Aukett Swanke scores Dubai mall contract from Lesso

London-based architectural design firm Aukett Swanke Group landed a new project win in the Middle East to provide roughly 1,270,000 square feet of retail space.

Aukett Swanke said the contract, announced on Tuesday morning, was part of its efforts to strengthen its UK and Middle East operations in order to "provide resilience" to its business model over the long term.

The retail shopping contract, won by company's 115-strong UAE design team against significant international competition, was awarded by Chinese industrial conglomerate Lesso.

The 'Lesso Mall' was to be constructed on a prominent site in Dubai and had an expected completion date of mid-2020.

Aukett Swanke said revenues from the projected would be received "over the medium term".

Chief executive Nicholas Thompson, said the contract win was, "a tangible validation of the expansion of our operations in Dubai and the quality of their work and provides valuable underpinning to the board's view of next year's performance".

As of 0900 GMT, shares had surged 20.00% to 2.55p.