BARROW'S David Clark has had a meteoric rise, from working as a delivery driver to designing billion-dollar projects for Saudi royalty.

Mr Clark, 48, returned to his home town in March last year to work on the renovation of the Engineers' Club and surrounding properties into 19 high-end apartments.

Before that, he was in Saudi Arabia developing the Middle East’s new financial sector and managing a workforce of 35,000.

As a project manager for Hill International, he was part of a small team developing a new base for the Tadawul, Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange.

He said: “I’ve been on my travels for the last 19 years. For the four years before March 2015, I was in Saudi Arabia working on the King Abdullah Financial City.

“There were four or five of us in the construction management team heading up this project in Riyadh, the capital. The Saudis decided to build a brand new modern state-of-the-art city, with 55 skyscrapers and 13 specialist buildings that will accommodate 100,000 people.

"The financial centre is seven skyscrapers between 50 and 76 storeys. That is the new financial district for the Middle East and all of the Gulf oil will be traded through the Tadawul in one of these buildings. There will also be the Saudi World Trade Centre and the new GCC Bank headquarters.”

He had no inkling of what the future would hold when he left Barrow in 1995 following the death of his mother, Yvonne Clark who he credits with his determination to get a good education.

He said: “I was a typical broke, no hope, no chancer. I spent a few years in the Midlands doing all sorts of odd jobs.

"I eventually went to [Reading] University to do a degree in construction, engineering and surveying, and it all started there.

“After university, I started working for Costain as an assistant site manager and then I’ve worked consistently on developments until I started for Hill International in Saudi Arabia.”

From 2006 to 2009 he worked on a £100m project for the Prince of Abu Dhabi developing the Prudential head offices across from Harrods in London into apartment buildings. He also helped to develop a university building in Libya for the former Gaddafi government.

Looking back, he said: “I can’t believe it, when I look at pictures of the development I can’t believe I was involved to such a high level. I've either been lucky or really landed on my feet.”