Earlier this month, the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Qatar Centre, hosted its monthly Continuous Professional Development (CPD) event to its largest ever audience. 175 of Doha’s construction professionals attended the event which was organised by Tim Stevens, Senior Contractual/Commercial Consultant at Quantum Global Solutions (QGS). This was the last of the monthly events for 2014, and brought the annual calendar to a particularly successful closure.
Ian Maund, Chairman of the CIOB Qatar Centre, and also Senior Contractual/Commercial Consultant at QGS, kicked off the evening by introducing the audience to the CIOB committee members and updating the audience on the events and activities that had occurred during the past month.
The subject of this month’s CPD event was ‘Mitigating Contract Risks: Project Start to Timely Close Out. In his presentation, guest speaker, Ahmad Ali Al Ansari, Managing Director at Lagoon Qatar, covered a wide range of topics including the management of contracts, management of risk, the importance of keeping regular updates and records, communication of expectations, relations between clients, Engineers and Contractors, and claims which become disputes. Given his thirty years in the industry, he was also able to give some excellent practical examples from his own past experiences which led to a lively debate and questions from the floor.
Qatar is experiencing an unprecedented period of construction activity and for a great many reasons construction delays are all too familiar to those in the industry. The audience highlighted the relevance of this event and acknowledged the need for improvements in the running of projects. This most informative presentation was an excellent opportunity to discuss how to run projects in a more efficient and effective way.
Speaking after the event, Maund said, “the CIOB are proud that so many of Qatar’s construction industry professionals joined in the discussion this evening. The debate had covered many of the challenges faced by the construction industry worldwide and not only in Qatar. It has been a great opportunity to share knowledge and experiences with our colleagues”.
The CIOB are already planning its 2015 calendar and have an exciting line up of lively and informative topics, provided by industry experts from QGS, Lagoon, K&L Gates, CJM and others. CIOB CPD events are open to all involved in the construction industry, and which are provided free of charge to its attendees. Check outwww.ciob.org/events for forthcoming events in 2015.