🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates.

Interviewer: It is a real pleasure to welcome you here today engineer Mohammad, we are honored to present you with the Prime Global Appreciation Award for project management contributions to the construction industry.
Eng. Mohammad: welcome, Thank you very much and I'm glad and it is my pleasure to have this interview, or if we can say a discussion about myself and my experience.
Interviewer: with over 15 years of experience in engineering and project management, can you please introduce yourself to our audience?
Eng. Mohammad: Today and after more than 15 years of experience, I introduce myself as a professional project management engineer, and experienced architectural designer. In fact, 15 years in the field of construction and field of project management in the design and construction stages, gave me a lot of experience, and the capability to have a chance to run big projects as a project leader, and a project manager at the different stages of the project. With all our clients, we start the project from day one by understanding the stakeholders' requirements, till we hand over the project.
Interviewer: Dubai Municipality has been an important part of your professional life, as you held several positions in this organization. How did that happen?
Eng. Mohammad: I started in Dubai Municipality as a junior architect, which was more than 12 years back, at that time I started in the project department as a junior architect and engineers assistant. After around 7 years, I become the Head of the section, that section included 3 disciplines which are Building Designers, Land Scape, and Marine projects. I ran the section for 3 years, and because of my patience, I was able to understand all those three disciplines very well, as I worked hard, not only during working hours but also after working hours.
In fact, in all three types of engineering works, one thing was important for all which is creativity. Usually, for building and landscape, it is required a creative person, but also there is a lot of imagination in marine work too, as it is not straightforward science, for sure there are a lot of studies and numbers that affect the design, but at the same time imagination is required. After that, I have become a specialist in different types of buildings, as I handed over the landscape and marine works to another engineer.
Ten years ago, I became the Head of the section and project manager. At that time, I worked with my team in three positions as a leader, a section head, and an architect. I was a leader, and one of the members of the engineers, who will check the design detail. This is very important for the team, especially for the new joiners, and new team members, where I was giving them trust to see how they will run the projects, so I can go back to my role as a leader of the team.
Working in these three positions was not easy, as it is required to have trust in your team very well, and to know all project design details that you are working on it (like architectural design, mechanical design, Ac, and other disciplines in the project). Supporting the team and giving them full trust, could be very risky because I was depending on the team to do the meetings, client calls, and site supervision. I was monitoring everything, that part was important, and because of it you can build and give trust with the new local engineer's generation. The risk was there, and some mistakes were there, but we as a team prefer to call it "our mistake" rather than "your mistake", and I believe that this is the best way to build a team, so all team members will feel that they are a part of the project, at the same time the client, or the owner, will feel the level of responsibility of all team members. Most successful projects were done using this way.
The most important part is the project timeline as well, and although I am an architect, I also work in drafting just to learn the drafting techniques, how details can be done, and how it will be reflected in the site, because of that, in the 90s, I started as a draft man assisting architect engineers. After that, even when I become the head of the section, I was doing design drafting as well, reviewing the architecture design, and reviewing all other designs. As I said, any leader must understand the details of the design he is working on, otherwise surprises with unknown results will be there, we have that concept in the government, where leaders will go deeply into the design details.
Interviewer: You were directly involved in managing various landmark projects in Dubai, including libraries, universities, and The Dubai Frame, among so many others projects, tell us more about working on those projects
Eng. Mohammad: It was my pleasure to have the chance to lead managing the project, the criteria we choose to run the projects were a little bit different, due to the size of the project, and the specialty of those projects was different compared to other projects. we started the project by understanding the client's requirements, and by knowing the government's vision for those projects, as those projects were built for the future. At that time, we prepared the scope of work for the international consultants to have the best design, where it was a competition between consultants, and worked together with the consultants as one team.
A lot of challenges were there, due to the size of the project, structure of the project, and technology, as by that time technology was recording a jump in the IT field, and that comes with a lot of redesigns and new requirements, also it was a challenge to how we will present the project to the client and how we will use BIM, a new technology to control every detail in the project. We have succeeded to hand over the project successfully within the budget. During these projects, I had personal challenges too, which were not only the budget and time but also the quality, and the main concern was how to keep my client, and our leaders happy because sometimes you can complete the project with the budget and on time, and with quality, but the client may not be happy! I managed to control those challenges properly, using technology methods, a lot of techniques and study, and choosing the right team. I chose my team, a group of people who know what they are looking for, working together on certain milestones and certain levels. I was glad to have projects like The Dubai Frame, and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Library among other projects.
Interviewer: The construction sector in Dubai continues to be active, what are the procedures taken by the government to maintain the growth of the construction industry in Dubai?
Eng. Mohammad: The government is always looking to have a good base for any developer willing to come to Dubai. Simplifying and clearing the procedure is also important, as the level of having a business in Dubai is very high, due to the availability of a good infrastructure. The government has opened a chance for all developers, in different sectors, like construction, treatment, industrial, and all other sectors, so Dubai is a good solid base for any investor.