GCC Green Buildings

15 October 2012

Six individuals leading the development of sustainable building practices in the region: Saeed Alabbar, Issa al-Mohannadi, Isam Mansoor, Sultan Faden, Khaled Awad and Samuel Keehn

Saeed Alabbar

Position: Vice-chairman, Emirates Green Building Council (EGBC)

Biography: As the vice-chairman of the EGBC, Saeed Alabbar sits on the steering committee for the Canada-based World Green Building Council’s Middle East and North Africa (Mena) network. Alabbar has written several papers on cost-effective sustainability in the UAE and the wider Mena region. He presented a policy paper to the UN earlier this year, which examined ways for tackling the region’s sustainability challenges. He is the founder and managing director of the Alabbar Energy and Sustainability Group, a firm that specialises in providing energy and sustainability consultation to contractors and designers in the region. Alabbar is a mechanical engineer and has a first class master’s degree from the University of Bath in the UK and is a LEED accredited professional. He is also a Pearl qualified professional, accredited by Abu Dhabi’s Estidama sustainability scheme. 

Contact Tel: (+971) 4 346 8244

Issa al-Mohannadi

Position: Chairman, Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC)

Biography: Issa al-Mohannadi is the founder and chairman of the QGBC and chief executive officer of Msheireb Properties, a subsidiary of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. Msheireb Properties is undertaking a $5.5bn regeneration of central Doha and is using sustainable building methods to attain LEED accreditation, a rating system developed by the World Green Building Council. Al-Mohannadi started his career in 1997 as a process engineer, working in various roles at Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company. He has held senior management positions with several firms, including the US’ ExxonMobil and Italy’s Snamprogretti. He has a degree in natural gas engineering from Texas A&M University in the US. He also has a master’s certificate in project management from George Washington University, also from the US.

Contact Tel: (+974) 4 459 0383

Isam Mansoor

Position: Chairman, Oman Green Building Council (OGBC)

Biography: As chairman of the OGBC, Isam Mansoor has been instrumental in setting up the group with the World Green Building Council. He also led the process to get the council recognised as non-profit organisation by the Omani government. The OGBC was officially established this year and is partnered with the Omani Society of Engineers. With a background in information technology engineering, Mansoor is currently a partner at Advanced Business Solutions in Oman. The firm provides services in information technology in the sultanate. He has also worked in senior positions in Kuwait and Jordan. Mansoor’s role at the OGBC is to communicate with government departments, including the Muscat Municipality, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Commerce & Industries, to persuade them to adopt green building strategies.

Contact Tel: (+968) 2 449 9520

Sultan Faden

Position: Founder, Saudi Green Building Council (SGBC)

Biography: Sultan Faden founded the Saudi Green Building Council (SGBC) in 2008 after spending two years promoting sustainability in Saudi Arabia. The SGBC aims to raise public awareness of green buildings and provide training. As a registered engineer with the Saudi Council of Engineers, Faden studied at the Architectural Association in London, where he gained a diploma in architecture and design, before becoming an adviser at the Mecca Municipality. Faden is currently the director of the Sustainable Development Centre at Jeddah’s College of Engineering and Information Technology. He has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia. The SGBC was established in 2009 and is accredited by the World Green Building Council, a coalition of international sustainable building organisations.

Contact Tel: (+966) 2 257 2455

Khaled Awad

Position: Founder, Grenea

Biography: Khaled Awad was the founding director of property development at Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company. His role included overseeing the planning and development of Masdar City, the $22bn mixed-use and technological precinct designed as the world’s first carbon neutral scheme. Prior to joining Masdar, Awad worked in the construction industry in the Gulf for more than 25 years. As well as heading up Dubai-based green consultancy Grenea, Awad is also the chairman of Lebanon-based Advanced Construction Technology Services. He was also the founder and chief executive of various construction and real estate companies. Awad is a member of the Urbanisation Council of the World Economic Forum and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is a fellow of the UK Institute of Concrete Technology. Awad has a civil engineering degree from the American University of Beirut.

Contact Tel: (+971) 4 390 0250

Samuel Keehn

Position: Environmental and sustainability manager, Energy Management Services (EMS)

Biography: As environment and sustainability manager at Dubai-based consultancy EMS, Keehn has spent the past five years engaged in high-profile projects in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region as LEED project manager, identifying targets for accreditation. A guest speaker at several sustainability conferences, Keehn has grown his department at EMS from one staff member in 2007 to 17 in 2012. EMS offers consultancy in energy conservation, efficiency and management. Prior to joining EMS, he was director of marketing strategies  at Washington-based Concept 2 Prefab. He also worked with the US Environmental Protection Agency. Keehn is a certified Estidama and LEED professional. Keehn has a master’s degree in global environmental politics from the American University in Washington.

Contact Tel: (+971) 4 282 7000

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