As someone who enjoys diving, Tony Douglas has no fears about going in at the deep end. And certainly, running the operation that will create a new port and industrial area in the Middle East the size of Southampton and Portsmouth combined might be seen by some as a leap of faith.
Not for Mr Douglas though. For the new chief executive of Abu Dhabi Ports Company, the construction of the 417 sq km Khalifa Port between Abu Dhabi and Dubai was an opportunity too good to miss.
He said: “The scale of it is awe inspiring but I have no concerns because Abu Dhabi has developed at a far slower pace than its neighbours and is conservative in its projections.”
The first phase, due to be completed by 2012, includes an off-shore port and two small cities in which port employees will live and work. When all phases are complete, it will have a capacity of 15 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) — roughly 15 million containers — and 35 million tonnes of cargo.
Mr Douglas made his name at BAA, where he was responsible for the £4.3 billion construction of Terminal 5. He left Laing O’Rourke amicably this year when it became clear that 63-year old Ray O’Rourke, the founder of the family business, was unlikely to relinquish the reins any time soon.
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Mr Douglas, whose family and black labradors will keep a base in the UK, left school at 16 to be an apprentice toolmaker with General Motors. He went to night school and, by 22, he had designed and was running a factory making car instrumentation in Liverpool.
From there he went to BAE as manufacturing director, where he succeeded in reducing processes to allow mechanics to put together a commercial aircraft in a world record 86 days and then Kenwood Group.
Next week, US scientists will undertake one of their regular dives to check the integrity of the reef system that Abu Dhabi has promised to protect. Mr Douglas plans to take the plunge with them.