3RD CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY
FESTIVAL

Dr Will Cavendish joined Arup in February 2018. He is both Arup's Global Head of Digital Services, and Leader of Arup’s global network of Advanced Digital Engineering Groups. In these roles he is responsible for leading Arup’s work to support clients to take advantage of the major transformation in their world that is being brought about by digital and other advanced technologies. While at Arup, he has worked at senior level with clients around the world, and in sectors as varied as property, cities, aviation, rail, highways, energy, and technology.

Previously he was Applied Strategy Lead at DeepMind, responsible for understanding the groundbreaking developments taking place in Artificial Intelligence, and working with key partners to apply them for public good in areas such as health and energy. Before that he was a senior civil servant, including roles as Director General for Innovation, Growth and Technology at the Department of Health; Director General, International Energy and Climate Change at DECC, and head of the Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit, working directly to then-PM David Cameron.

As a result, he has wide-ranging experience of achieving change in areas such as digital, health, education, energy and climate change, cybersecurity, growth and innovation. When in government, he also led the creation of the world's first network of What Works Centres, set up to provide proper evidence on effective uses of public money, and pioneered the use of transparency and crowdsourcing in policy making. Will has also served as a World Bank economist; has lectured at Oxford University and Imperial College; has a doctorate in economics; and was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath by the Queen in 2015.

Nour Habib Kassassir is the Vice President and CIO for Parsons MEA Business Unit. Nour focuses primarily on the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, is responsible for all ICT planning, design, execution and operations for all of Parsons employees across the MEA Region. Mr. Kassassir is an ICT Executive Management Professional with 34+ years of extensive & solid experience in Information Technology Service Delivery & Management in diverse industries including: Automotive, Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Oil & Gas in the U.S., Middle East, Europe, and Asia regions, including the following countries: UAE, Qatar, Saudi, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Indonesia, Italy, & U.K. Nour’s experience includes the transformation of organizations & propelling them to new heights by applying big-picture vision, finding innovative solutions & astutely directing the creation and execution of short- & long-term strategies. He is familiar with building top-performing international operations from the ground up in difficult conditions through tenacity, intuition & multicultural relationship building. Nour successfully recruits, leads & inspires teams that harness the power of advanced technology to achieve critical business & financial objectives.

Badr is the president of PMI KSA Chapter. He has 20 years of experience in the Project Management field within Saudi Aramco. Badr was recognized as PMO Leader of the year by PMO Global Alliance, which is the world largest community of PMO professionals. He is currently program director of Marjan and Zuluf Program, one of the biggest offshore program in Saudi Aramco. His experience includes working as a Director of Saudi Aramco’s PMO, responsible to oversee, manage, monitor and control a multi-billion dollar projects portfolio. This portfolio covers over more than 200 projects annually including Oil and Gas projects, Petrochemicals, Community and Infrastructure projects, Joint Ventures, maritime projects and other sectors.

With over 16 years of hands-on BIM implementation experience - Arsen is the Head of BIM and Digital Construction at ALEC Engineering and Contracting, a large construction company in the GCC with a presence in Africa. He is responsible for the organizational BIM strategy and overseeing the BIM execution on some of the mega projects in the region. Arsen has worked as a BIM Manager on the owner, contractor and consultant side of the building industry in the region, so he understands the capabilities and constraints on all levels of the supply chain.

30 years of international experience as an Architect and Design Management Lead. He has worked in Design consultancies, Real Estate developers and Construction firms in UAE, Australia, Singapore and India. He has particular interest in Sustainability and technological advances in building design and construction.

Nicholas is a modular and offsite design and construction professional with extensive international experience. He works effectively across multiple disciplines, cultures, building regulations and environments in an executive management capacity. He has managed modular and prefabricated projects in Australia, China, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Africa and Saudi Arabia, as well as resources and infrastructure projects in the Pacific.

Nicholas has cultivated a comprehensive, commercial and entrepreneurial approach to understanding and interpreting market innovation, financial performance, client business imperatives and design driven solutions. He works effectively across disciplines and cultures in a strong leadership capacity to bring a business together to help realise its strategic vision.

In his career, Nicholas has established and managed factories and supervised all aspects of modular and offsite manufacturing operations and execution including profit & loss, business development, design and engineering, procurement, manufacturing and onsite delivery and installation. He has also implemented LEAN manufacturing and quality management programmes in both factory and site environments as well as employee Health and Safety operations in multiple countries.

Rodney joined Robert Bird Group in 2005. Through his 7 years in Melbourne, Rodney developed strong relationships with Developers, Architects and Contractors on the back of his practical and collaborative approach to Engineering. In 2013, Rodney transferred to the Dubai office and later became the Director of Buildings for the MENA Region.

Rodney has provided design and leadership on some of RBG’s largest projects, namely The Emporium Redevelopment in Melbourne, Abu Dhabi Plaza in Kazakhstan and ICD-Brookfield Place in Dubai where he successfully led multiple design teams across MENA, the UK and Australia. His experience on major projects across various regions has given him a true understanding of global best practice design and delivery. Aside from his day-to-day role as Head of Buildings in MENA, Rodney is the Global Director for the Super-Tall Building sector within Robert Bird Group and the MENA champion for Volumetric Modular Systems and DfMA. Rodney also has an active interest in research and development for 3D printing.

Dr Spanos is a consultant, professional engineer, and sustainability expert with 20 years of experience. He provides professional consultancy and strategy related services to government institutions, investment funds, developers, architects, and contractors.

His experience includes the development of sustainable real-estate assets, renewable energy and urban development programs in MENA, UK, Europe, and Africa.

His primary interest is in the implementation of added commercial value through client focused sustainability, ESG and Climate Change related decisions on early stages of developments. He is currently delivering organization-wide scale strategies to some of the signature clients in the region.

Dr Spanos has been shortlisted for and has received various Middle East awards. He is actively supporting academic research, regional Green Building Councils, and international professional bodies.

Mario Saab is the Co-founder & Managing partner of SEEDS International, a well-established regional firm, providing high-end services in sustainable energy and environmental design issues that meet the rising market demand for green solutions in the AEC industry.

Holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management, and backed with a series of accreditations in LEED, BREEAM, Estidama and GSAS rating systems, he successfully led his team to deliver top-notch sustainability consultancy, analysis and educational services in these schemes across the MENA region, managing turnkey sustainable projects such as, among many others, the Dubai Expo 2020 UAE Pavilion, SABIC HQs in KSA, Meydan One Mall in Dubai, Bahrain Airport new terminal building, and the Lebanon Waterfront City.

Dr. Khouri is the Head of Digital Transformation and Innovation for Dar Al-Handasah – Transportation, Airports & Facilities. He is leading the Digital Transformation using top of the edge technologies for optimizing and automating processes implementation, bringing core business value to the cultural change that a technical digitization unlocks. In his career, Dr. Khouri defined business strategies, technological workflows and led teams of multidisciplinary engineers. His latest projects focus on creating the Digital Twins for major and complex projects throughout the Middle East region.

Paul’s role as Group Engineering and Technology Director is to drive forward and sustain the relentless pursuit of engineering excellence through the strategic application of transformative technologies, the identification and adoption of value-adding innovation and the development of staff skills necessary for the future of engineering across the global business. As an accomplished professional consultant with over 25 years' experience in a variety of technical and managerial roles, Paul has a proven track record of providing sound, considered advice to clients based on a practical, technically grounded approach to engineering with a commitment to quality and risk management.

Paul is a Chartered Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a registered Professional Simulation Engineer with NAFEMS.

Riyad Joucka Is a Dubai-based architect, entrepreneur, and researcher, working at the nexus of design and emergent technologies. In 2015, Riyad founded MEAN -Middle East Architectural Network, an Innovative Architecture Practice, the synergistic counterpart to MEAL- Middle East Architecture Laboratory; a Research Repository in Emergent Technologies.

He worked in New York and Hong Kong from 2012- 2017 alternating academia and practice, gaining experience of building complex structures and facades and designing notable buildings of various scales. Riyad has a focused interest in the space between design, technology, material research, and

computation. He earned his Master of Architecture with Distinction at the Emergent Technologies & Design program, AA School of Architecture in London on his thesis titled ‘Hybrid Biostructures’.

Javier is the Head of the Technology Observation and R&D Programme Office for Construction in ACCIONA and is managing the Digital Innovation Research Group of the Innovation & Technology Division. Under his current position, his mission relates to technology scouting and technology transfer of third-parties development at different TRL, defining the business case and exploitation strategy in each case.

He also works to define the strategy of the division in relation to the European Research Programme or the establishment of an international partners’ co-operation network among others. Mr. Bonilla has more than 15 years of experience in innovation and research, and he has been the project manager of several research projects aimed to the development of new technologies in construction having been involved in the EC collaborative research programme since FP5. He has an active role in several European Research associations, being Vice-President and member of the Presidium at the European Construction Technology Platform where he has been involved since its nearly inception, as well as being a member of the Partnership Board of the EeB cPPP.

Dr. Nielsen has over 25 years of academic and industrial experience and she is currently active in post-graduate education and research.

As a catalyst for closer collaboration between industry and academia she has promoted applied research with industry focus. Her employment tenure in industry includes sustainability management positions in UAE master development projects.

Her research initiatives include public and private organizations in funded research projects performed in collaboration with leading universities in Turkey, US, UK. Her publications include book chapters and numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

She has organized and chaired international conferences. She is often invited as a guest speaker, panelist and judge to several industry events, conferences and awards.

Dr. Nielsen is based in UAE and currently Associate Professor and the Lead of EngD in Construction at Heriot Watt University Dubai campus. Previously she was the Director of Studies of CMS programmes at HWU Dubai Campus.

Wissam is the Virtual Design & Construction (VDC) Director for EllisDon Middle East. He oversees the development and implementation of new and innovative digital delivery techniques for EllisDon’s operations as part of the Project Management Consultancy (PMC) services. Bringing more than 16 years’ experience in developing and executing Building Information Modeling (BIM) strategies for Design-Build-Operate projects.

His role involves developing roadmap strategies for digital transformation of internal process, bringing efficiencies and developing innovative solutions for external clients. He supervises the use of state of the art technologies to improve the design and the construction process, mastering BIM and data-driven analytics to deliver fast-track construction, design for manufacture and assembly, and enabling the smart solution strategy through a ‘Digital Twin’ to enhance customer experience throughout project lifecycle stages.

Being a CanBIM© Professional since 2015, he is currently the International Ambassador of the association for the MENA region.

Ibrahim is an experienced Chartered Engineer who leads a global Asset Management and Digital Transformation practice for WS Atkins, the international Engineering Consultancy. Ibrahim’s practice specialises in helping clients across the Architecture, Engineering & Construction sectors with implementing the latest technologies to achieve business efficiencies. He has a team of engineering professionals that specialise in Building Information Modelling (BIM), Digital Asset Management, Big Data Analytics, ICT and Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technologies.

Ibrahim’s core skill lies in combining his Design & Engineering background, and extensive business advisory experience, to clearly understand how a business operates and introduce tangible improvements and benefits.

Kenny leads PWC work on Capital Projects across the Middle East and is a Partner in the Infrastructure & Government practice.

He has over 30 years of experience in major program and project planning and delivery and has supported the successful delivery of many multi-billion infrastructure projects across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and Australia. He has been based in the region since 1996 and has worked on some of the region’s largest and most iconic projects including – Palm Jumeirah, Dubai International Airport, Dubai Metro, Muscat Airport, Sheikh Zayed Bridge.

Prior to joining PWC three years ago, Kenny worked with Contractor’s and Program Management Consultants. He now advises government departments and industry on the efficient and effective delivery of all types of infrastructure and major projects across the whole project lifecycle, from policy

development, project initiation, project financing, through to project execution and delivery into operations.

Riyadh is a Partner at Kearney with over 15 years of professional experience focused on National Real Estate development and deep functional expertise in Digital Transformation. Riyadh has extensive and deep experience in Modern Methods of Construction, Modular Construction and Offsite Manufacturing working with world leaders and innovators in the construction space driving innovation, boosting upskilling and shaping policy making.

Simon is heavily involved in the implementation of Lean, quality and safety systems for BAM Ireland and led the deployment of BAM’s Mobile System for the Museum of the Future project in Dubai.

In 2016 Simon led the pilot for BAM as beta testers for Autodesk’s “Construction IQ” machine learning application. The outcome of which received global recognition in Forbes, Walls St Journal, ENR and a presentation at AU 2019 to over 4000 attendees.

Simon also worked very closely with start-up “Firmus” to provide both data and insights for their AI constructability review tool.

A professional with a business vision, hard-core technical skills and the ability to motivate/bring people together. Acts as a high-level orchestrator of a large numbers of discrete President Strategic Initiatives that drive organization-wide digital transformational change. Brings executives, employees at all levels, processes, and technology together to deliver pioneering solutions to address business challenges and achieve organizational goals. Develops strategic partnership with startups that build disruptive technologies to related industries. Sources Innovation by partnering & building strong lasting relationships with relevant Technology Startups. Leverages alliances to add value and competitive advantage to the business. Lead the business development and orchestrate JV\partnership structure that bring a group of technology startups under CCC umbrella; to open new business & lead to projects awards in related technologies.

Noora Bin Haider holds a bachelor's degree in Architectural Engineering and a professional diploma in Future Government Leaders. She works at the GIS center in Dubai municipality on the Dubai BIM Roadmap project. This strategic project aims to establish a BIM road map and BIM e-Submission platform and standards for all Dubai building permitting authorities.

Ali Ismail holds a Master degree in civil engineering from TU Dresden-Germany. He has more than 10 years’ experience in BIM, Open BIM standards and applying simulation to support construction project planning (PhD dissertation topic)
He works as BIM expert in Dubai Municipality-GIS Center and team member of “Dubai BIM Roadmap Design and Implementation for Building Construction” project and the UAE buildingSMART chapter.
He is the founder of the OpenBIM platform.

Chief Engineer and Director of Engineering department at China State Construction Engineering Corporation “Middle East”, he leads the Engineering team of the world leading contractor to develop technology driven technical proposals and Engineering solution for running and upcoming projects across Middle East region.
Mansour holds Master Degree in Construction Management from Reading University, with a major specialty in construction innovation, building information modelling (BIM), Virtual construction and in particular 3D printing applications in construction field.
With an extensive knowledge gained over 20 years of participation in large, complex and landmark projects, Mansour has developed his realistic vision towards construction industry, and became able to early identify the minor flaws before it rolls up into major business failure, accordingly he is capable to manage all sizes of projects, and assist different stake holders to take the right decision on the right time.

David Glennon is the Digital Delivery Director for The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) , a closed joint stock company wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. He oversees the development and implementation of new and innovative digital delivery techniques for a new international luxury tourism destination set along the Red Sea as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
Bringing more than 25 years’ experience in the construction industry, he oversees the use of pioneering technology to improve the design and construction process, introducing automation and data driven insights to deliver fast-track construction, design for manufacture and assembly, and enabling the Smart Destination strategy through a ‘Digital Twin’ to enhance customer experience.
Previous positions include Managing Director of DoubleD.io, a digital accelerator for the built environment, and Head of Digital for Arcadis in the UK, leading their digital programme and the delivery of platforms, innovation, data and analytics and ecosystem thinking. As Director of Digital Project Delivery at AECOM, he was responsible for creating and implementing digital strategy across Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. Prior to this, David held senior positions at Mott MacDonald and Lend Lease.
David was also an on the Executive Board of the UK BIM Alliance, an organization with a mandate to make Level 2 BIM “Business as Usual” for the UK construction industry and chair of the buildingSMART UK & Ireland chapter.
David holds a BSc Construction Management from the University of Salford, UK.

Jason is the CEO of Al Laith which provides engineering, project management and contracting services together with plant & equipment rentals to the middle east market.
Jason is a Mechanical Engineer with a Masters in Business. He is also a qualified commercial drone and helicopter pilot and has spent more than 20 years in the field of project management primarily in the Oil & Gas space.
Jason is a member of the Abundance 360 community and YPO and has been featured in several global magazines and media channels. He is also the author of his book “The Oros Effect” and has spoken at multiple conferences.
Jason is a keen innovation enthusiast having co-founded CG Tech which today supports over 4000 employees and 8 companies and which provides strategic management and innovative solutions that enhance business performance across multiple sectors.

Dr. Alhazmi is currently the General Director of the National Centre for Internet of things and Robotics Technology at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Saudi Arabia. Dr. Alhazmi was the Director of the Technology Transfer Office at the Communication and Information Technology Research Institute (CITRI) at KACST. He is the head of Vision and Operational Analytics Division at the National Center for AI and Big Data. Dr. Alhazmi is part of the KACST’s strategies development team, and a strategy leader for one of the digital revolution strategies. Dr. Alhazmi is an experienced researcher with more than 15 years of experience in designing and executing IT and emerging technologies-related projects backed by strong educational background with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) and Master of Engineering Science both from Western University, Canada focused on Software and Computer Engineering. Dr. Alhazmi has led many national end-to-end advanced-technology projects. Dr. Alhazmi identifies and manages several strategic partnerships with local and international players. Dr. Alhazmi is an assistant research professor at the National Center for Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence and a visiting scholar at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Currently, Dr. Alhazmi is leading a mega project in collaboration with Caltech and JPL. Several awards have been given to Dr. Alhazmi from prestigious universities and agencies. He has issued several patents from the US and Europe, and published several publications. Dr. Alhazmi was the Chairman of the Scientific Committee - 3rd Saudi International Exhibition and Conference for Internet of Things held March 2020.