In an exclusive discussion with Middle East Construction News (MECN), project management and engineering firm LC&Partners revealed it is opening a new office in Tokyo, Japan. Georgio Galle, Senior Director at the firm’s Dubai office confirmed one of the immediate goals is to work with countries to help them implement their national pavilions at EXPO 2025 Osaka.
“We are already in discussion with several countries to provide them with the support needed for the implementation of their national pavilions for the new EXPO. At the same time, we have also started addressing the retail and hospitality markets, which are showing numerous opportunities for a project management group with our profile,” said Galle.
Elaborating on the progress the firm has made so far, he explained, “We are already in discussion with many participant countries, which are starting the process for the construction of their national pavilions in Osaka. We are already in the position of providing a set of services during this early pre-construction stage aimed at allowing our clients to start off on the right foot, thus ensuring time and cost-effectiveness for their participation at EXPO 2025.”
“Currently our services range from support for the definition and validation process, through to local market research of the country, budget for their overall EXPO programme, to liaising with the EXPO organisers and other key stakeholders, many of whom are not used to interacting with the international community. These preliminary activities will then lead us to the main construction phase, during which LC&Partners will have a key role by supporting our clients with project and construction management services.”
The firm is said to have experienced a strong degree of success working with countries to deliver their pavilions at the recently concluded EXPO 2020 Dubai. “Thanks to the excellent performance, customer satisfaction and positive reputation gained through the management of several complex pavilions, a steadily growing number of participant countries requested our support during the planning, construction and operations stages of Osaka 2025,” he noted.
The firm said it provided procurement, logistics, project, and construction management services for 13 pavilions including Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, DP World, Peru, and Norway. He added, “The experience gained within EXPO 2020, the largest and most comprehensive EXPO so far, has given us an invaluable insight into all the event’s processes both during the construction and the operations stages, and will prove very beneficial to all our clients involved in Osaka 2025.”
Discussing the new office, Galle points out that it is in Chiyoda, in the central part of Tokyo, close to the Imperial Palace. He added that the organisation comprises mostly local professionals with long-standing experience in the construction market.
“They will be supported by experts working in our international hubs, and will be providing project and construction management services for the public and private sectors. We are also closing agreements with local primary engineering companies to strengthen our position in the country, by extending our range of services to site supervision for large scale projects,” Galle elaborated.
Commenting on the firm’s view of the Japan market, he explained, “The construction market in Japan is extremely mature, with very high-quality standards, which is also required by the high seismic risk of the area. The market is in continuous evolution and is currently experiencing a high demand of project management expertise, also from international players, with the aim of further improving the overall performance of the sector, which is showing significant growth after the pandemic, especially in the transport, energy and hospitality sectors.”
Asked about learnings that the firm is bringing to its office in Tokyo from its international locations, Galle stated, “Each country we have been working in has its peculiarities and specific requirements, and Japan is the same. Being the first country in the Far East where LC&Partners have decided to establish its own organisation, we can expect a learning curve for our company, which we believe will be facilitated by our own staff, who are local professionals previously exposed to international companies.”
He concluded, “LC&Partners’ long and diversified international experience will definitely be of help in allowing us to get accustomed quite fast to the Japanese market, and to continue our legacy of successful construction projects.”
On 6 April 2022, the Netherlands Pavilion said it was commencing deconstruction, while late in May 2022, Witteveen+Bos discussed the sustainable dismantling of the pavilion in detail.
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Source: ME Construction News
