Events crewing group Gallowglass has opened an office in Qatar. It will be headed by general manager François Perron, previously deputy operations director with GL-Events for the 2012 London Olympics, and before that, general manager with Cirque du Soleil for over 20 years.

“We’re delighted to be finally opening our doors in Doha,” Perron said. “The Gallowglass Group’s UK head office has been establishing commercial links in the Middle East for some time now, and had already delivered one major project in Qatar last year.” 

At the end of October 2013 Gallowglass supported the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), contracted directly by the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC). Over 40 technical staff, ranging from riggers and stage managers to translators worked on the Summit, which was the largest event to be held at the QNCC in 2013.

Additionally, in December the Group’s events industry training company, Gallowglass Training, was contracted to put 75 QNCC Operations staff through the Safety Pass Alliance (SPA) course.

Gallowglass Group MD Nick Grecian said: “The Middle East offers both a vibrant market and a collection of successful event destinations. The region is set to become even more of a focus for major international events in the coming years. It made obvious commercial sense to open a permanent office in Qatar to capitalise on the business opportunities ahead.”

Gallowglass Middle East is the first office to be established outside of Europe by the events services group, which currently has 14 bases, in England, Scotland, Spain, France and Monaco. 

Gallowglass Crewing was established in 1996 with an initial core crew drawn from the London Scottish Rugby Club. Its purpose was to provide complete crewing support services for corporate events, exhibitions, festivals and official ceremonies. It has since expanded into a series of related but independent companies.

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Posted on: 24/3/14