COWI's first project in Dubai was in 1990. The project involved assessing concrete damages in bridges and tunnels for the Dubai Municipality.

With this COWI soon established itself as the expert within this field and carried out services on Dubai Municipality HQ, Shindagha Tunnel, JAFZA port, Dubai Drydocks, Nadd Al Sheba Palace, DUBAL and numerous smaller assignments. The services were delivered by moving some of the Bahrain and Oman offices staff plus specialists from COWI Denmark offices.

We opened our office in Abu Dhabi in 2009 and have a project office in Ajman.

In 2011, COWI's offices in the UAE became part of the COWI Group's Major Business Line "Bridge, Tunnel and Marine Structures" and is today fully dedicated to these three specialist areas.

Flagship projects in the UAEThe UAE operation has almost 50 staff distributed between the various offices. Flagship projects include Al Reem Island Plots 1 and 2, Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Project and Upper Zakum Project Management Consultancy in Abu Dhabi, the Lagoons and Palm Jebel Ali Bridges in Dubai and the Al Zorah Development in Ajman.