial manager, infrastructure contracts

Company Parsons Brinckerhoff (ME)

Current project Infrastructure works on Palm Island

‘I’ve been here for four years working on Palm Island and have been on past tours to Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Oman. The major difference is the heat: sometimes it can get unbearable, but there is air-conditioning everywhere – in the car, in the office, at home. At this time of year the normal temperature is about 38-39oC.

‘My advice to anyone thinking of coming out here is don’t just bring your family and put them in a villa and expect it to work: the hours are long here and you work a six-day week.

For entertainment there’s English language TV and radio and The Times is printed out here on the day and is not that expensive – about £1.

‘I have 10 people in my team, of which one is British, two are Indians and the rest are Filipinos. The project manager is South African and others are from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Bengal. Here everything works and everyone gets on. It’s an attractive posting.

‘The market is massive. Laing, Balfour Beatty, Halcrow and WS Atkins are all here and there’s loads of room for newcomers as there is so much development. There are three Palm Islands being built, the Burj Tower, which will be the tallest in the world, and an 80km canal going into the desert that will have development all along it. Thirty years ago people were cynical and we’ve all been proved wrong. People said we didn’t need the port that was being built, but now it’s being expanded to twice the size. Don’t be surprised by Dubai, it’s just going on and on.

‘The thing I miss the most is my family but they’ve all been out here. My dad, who is 88, is hoping to come on his third visit in October when it’s a bit cooler. The family always go back and say they can’t believe what it’s like out here. These days I get more frustrated when I come back to the UK.’