26 March 2019 – Global engineering and infrastructure advisory company, Aurecon, has appointed Matthew Nield as its Infrastructure Leader and Simon Lewin as Associate, Built Environment for its Middle East operations. Matthew and Simon bring significant experience to their respective roles, thereby strengthening Aurecon’s bench-strength in the region’s most important sectors.

Infrastructure and property development remain key pillars in the Middle East as they support national growth strategies. The challenge comes not just from designing sustainable and smart infrastructure that adjusts to the needs of an evolving and discerning community, but also ensuring that it continues to be relevant in the operational and maintenance phases.

Ermis Marques, Regional Director, Middle East, Aurecon, said that the way forward is harnessing digital technology that helps clients in planning, procuring and managing their digitally connected enterprises to not only future-proof businesses, but to exploit the opportunities a digital future brings.

"How we design cities and supporting infrastructure is going through a period of unprecedented change, with the inevitable introduction of autonomous vehicles, smart cities, emerging technologies like hyperloop, and ‘talking infrastructure’. Certainly, these present challenges for property developers and governments alike. Hence, we have appointed both Matthew and Simon to help our teams and our clients embrace the opportunities for transforming how we plan, design, build and maintain assets," he said.

Matthew Nield

A seasoned professional, Matthew is a proven leader whose career stretches back over 30 years, including a decade in the Middle East. Prior to joining Aurecon, Matthew served as Regional Infrastructure Director for Robert Bird Group (RBG), responsible for the, Middle East and Asia and supporting the team in the UK.

Prior to RBG, Matthew was with Ramboll for 18 years successfully fulfilling many senior management roles such as Director of Qatar. Matthew has extensive infrastructure experience, including serving as a Project Director on one of the world’s largest metro project, the Green Line Metro in Doha, Qatar.

As Aurecon’s Infrastructure Leader – Middle East, Mathew will lead all services delivered to clients, driving financial and operational performance and building team competency.

“Infrastructure growth is critical to the Middle East in supporting the vision of its leaders. changing demographics, technological disruptions, and evolving customer expectations are placing greater pressure on infrastructure projects. Infrastructure projects here are bold and courageous and as engineers, we have to be equally fearless in ensuring that our designs are innovative, world-class, and most importantly, connects with the communities that they serve,” he said.

Simon Lewin

Also bringing 30 years of experience to Aurecon is Simon Lewin who will take a senior role on a range of projects across the region as Associate, Built Environment. Simon has an array of engineering experience and joins from WSP, where he was concurrently an Associate Director and Head of Public Health segment.

In his role at Aurecon, Simon will provide leadership to the MEP team in Qatar in design and implementation of Building Services, Public Health and Fire Protection systems from concept through to construction.

“I have worked across many Built Environment sectors around the world, so I bring different perspectives to the projects I support,” he said. “The Middle East is pushing boundaries in terms of smart buildings, where developers are quick to understand and adopt digital innovations, especially for mega-projects. This makes the Middle East an exciting place to be an engineer, where Aurecon is helping to help deliver the buildings and places of the future,” he said.