“Earlier in 2023, we incorporated REDCON Saudi and plan to start operations there in a few months’ time.”

TBY talks to Tarek El Gamal, Founder & Chairman of Redcon Construction, about competition, the Golden Gate sustainable community, and priorities for the future.

Could you provide an overview of the company’s main activities and what inspired you to start it?

After graduating in civil engineering and gaining hands-on experience as a contractor for almost 10 years, I partnered with Amal AbdelWahed to establish REDCON Construction in 1992. We started our first project at the booming Red Sea region, which inspired us for the name of our company. We’ve managed to grow in the following 30 years and partner with Ahmad Abdallah, to become one of Egypt’s biggest general contracting companies, specializing in superstructures and infrastructure for construction projects, including residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. With such reputation, the R in our name now reflects our readiness to move quickly and efficiently, as we started rapidly with a few projects, and we expanded our operations to cover all areas of construction. With six companies in our portfolio, we successfully delivered over 200 huge projects across Egypt for some of the biggest clients in Egypt and the region, and we are confidently taking on new promising projects.

What sets you apart from your competitors in the market?

We believe in what we do and are focused on delivering quality results. Our early adoption of different technologies like building information modeling (BIM) and adopting sustainability across our operation model, allows us to develop and enhance our performance and gives us a competitive advantage. Utilizing new technologies allows us to monitor and solve issues before construction began, as well as identify for opportunities to better manage our projects. Continuously improving our operations has also enabled us to include sustainability and facility management components, which helps us to save time and significantly improve the quality of the project, including controlling of energy and utility consumption, mitigating losses, and improving overall efficiency.

Can you elaborate on the megaprojects you are currently working on, including Golden Gate?

Being one of the biggest Egyptian construction companies, we consider ourselves partners in developing Egypt’s future, and we welcome new projects and challenges that helps grow the country and its economy. Among the several projects we are working, we are proud to be one of the contractors working on the presidential project “New Alamein City”, conceived by the Egyptian government as a center for tourism and considered to be Europe’s gate to Africa. We are also developing our own sustainable community, Golden Gate, led by our real estate developer, REDCON Properties. It is a commercial mixed-use project with an entertainment component, located in the true center of New Cairo, with a total frontage of 1.25km on the main road overlooking the American University. Golden Gate is being built according to sustainability standards from design to implementation, featuring offices, retail, and entertainment options, and will start delivery in 2024.

What are your main goals and priorities?

Earlier in 2023, we incorporated REDCON Saudi and plan to start operations there in a few months’ time. We have formed partnerships with renowned Saudi names and have been working on several projects. In the coming years, we will focus more on the Saudi private sector because government spending is not expected to be as high as it was before, because it seeks to give the private sector room to play a bigger role in the economy, which is a positive development. This has been the trend for the last 10 years because Saudi Arabia wanted contractors to build up their capacities. We will also work on growing our portfolio in Egypt for the upcoming years, continuing to lead our sector and Egypt in sustainability.