As one of the initiators and the sponsor of the first Lighthouse Club of Doha gathering, Quantum Global Solutions (QGS) recently attended the second annual ball of the Lighthouse Club of Doha. The event, held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, was attended by over 300 of Doha’s construction elite and international after dinner guest speaker Lord Michael Dobbs, well-known politician and author of best-selling novels such as “House of Cards”.
Lord Dobbs provided antidotes of his time as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and how this experience indirectly led to his alternate career as an author. Lord Dobbs ended his presentation by commending the construction industry in Doha for building what he described as a new civilisation comparing the construction going ahead in Doha with the development of Greek and Roman civilisations.
The evening had special significance for the QGS Lighthouse Club members due to the links between the two organisations. In September 2012, during a chance meeting between QGS’s Rupert Pilkington and Stephen Heath, the Lighthouse Club President, Kuala Lumpur Branch it was recognised that with the burgeoning construction industry in Qatar, a Doha Lighthouse Club should be formed. The Lighthouse Club gatherings enable members of the construction industry to meet, share views and network at regular monthly gatherings and provide an opportunity for local firms to demonstrate their services by sponsoring the evening and presenting their company services to attendees. The date of the first monthly gathering was set for 2nd October 2012 and QGS agreed to be the club’s founding sponsor. Over the past two years, attendance has grown to over 180 professionals from all walks of the Qatar construction industry who attend the monthly gatherings, two hugely successful Annual Dinners and golf days, which QGS have also helped to sponsor this year.
The Lighthouse Club philosophy is “an international, non-political organisation with two main objectives; firstly to promote fellowship and cooperation among members in every respect and secondly, of equal importance, to develop a Benevolent Fund to provide financial assistance to victims of accidents or illness within the construction industry and to their dependents where a fatal accident has occurred”.
The Lighthouse Club of Doha was formed in 2011 and is part of the international Lighthouse Clubs originally formed in 1956 in the UK by a group of construction professionals. Twenty one Lighthouse Club branches are active in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland. An autonomous branch was formed in Hong Kong over 25 years ago. Now the Lighthouse Club has an active presence throughout the Asia Pacific region and in the Gulf, Dubai and now Abu Dhabi.
QGS is acknowledged as one of the leading management consultancies dedicated to serving the interests of international construction and engineering organisations. With its headquarters in Doha, Qatar the company actively supports community sponsorship initiatives as part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. QGS is proud to have been a founding sponsor of this worthwhile construction industry initiative in Qatar. For further information on attending an upcoming Lighthouse Club meeting contact Rupert Pilkington, QGS Senior Contractual and Commercial Consultant and Lighthouse Club, Doha Branch Vice President on rupert.pilkington@788.072.mwp.accessdomain.com or check the Lighthouse Club website http://www.lighthouseclub.org/