The Big-5 (the leading international building and construction show) was held in the Dubai Trade Centre in November 2018. At the event, Eduardo Gaitan, Power and Construction Manager from Applus+ in Qatar, spoke on the importance of urban spaces and city resilience strategies.
In his presentation, Eduardo noted that “The challenge for architects, engineers, urban planners and all of the companies working on the construction of buildings, roads, or infrastructure in our cities, is to understand urban spaces and the appropriation of places to promote resilience strategies. We may be experts in data collection but we have a long way to go to develop through data analytics”.
Eduardo continued, “We should create and generate an awareness of the broad range of what is doable. This includes considering the quality and scale of human interaction with building projects, as well as being in close dialogue with our surrounding environment, cultural heritage, and the local understanding that will allow the profession to créate a sustainable model for future generations.”
The Big-5 is the region’s largest and most influential event for the construction industry. It brings together the entire portfolio of building materials, construction products and solutions under one roof, with manufacturers, suppliers, traders and service providers from the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas showcasing thousands of the most advanced technologies and solutions.
The Applus+ Construction Business Line in the Middle East has been very active in the past few years, developing important projects in Qatar, Oman, and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). These projects include technical inspections and conditional surveys of works for different metro lines, general audits and condition assessment for different airports, technical road surveys, and research and analysis projects for the oil and gas industry.
For example, in Qatar, Applus+ implemented technical road surveys for the entire network in the country.
Applus+ is currently very active in diversifying the line’s service portfolio and expanding its presence in the región.