CAREERS MIDDLE EAST LAND OF OPPORTUNITY After qualifying as a building services engineer, Daniel Collins moved to the Middle East and worked on some of the regions most iconic projects. He tells Roxane McMeeken how working in Dubai and Abu Dhabi put his career on the fast-track A t school, Daniel Collins (27) always thought he would be a plumber. But after starting as a plumbing and gas apprentice at Salford College, he found out about building services. A few years later Collins was a qualified building services engineer working on multi-million pound mega-projects in Dubai. Collins, who is now a principle engineer at WSP, switched from plumbing to building services engineering at Salford, where he gained an Advanced Apprenticeship in mechanical engineering. He made the change because, he says, he realised he preferred designing to installing. He then joined Foreman Roberts. Collins worked one day a week while being sponsored to complete the HNC Building Services at Stockport College, where he studied mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering. In 2011, after five years with Foreman Roberts, an excolleague who had moved to WSP in the Middle East told him about a vacancy. The position was design engineer in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), based on site full-time. Collins says: I was quite dubious about it at first. I was worried about leaving my friends and family especially my girlfriend and I had heard the stories about strict rules for foreigners and of people being [allegedly] kidnapped and taken into the desert. But the allure of the iconic projects in the Middle East was hard to ignore: It was clearly an opportunity to work on far bigger things than Id done in the UK and to learn how construction is done in the region. The fact that there is no income tax in the UAE, which added up to a substantial pay rise, was also tempting. An extra sweetener was year-round warm weather. After much eOR RMadE CIBSE REGIONS It was a steep learning curve, but its given me a much broader view of global construction as well as valuable experience that could allow me to work elsewhere in the world Daniel Collins different types of building, all condensed into one project. The first thing that he had to adjust to was the breakneck pace at which construction projects happen in the Middle East the result of clients with money to spend and often no shareholders or taxpayers to answer to. Things change fast, so you have to be ready for the brief to be altered without warning. At the same time, design programmes are condensed. If it would take you about three or four months to do a RIBA stage-three design in the UK; in the Middle East youd have to do it in six weeks. Its hard work, but its exciting to move at that pace and it means that you learn more in less time. Collins also had to learn the American approach to construction, because the New York University project followed US building standards. It was a steep learning curve, but its given me a much broader view of global construction as well as valuable experience that could allow me to work elsewhere in the world, he says. About 18 months later, Collins remained within the UAE but transferred to Dubai. Here he worked on a number of shopping centres, including a major extension to Dubai Mall, comprising more than 100 retail units, for big-name developer Emaar. I designed water, drainage and gas for the development so as well as getting experience of another very large scheme I CIBSE REGIONS CIBSE has many overseas regional groups supporting its 4,500 International members. These groups offer opportunities to network and build contacts with other building services engineers in your local areas. This includes a newly-formed UAE Group. For more information about all the regions visit www.cibse.org unfounded: It wasnt at all like the tales Id heard. The locals were always friendly and, in Dubai, I felt particularly at home because there are so many expats around. It was easy to make friends there because everyones in the same boat. WSP also organised social events for staff and Collins joined expat social groups, such as the UK Club in Abu Dhabi. However, he adds that life in the UAE is somewhat restricted. WSP gives you an induction on local customs and how to behave before you move to the Middle East, and that made very clear you dont get drunk in public. In fact, the only public places where you can drink alcohol are hotels. You can drink at home, but you do need a licence. He also missed friends and family. It was hard sometimes. We kept in touch through Skype, but because the UAE is four hours ahead sometimes youd find deliberation, I decided I had to go for it, says Collins. The project he worked on initially certainly gave him the experience of megaschemes that he wanted. The New York University campus on Saadiyat Island comprises 38 buildings, covering an area of 440,000m2. He says: Its an absolutely huge complex and it has all types of buildings. This gave me the chance to design water and drainage services for a large array of expanded the services I was involved with. The project was completely different from what hed done in Abu Dhabi. The role was entirely office-based and we held daily workshops to co-ordinate all the services, as well as meetings every fortnight where we had to present an update to the client. Dealing with gas was a particularly interesting challenge, he says. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is treated completely differently over there from in the UK. The rules around it focus heavily on mitigating the risk of explosion. LPG in the UAE is typically stored in a liquid format, either at roof level or within a covered concealed space at ground floor. The LPG storage is refilled by a third party via a filling point, which must be located away from public access. The building services engineer must ensure that all this is safe, says Collins. This means that flashing the process of turning LPG from a liquid to gas must be completed before the distribution pipework enters the building. The building services engineer must then ensure that internal pipework is kept to a minimum within a dedicated ventilated riser to serve appliances. Collins worries about living in the Middle East turned out to be mostly someone wanted to chat when you were already tucked-up in bed. However, he flew home three to four times a year, with WSP covering the cost of one flight a year as part of his package, as many UK firms do. He also managed to maintain his relationship with his girlfriend, whom he married in 2014 after returning to the UK. For Collins, the sacrifices were worthwhile: I would advise anyone to go, even if only for a year. Youre working at much bigger scales and its amazing how much you can learn from a large, fastmoving project. For instance, you get a much better understanding of programme then you can bring that knowledge back home. The experience that he gained resulted in a promotion to senior engineer in the UAE and, more recently, another step up the ladder to principle engineer. As a result, he is now earning three times the salary he started on at WSP. Collins also recently completed his IEng, which he says was based on his international work. Looking ahead, he is keen to go overseas again. With the number of countries that WSP works in, its pretty straightforward to pick a country and ask for a transfer. Ive always quite liked the idea of moving to the US CJ "