UK-based firms are eyeing work on upcoming airport developments in Dubai, after the UK government offered up to $2bn of export credit guarantees to Dubai Airports Engineering Projects (DAEP).

According to a source, the offer from UK Export Finance has been well-received and the deal is not tied to any specific project. DAEP will be able to determine what schemes the funding guarantees are used for, adds the source.

“We welcome an offer from the UK,” says a Dubai-based source. “UK companies have done a lot of work on projects in Dubai before and we are happy to work with them again.”

According to a UK-based source involved in the deal, the offer will include a certain percentage of goods or service being supplied by UK-based companies. For previous export credit deals offered by the UK in Dubai, this percentage has been about 25 per cent, but for this deal the percentage is understood to be higher, given the specialist equipment and services that are required on airport projects such as loading machines and scanners.

For the construction work, a group of main contractors are now looking at how to use the funding offer to secure work. “A group of UK contractors are now looking to try and seal some work on the back of [the export credit offer],” says another source close to the deal. “Some UK consultants are also looking to see how they could be involved.”

UK-based main contractors that work in Dubai include Carillion, Kier, Balfour Beatty, Laing O’Rourke, and Interserve. Balfour Beatty and Laing O’Rourke have both worked at Dubai International airport.

In 2012, Balfour Beatty’s local joint venture, Dutco Balfour Beatty, was awarded a AED150m ($41m) contract to complete the civil engineering works for the people-mover system serving concourse 4 at the airport. Also in 2012, Balfour Beatty’s mechanical electrical and engineering subsidiary, BK Gulf, won an estimated AED350m mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) contract for concourse 4.

In 2003, Laing O’Rourke’s local joint venture Al-Naboodah Laing O’Rouke was awarded a deal for the AED1.9bn reinforced concrete structures for the second concourse, third terminal and car parking buildings. That project was completed in 2008.

For consultants, UK firms are already consulting with DAEP on upcoming schemes including the new terminal for flag carrier Emirates Airline, which will be built at Maktoum International airport in the Jebel Ali area.

“The concept for the new terminal has been completed, a team of [Lebanon’s] Dar al-Handasah and [France’s] ADPI worked on that,” says the Dubai-based source. We are now developing that concept and we have talked to several consultants including [UK firms] Atkins and Arup.”

The Dar al-Handasah/ADPI team has worked extensively on Dubai’s airport projects over the past decade. It is expected to have a role on upcoming projects, although there could still be major opportunities for UK firms if DAEP chooses to award work as design-and-build contracts, where the consultants would work directly for the contractors.

The $32bn development of Al-Maktoum International airport was recently endorsed by the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. When completed, the airport will be able to handle 200 million passengers a year, making it the largest airport in the world.

It will be built in two phases. The first phase includes two satellite buildings with a collective capacity of 120 million passengers a year, and capable of accommodating 100 A380 aircraft at any one time. It will take between six and eight years to complete. The entire development will cover an area of 56 square kilometres.

The development will provide the necessary facilities to accommodate passenger and cargo growth and will also allow Emirates to relocate their intercontinental hub operations to the new airport by the mid-2020s.