Architectural and engineering firm, RMJM Dubai completed a very challenging assignment as architect and engineer on a team charged with the mammoth task of setting up the 7,000-seat grandstand and the marketing and management building at the Dubai Autodrome.

This involvement builds on the firm’s previous experience of successfully executing similar tasks at pit buildings at Brands Hatch and the grandstand at Nad Al Sheba.
“The Autodrome, where RMJM has worked closely with Edara in developing a quality design and maintaining cost control with Al Naboodah Laing O’Rourke (ANLO), is definitely another feather in our cap,” says a company spokesperson.
Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners, now trading as RMJM, was jointly founded in Edinburgh and London in 1956. Over the past three decades, the original company has established itself in the European markets.
The practice has established strong roots in the UK and has expanded its business interests aboard, building its international reputation on the values and objectives established at national level. Currently, RMJM has offices in Beijing, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai as well as in the UK. However, the company has also undertaken extensive work in many other countries where it does not have a permanent office.
RMJM has been in operation in the UAE since 1970. Originally based in Sharjah,  the design and engineering concern established a Dubai office in 1979, which is now its regional centre.
The Dubai office has a complement of over 170 architects and engineers and is equipped to provide a comprehensive multi-disciplinary design services.
“Dubai offers both it citizens and visitors a huge diversity in building designs and architecture and RMJM being a participant in the successful creation of the Dubai Autodrome is proud of its architects and engineers who were involved in the project,” the spokesperson says.
As a global practice that has consistently ranked in the top 20 firms in recent years, RMJM is capable of bringing a wealth of collective experience to projects in the UAE to add to its extensive local knowledge, the spokesperson states.
“Building design involves many complex interactions between members of the design and construction team and RMJM believes in the full integration of the various disciplines into a close working relationship. Our architects and engineers have been working together for many years on a wide variety of projects, creating familiar and open working relationships and allowing different solutions to be studied and evaluated quickly and cost effectively,” the spokesperson says.
Despite its size, the RMJM group retains a sense of social and architectural responsibility, which is derived from the founding partners and has been fostered through the years.
“Our approach is one which mixes the balance of idealism and pragmatism. Design is not based on repetition of genres or dictated by fashion. Instead, there is a continual effort towards creativity and innovation in response to clients needs,” the spokesperson comments. “Client dialogue combined with a rigorous process of interpretation leads to solutions that exceed expectations. Sensitivity to local conditions and cultural perceptions are instinctively integrated into the design”.
 “The aspects of architecture and engineering are viewed by RMJM as a socially important activity with responsibilities to the client, the community and the environment, and in its involvement in the ever-growing portfolio of assets.”
Elaborating on the international character of the company, the spokesperson continues: “The global demand for quality buildings has drawn RMJM into projects in different countries at various times – recent examples being the newly-opened Scottish Parliament or the current Beijing Conference and Exhibition complex.  The Beijing project is also an example of expertise from one office benefiting another and where the knowledge gained in the procurement of the Dubai Convention Centre has, indeed been utilised.”