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Spotlight on Asia - Royal Haskoning looks east for expansion

With early foundations laid down by Dutch design engineer De Weger and Thai architect Chuchawal, (now Chuchawal Royal H askoning), Royal H askoning has operated in Asia for decades, providing design and project management services to a range of prominent international organisations.

During this time Royal Haskoning has managed projects on behalf of Makro, Philips, Nestle, Unilever, Heineken and Bayer, and is responsible for the design and construction of many landmark buildings.

These include the Bank of Thailand offices in Bangkok, the world class Hyatt-Aryaduta Ambassador Hotel in Jakarta and now design and construction of PermataBank’s new offices within Jakarta’s New World Trade Centre II building, where the bank is the building’s ‘anchor’ tenant.

With offices in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, and a recently opened office in Singapore, Royal Haskoning is well positioned to provide a local service, with the added value of access to a worldwide network of project management, engineering and environmental expertise.

With the rapid expansion of Asia markets, and a gloomy forecast for Europe, Royal Haskoning is orienting its strategy towards the east. According to Erik Oostwegel, Royal Haskoning’s Chairman of the Board of Management, there is plenty of potential for expansion.

“Production centres are moving to ‘lower wage’ countries where, thanks to economic growth, local populations also have increasing disposable income. Due to the emergence of the global economy, container freight is increasing in volume too. This means opportunities for shipyards and port development. Asian countries can also benefit from our knowledge of water-related issues, such as access to safe and clean drinking water and flood risk reduction.”

Royal Haskoning’s vast Asian network has a variety of advantages for its customers. Erik explains. “In addition to the potential for cost efficiencies, one of the main advantages is that we have built up a solid knowledge of local laws and regulations, as well as our reputation for the superior technical quality of our work. This means we can bring projects to a successful conclusion faster, while our European based clients appreciate that they can carry out important discussions at our European offices, which reduces time, and air miles.”

New office Singapore Erik believes the opening of the company’s office in Singapore will contribute to further expansion of the firm in the Southeast Asia region. “We have been involved in various port and shipyard projects in Singapore since the 1960s. At the moment we are managing a large oil and gas terminal project and working on the design of a shipyard extension.

“Up until now we served our clients from our offices in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Phnom Penh and Jakarta, but in line with our new strategy, the opening of our new office in 2011 demonstrates the strengthening of our Asia network in one of the most important economic hubs in the region, and ensures we are located more closely to our important customers and projects.”

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