13 minute read
International member interview – Laeeq Hassan
INTERNATIONAL MEMBER INTERVIEW
Laeeq Hassan
Laeeq Hassan MSc (QS), FRICS, PQS, ACIArb
How long have you been a Quantity Surveying professional?
For over 20 years I have been providing services as a Cost Consultant and Consultant (Engineer’s Representative) in Quantity Surveying and commercial/ contracts management, in Pakistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Qatar and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). I started my career as an assistant quantity surveyor in Karachi, Pakistan in 1993 and relocated to Dubai, UAE in 1999, where I worked for 12 years on challenging engineering and construction projects.
When did you join Currie & Brown and what is your role?
In 2012, I moved to Qatar and joined Currie & Brown – a large, international, asset-management and construction consultancy headquartered in the UK. I was initially seconded by Currie & Brown to the Qatar Government, where I led an infrastructure department, with a specific role to manage payments and variations on the Doha Expressway Project. In 2013, I was transferred to KSA to assist the company’s project director in establishing the KSA business, and to deliver the core services that essentially define Quantity Surveying.
What is your current role and scope of responsibilities?
I am engaged on a cost-plus contract for the expansion of the Prophet Mosque in Madinah, KSA where I manage various site teams such as: civil and architectural works; mechanical, electrical and plumbing works; resources manpower and equipment; material inspections; and site administration. I represent Currie & Brown at meetings, and deal with day-to-day issues, working closely with the owner‘s and the contractor’s senior staff. I also ensure compliance with the company’s corporate policies, such as health and safety. At the core of our services is ensuring that we adhere to international best practice processes and prevailing policies and procedures.
How and when did you achieve your PQS Designation?
A significant professional development for me was when I became a Chartered Quantity Surveyor in 2011, subsequently upgraded to fellowship. This major milestone cemented a professional outlook that has become a continuous learning experience. In 2013, I applied for and was granted professional membership of the CIQS. I was very pleased to achieve the designation of PQS and I proudly use the title.
How are you contributing to your profession?
I am very passionate about mentoring and assisting CIQS candidates, regionally and internationally. It has been equally pleasing for me that I have supervised and counselled many candidates seeking professional designations in Quantity Surveying. This has included aspiring professionals from the Middle East, Pakistan and India which has augmented well with my experience in commercial and project management within the construction industry. Our industry is diverse in geography and it has been very pleasing to contribute to this.
Can you give us an example of projects that you have worked on?
I have been fortunate to have been engaged in the construction of some world-class projects such as: the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa; UAE’s largest interchange/underpass; the largest expressway project in Qatar; and the world’s second-largest mosque project in KSA. Every project was unique: with distinct nuances, challenges and opportunities.
What types of professional services have you provided?
I have provided services in various procurement formats such as: design/ build, traditional and other routes including construction management. These services include: • reviewing, finalizing, issuing and monitoring site inspections/ monitoring schedules; • organizing, developing and delivering the agreed scope of service for projects, monitoring subsequent performance, and taking corrective action where appropriate; • reviewing and finalizing monthly resources reports and quantity reports. • reviewing and finalizing contractor payment applications (IMP and equipment), and processing recommendations for client approval.
Infrastructure Project of tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa – Dubai Doha Expressway Project – Qatar UAE’s largest interchange/underpass – Dubai
What is your involvement with Continuing Professional Development (CPD)?
I conduct CPD events on various competencies in the Middle East and within the firm, and I have been invigilating CIQS exams in KSA. I believe that CPD is very important to ensure knowledge of the latest developments in the construction industry and to refresh/enhance quantity surveyors’ knowledge. The points and hours requirements for CPD can easily be achieved through seminars, webinars and reading relevant study materials.
What have you achieved from an academic viewpoint and development of our profession?
Academically, I achieved my HND in Civil Engineering in 1992 and a Bachelors of Science in Statistics in 1995 from Pakistan. In 2009, I attended Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland and obtained an MSc in Quantity Surveying. My efforts to enhance and promote the profession of Quantity Surveying were recognized by the Quantity Surveyors Association of Pakistan (QSAP) (www. qsapk.com) and I was elected as the first Chairman (Global) of QSAP in 2012, a post which I am very pleased to hold.
Are there career opportunities for Quantity Surveyors in the Middle East?
There is no doubt that opportunities exist for Quantity Surveyors and the PQS designation is a definite asset. The booming construction market in the Middle East – particularly in railways, infrastructure and high-rise buildings – is providing opportunities for Quantity Surveyors in areas such as pre- and post-contract construction management. Anyone interested to in exploring this market should feel free to approach me at laeeqhassan@hotmail.com.
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Leader or Spectator
Craig Woodall
We all recognize the need for change but implementing change, and more importantly leading ourselves and our organizations through it, is a much more difficult task. This article, the first in a series that will explore professional sustainability, will delve into the challenging world of change and help us understand why it is so difficult, and why transformational change initiatives so often fail.
Are we ready for Change or is it more of the same?
When we mention the word ‘change,’ chances are that our minds automatically start thinking about Change Management in the context of engineering and construction, including the well-developed tools and processes associated with changes to scope, budget or schedule. Good change management is a fundamental skill set required on all successful projects and has been a tool used by Quantity Surveyors for decades, which is why I am not going to delve into it in this article. Instead, the focus for this article is an altogether different type of change, the type that creates a different future, change that alters the foundations of how we as professionals work and what we deliver.
We live in a time of exponential change; we always have. Take communications as an example. It took over 1,000 years to move from smoke signals to carrier pigeons, 250 years to progress from semaphore to Morse code but then only 30 years more to develop the telephone. By the early 20th century, commercial radio was developed but, within just five years, TV was to become the medium for the next generation. With the advancements in technology, we have moved through cell phones, emails, social media and a variety of other technologies within the past 30 years. This is just one example, change is exponential and, as a result, it will continue to happen at a faster rate than ever before. So are we ready for it? Are we as prepared as we need to be to take our profession, and the industry as a whole, forward into the unknown?
Before we try and answer those questions let us get back to the definition of change. Robert E. Quinn defines it very well in his book Deep Change. He suggests that there are two types of change: Incremental Change and Deep Change. Incremental Change involves a series of well-defined steps which, if followed, will result in a desired outcome, an outcome that was known at the beginning of the process. Throughout the Incremental Change process we feel in control, and at any point the change can be reversed. In fact the principles of good change management are all based around Incremental Change. A Deep Change on the other hand is defined as one that requires a new way of thinking and behaving. The outcome is often unknown and is certainly not guaranteed, the process is almost always irreversible. Quinn goes on to define a Deep Change as the equivalent of ‘walking naked into the land of uncertainty.’ The profession of Quantity Surveying is facing the need for such a change but, as Quantity Surveyor’s, all our training and expertise warns us against such reckless risk taking.
The situations that we face that require Deep Change are far-ranging, and include everything from technology, which makes elements of the profession obsolete, to how we develop succession plans for an unknown future. By way of example, technological advances in the past two decades mean that the generation that is graduating in the next 10 years has grown up in a world far different from the one that most of us did. Their styles of work, capacity for development, yearning for opportunity and many other traits are so wildly different from the previous generation that we are faced with a choice. Do we implement some incremental change to accommodate them until they learn how things are done in the ‘real world,’ or do we push for Deep Change that will involve our profession understanding their ‘new world’ and adapting to it?
The obvious answer is of course Deep Change, but how we go about it and what it will do to us all sounds very risky! First, we need to understand how change affects us. As we saw in the recent Federal election, there was a call for change but, in reality, how many of those who posted on social media about the need are actually prepared to change something that affects them personally? I would suggest that only a small percentage is actually prepared to give something up for the advancement of society. This is because the majority of us suffer from an inbuilt fear of failure, a fear that we may not measure up to our expectations of ourselves and, more importantly, the expectations we believe others have of us. To push a Deep Change initiative, with no guarantee of success and no clear picture of what the future might be, means we have to let go of our fear of failure and ‘build the bridge as we walk on it.’
Well that sounds easy, I hear you say! You are right. It is extremely difficult, but let us look at failure: by its definition it is usually associated with a negative outcome; however, some of the best inventions of our time have come directly as a result of failure. Look at the Dyson vacuum cleaner. James Dyson developed over 5,000 prototypes before building the hugely successful vacuum cleaner that we are all familiar with. Bubble wrap, was originally designed as a new wallpaper in the 60’s and, when that did not work, it was marketed as insulation for houses. Only after two failures did IBM then decide to use it to wrap computer parts for delivery. WD40 is called that because WD1 to WD39 all failed. There are countless examples of great things coming from failure, so we need to treat failure as a learning experience and a step further along our journey. We should not allow it to slow our drive for change.
Once we get past the fear of failure, we still need to overcome our Ego. That is right, we all have one. We also have an associated ‘Ego Defence Mechanism’ that really does not want us to be wrong. By its very nature, Deep Change means that we cannot know all the answers; we cannot be right about everything. The sooner we let go of the notion that ‘I am right and you are wrong’, and accept that the solution and path forward are probably a combination of our two points of view, only then can change start to happen. The next time you are in a heated discussion and you know you are right, just imagine for a moment that you are not, step back and try and take a neutral view on the topic. As Wayne Dwyer stated, “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”.
So, once we have overcome our own personal fear of failure and have checked our ego at the door, the implementation of a change should be straightforward? If only it was that easy. As a leader of change it is important that you understand your fears and how your ego can affect you. Once you have developed the self-awareness to push forward with change yourself you now have the unenviable task of convincing those around you that the change is needed. There will be the early adopters (less than 15%) who will immediately get on board and take an active role. (They are the same people who line up in the rain overnight to purchase the next generation of IPhone.) Then there are those who, with sufficient information communicated in an appropriate way, will eventually come around to the idea of change.
There will of course always be a small percentage of the population that will resist change and harp back to the ‘good old days.’ Your challenge as a leader of change is to convince the majority who are open to the idea that the change is in fact needed and will ultimately lead to a brighter future. Remember that, however hard you try it is impossible to change somebody; that is a task individuals must do for themselves. As the leader, your role is to create the environment in which people feel more able and willing to embark on the change process for themselves. There are many books written on this subject, which I am not going to try and summarize here. Needless to say, it takes commitment, time and, most importantly, belief from you as the leader to drive the change process.
So, back to those first two questions, are we ready for the change and are we prepared to do what it will take? I put it to you that the profession must engage change; the world around us is changing at a fast pace. History has shown us that when a company or profession denies the need for change, the change will happen anyway and their future may not be what they had hoped for. Think about Blockbuster in the 90’s, a global powerhouse in the movie rental business, in 2000, it had the opportunity to purchase Netflix for only $50million. It chose not to. By not adapting to the changing technology and the shift in consumer demands, it effectively sentenced its organization to a quick and painful death. The world is changing, the construction industry will change, and it is down to each and every one of us to muster the courage to help the profession change with it. We do however have a choice, we can choose to lead the change as an active participant, or watch from the sidelines as an unwilling spectator, I know where my vote goes.
About the author
Craig Woodall is the President and Owner of Byng Leadership Inc. He has over 25 years of experience leading teams, projects, organizations and individuals. His passion is Leadership Development, helping people and organizations grow by maximizing their leadership potential.
