The Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau has appointed US consultant Aecom to provide planning services for the Expo 2020 site in the Jebel Ali area of Dubai.

The appointment follows the award of another consultancy contract to US-based Parsons International in August for the infrastructure design and supervision at the Expo site. Some preparatory work on the Expo site has already started. This includes site fencing and earthworks.

The Expo site is one of Dubai’s most high-profile projects at the moment and includes a 1.68-square-kilometre ticketed area.

The initial masterplan for the site was prepared by a team of US-based HOK and the UK’s Arup, which was appointed in 2014 to develop the preliminary masterplan that the team worked on for the Expo bid. A detailed masterplan is due to be submitted this year to the Expo’s organisers, the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).

When Dubai secured the rights to host the Expo it said it would require €6.5bn ($7.4bn) of investment for development and operational costs until the end of the event.

In November 2014, a team of US-based CH2M and UK-based Mace Group was appointed to provide programme management services for the Expo.