Libya Design Consultants

16 April 2010

Six leading design consultants working on projects in Libya are: Daniel Hajjar, Mohamed al-Assam, Jason Burnside, Peyman Mohajer, Gary Wright and Mike Hamer

Daniel Hajjar

POSITION Senior vice-president, HOK

BIOGRAPHY Daniel Hajjar is the senior vice-president and Middle East and North Africa (Mena) regional manager for the US-headquartered architecture and engineering firm HOK. He is based in HOK’s Dubai office and has more than 20 years’ experience as a registered senior architect. Hajjar has been with HOK for about 10 years. Prior to this, he was principal of his own practice in Canada. Hajjar is HOK’s main point of contact for projects in Libya, and his experience in the Middle East ranges from designing buildings to project management, and overseeing major construction and redevelopment programmes. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from the University of Manitoba in Canada. Hajjar has taught and served as a guest juror at the University of Manitoba and the UAE’s American University of Sharjah. He is a registered architect in Canada.

CONTACT Tel: (+ 971) 4 382 6800

Mohamed al-Assam

POSITION Chairman and managing director, Dewan Architects & Engineers

BIOGRAPHY Mohamed al-Assam is the chairman and managing director of the UAE-based architecture and engineering firm Dewan. Born in Iraq, Al-Assam has 33 years’ experience in private practice in Iraq, the Philippines and the UAE. Al-Assam has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Baghdad’s College of Engineering. Prior to joining Dewan in 1984, Al-Assam worked as a project manager for the UAE’s Wigmore Assam & Partners Consultancy from 1976-80. He then worked for four years as project manager at Kuwait’s Rowais Contracting. Al-Assam has worked on projects in UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and is currently working on a mised-use tower project in Benghati. He is a member of the UAE’s Emirates Green Building Council and the Society of Engineers. He is also a member of the Iraqi Engineering Union.

CONTACT Tel: (+ 971) 2 665 5599

Jason Burnside

POSITION Associate partner, Godwin Austen Johnson (GAJ)

BIOGRAPHY Jason Burnside is an associate partner at the UK-based architecture and engineering firm GAJ. The Irish architect began his career began in Edinburgh in the UK, working in the architecture department of the Lothian Regional Council. He graduated in 1996 as qualified architect from the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in Dundee, and worked for five years as an associate with Clarke Association Architecture & Urban Design in London. He moved to GAJ’s Dubai office in 2001 as a senior architect. Burnside has designed and delivered some of GAJ’s high-profile regional projects, including his collaboration on Gate Village at Dubai International Finance Centre with the UK’s Hopkins Architects. Burnside is currently working on Tripoli’s first seven-star hotel and providing architectural designs for a boutique hotel there as well.

CONTACT Tel: (+ 971) 4 323 7555

Peyman Mohajer

POSITION Managing director, Ramboll Middle East

BIOGRAPHY Peyman Mohajer is the managing director of Middle East operations for Copenhagen-based engineering and design consultancy firm Ramboll. Since 2005, Mohajer has overseen Ramboll’s Libyan projects including a feasibility study on the infrastructure for four schemes in the Al-Birdi coastal development; a sustainable development for the Green Mountain area; a masterplan for the Miteegha Beach Resort; and engineering for the Tripolis Towers Complex and Al-Waha development in Tripoli. Before joining Ramboll in 2004, Mohajer was the head of structural engineering for the UK’s WSP and Atkins. He has bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the UK’s Brighton University and a master’s degree in structural engineering from City University, also in London. Mohajer is a fellow of both the Institute of Civil Engineers and Institute of Structural Engineers in the UK.

CONTACT Tel: (+ 971) 4 334 3616

Gary Wright

POSITION Director of emerging markets, Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall (RMJM)

BIOGRAPHY Gary Wright is the director of emerging markets for the UK-based architecture and engineering firm RMJM. Prior to joining the firm in 2009, he worked in Russia, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Afghanistan, Macedonia, Estonia, Norway and the US. Wright handles RMJM’s activities in the Libyan market, where the firm has been active since 1980. Wright’s most recent accomplishments with the firm include winning an international award for Best Islamic Design for the Zliten University campus as well as the runner-up for Bani Walid University campus in the same competition. Before joining RMJM, Wright worked as a parachute regiment officer in the British Army. He currently lives in Malta and splits his time between Europe and the Middle East. He is also a member of the RMJM board in Europe.

CONTACT Tel: (+44) 7825 877 845

Mike Hamer

POSITION Associate director, Buro Happold

BIOGRAPHY Mike Hamer is an associate director for the UK-based engineering and design consultancy Buro Happold. Hamer oversees the firm’s project and design management group with specific focus on large-scale infrastructure projects. Mike has more than 20 years’ experience in capital projects. In Libya, he has worked on university projects, as well as designing the new government district in Tripoli. Before joining Buro Happold in 2006, Hamer served as associate director at the UK-based Osprey Mott MacDonald from 2000-06. Prior to this, he was director of engineering services for South Africa’s De Leeuw Group from 1988-2000. Before this, Hamer emigrated to South Africa to work as a senior quantity surveyor at Davis Langdon, formerly known as Farrow Laing & Partners. He holds a bachelor’s degree in quantity surveying and has been a member of the Institution of Chartered Surveyors since 1987.

CONTACT Tel: (+44) 1225 320 600

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