Local Business Focus
An engineer by trade with 20 years experience with government’s Public Works Department, Mark Scotland developed his own engineering consultancy business in 2004.
Mark Scotland |
Advanced Road, Construction was formed two years later with the core of its business firmly focused on building Cayman’s roads and pavements.
Primarily involved in the construction of private roads and pavements, ARCP also provides services to government agencies such as the National Roads Authority and the Cayman Islands Airport Authority.
The Camana Bay project has afforded Cayman companies a wide range of business opportunities and ARCP has been involved in the construction and development of the project’s roads and pavements, as Scotland explains, ‘ARCP is constructing and paving many of the roads and parking areas in the development and we are installing the slip form concrete curb and gutter.’
Thus, as the relationship between Scotland and the Camana Bay project evolved through his consultancy and the paving company, he was brought in on other projects.
Scotland furthers, ‘I was asked to make an analysis with a view to determining which type of surface would be most appropriate for Camana Bay’s football field. We looked extensively at the pros and cons of a synthetic versus natural surface and in the end it was decided that a natural grass surface would prove to be too costly in the long run as the field would need constant and expensive irrigation.’
Scotland’s knowledge of football is extensive – his personal background in the sport stretches over 20 years. He has been actively involved in many organisational aspects, holding positions such as Chairman, Vice President and General Secretary of the Cayman Islands Football Association. He now chairs the CIFA Youth Committee and has helped develop a strong youth programme for young people in his football teams (which number around nine) in his district of Bodden Town.
Scotland says once the decision had been made on the surface of the pitch, ARCP became involved in the actual construction itself.
‘Once we had recommended a synthetic surface it was a natural progression for us to tender for the business of building the pitch.’
He says that the construction of a synthetic football field was an extension of his business’s usual parameters and therefore required considerable research.
He explains, ‘We found a synthetic football pitch surface product made by ProGreen in the US which really suited the needs of our client. It is affordable and suitable for a pitch used in the Cayman context, i.e. an economical product good enough to meet average usage requirements.’
As well as the successful completion of this project, ARCP as a company is looking to expand its services even more in the future, to become a full design consultancy. Scotland says that he also anticipates that as the business model has been so successful here in the Cayman Islands, he is looking to roll this model out into the Caribbean.
He says, ‘There are many jurisdictions in the Caribbean, particularly in the Eastern Caribbean which would benefit from our services and this is an exciting new direction for the company.’
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