Saudi ‘Giga Projects” Draining UK Skills Force

An exodus of talent from Britain’s infrastructure sector to the Middle East is harming the delivery of major projects in the UK, according to the head of a key labour supplier.

“Certain skills are missing in every level really when you look at it,” the boss of London-listed Hercules, which specialises in supplying labour to the construction industry, said.

“Skilled plant operators are difficult to get, supervision is difficult to get, site management positions are difficult to find,” Brusk Korkmaz told City AM in an interview.

He noted political uncertainty in recent years had made it impossible to plan ahead for long-term infrastructure projects, which often take more than a decade to deliver.

“When you don’t have a start date… everyone is just waiting for each other, everyone is waiting for the start date from the government to able to crack on and upskill the workforce,” Korkmaz said, citing the recent plans for Heathrow’s multi-billion third runway as an example.

Saudi Arabia is in the midst of a massive infrastructure drive as it pivots towards renewable energy. A number of so-called “giga projects” are in the works including the infamous Line, a 170km-long linear city.

There are “huge projects, very ambitious projects in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia as a civil engineer, it really excites me,” Korkmaz said.

“Saudi Arabia is four times bigger than Germany, and 36m people live there. So they are building seven or eight Dubais in different cities, so quite a lot of people are going to Saudi Arabia with attractive packages, tax-free packages.”