Dean McGrail

As the CEO of WSP Middle East, I’m committed to ensuring we have the best people serving the best clients in order to deliver some of the region’s most iconic projects. With over two decades of experience in the global engineering sphere, I bring an extensive technical background, multi-disciplinary management, and a wealth of consulting experience to my role as CEO. Since first joining WSP in 2002, I’ve been dedicated to instilling strong leadership and driving people-centric values across an array of teams in WSP’s Property & Buildings business with the ultimate aim of providing world-class services and positive outcomes for our clients. I’m an active member of WSP’s Global Property & Buildings Leadership Team and I lead the Global Practice Area for Building Specialists. I take pride in chairing WSP’s Global SMART Leadership team, and leading WSP in the Middle East’s Inclusion and Diversity Steering group. Additionally, I hold a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours from the University of Leeds and I’m also a member of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE).

WSP are a world-leading management and technical consultancy, we are passionate about tackling the challenges of complex projects and sophisticated architecture. We deliver innovative buildings of the highest quality that meet the needs of investors, developers, owners and occupants. In the Middle East our +800 Property & Buildings professionals are located in 6 geographical locations covering all aspects of Design & Supervision and Project & Programme Management. I’m responsible for ensuring that the business unit performs to the highest level, meeting ambitious targets for growth, ensuring the successful delivery of a wide range of projects for our clients whilst making sure that our people are inspired and have fun.

The Property & Buildings business unit offers a wide range of services for our clients including all areas of design & supervision, including building services, building structures, architect of record, façade engineering, façade access, IT/comms, audio visual, security risk management, vertical transportation, fire & life safety, fire protection and integrated project delivery. I’m responsible for ensuring that the business unit performs to the highest level, meeting ambitious targets for growth, ensuring the successful delivery of a wide range of projects for our clients whilst making sure that our team of +550 people are inspired and have fun. I'm also the UAE representative for the Council of Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat (CTBUH), the world’s leading resource for professionals focused on the inception, design, construction, and operation of tall buildings and future cities. CTBUH facilitates the exchange of the latest knowledge available on tall buildings around the world through publications, research, events, working groups, web resources, and its extensive network of international representatives. The Council’s research department is spearheading the investigation of the next generation of tall buildings by aiding original research on sustainability and key development issues. The Council's free database on tall buildings, The Skyscraper Center, is updated daily with detailed information, images, data, and news. The CTBUH also developed the international standards for measuring tall building height and is recognized as the arbiter for bestowing such designations as “The World’s Tallest Building.”

Director with responsibility for the Fire & Life Safety, Fire Protection Engineering, Security Risk Management, IT/ Communications, Audio Visual, Vertical Transportation, Facade Engineering and the Architect of Record Teams for WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff in the Middle East.

Given responsibility to establish the WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff Specialist Service team in the Middle East, the team originally consisted on the Fire & Life Safety and Vertical Transportation teams but was grown rapidly to incoporate the Fire Protection Engineering, Security Consulting, IT/ Communications, Audio Visual, Health & Safety and the Architect of Record Teams.

Transferred to the Middle East to establish and grow the WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff Fire & Life Safety team in the in the Middle East

General Manager with responsibility for setting up WSPs multi disciplinary engineering office in Shanghai..

Responsible for establishing and growing the WSP Fire & Life Safety team in Asia.

Appointed to set up the Asian Fire & Life Safety team for WSP

Joined Arup in Leeds as a Fire Engineer and progressed to Senior Fire Engineer with overall responsibility for the day to day operations of the Leeds Fire Engineering team before heading to Arup Hong Kong on secondment

Fire Engineer working on the design of fire protection installations, HAZOP and HAZAN assessments and fire strategy development in the Power Generation and Petrochemical sector.