Hi John,
With the downturn in building here he may well have upped sticks and gone home. Or more likely moved on to try another country, you Scots are your country's biggest export 😀
Good luck finding him anyway, I don't know what to suggest apart from making an interesting story around it (maybe it's for charity..) and trying to get the UAE newspapers to run it for you.
Gulf News
Khaleej Times
The National
7 Days.
Look them up online. 😉