Mohamed Ragab

What do you believe are the current challenges in our industry, and how can we overcome them?

The current and arguably the biggest challenge, in my opinion, is the fragmented nature of the industry and how it can lead to so much waste in terms of material, manpower and time. We see many organisations trying to develop a set of classifications to standardise the construction process further, but this still requires time for stakeholders to be familiarised with new procedures. There is a resistance to change in the construction industry which represents a huge challenge as many fear the unknown. That leads to them avoiding numerous innovative ideas that can solve so many problems. I believe we can find a solution for almost everything, yet the problem remains in the implementation of our ideas.

What’s going to be the next big thing for the digital built environment?

Reducing waste has always been a primary goal within the construction industry. A good example of project management is the way in which Toyota were able to eliminate waste in terms of manpower, materials and time. The construction industry is trying to adapt this approach and I believe that digital construction will play a vital role in achieving this.

The upcoming rise of artificial intelligence will have a massive impact on the world of digital construction. It will inspire countless innovative ideas and facilitate the entire process. It may even redefine the construction process as new roles will be created, and old ones will become redundant.

Name a project you wish you had worked on and explain why.

Khalifa Tower in Dubai would have been an amazing project to work on because of its complexity as I really enjoy a challenging project. When a project is technically complex, it encourages us to be innovative and to use lateral thinking in order to solve problems as opposed to traditional methods. New approaches set modern rules and standards to make the overall process more effective.