DUBAI — DC PRO Engineering has marked the occasion of International Women’s Day by encouraging more women to take the lead in the region’s construction and engineering sector, insisting the booming industry needs them. According to recent findings of the Pinsent Masons’ GCC Construction Survey, overall sentiment in the region’s construction sector has improved by approximately 7 percent. The findings show that the UAE is still the GCC’s leading market and is expected to record growth in 2018, with 38 percent of respondents to the survey forecasting new opportunities this year, compared with 35 percent in 2016. And with Expo 2020, Dubai just over two years away, the sector is set to continue growing, opening new opportunities for both graduates and experienced industry professionals. However, while the UAE is leading the way with women empowerment, there remains a shortage of women in the engineering and construction sector. DC PRO employs a number of women industry professionals who play a significant role in shaping the region’s future. Karen Saliba is a mechanical engineer at DC PRO, and chair of Young Engineers in ASHRAE (YEA) Committee for the ASHRAE Falcon Chapter in UAE. Karen designs large and varied district cooling and tri-generation systems integrated with renewables. Sarah Al Zahdi is an electrical engineer who designs complex district cooling electrical power systems with capacity to run tens of megawatts. Sarah Is instrumental in integrating renewables with district cooling. Villy Maliaka, a mechanical engineer, designs complex mechanical building services systems that cover hospitals, hotels, residential as well as mixed-use buildings. Villy is conscious of rising energy consumption and strives to reduce energy and water consumption by 40 per cent while simultaneously reducing capital cost. She follows the Motto to “Do More for Less”. Nabta Kamal is an industrial control engineer. Nabta designs complex automation and control systems based on SCDA and industrial grade programmable logical controller (PLC), and instruments to manage and automatically report plant energy performance hour on an hourly basis. George Berbari, founder and CEO of DC PRO, said, “All four of these women, from a diverse range of backgrounds in Lebanon, Pakistan, Greece and Sudan, have shown great dedication and commitment to learning, developing new skills and have the drive to succeed. They play an integral part in our organization and particularly in an industry that is so male-dominated. At DC PRO we strive to encourage more women into the profession. Currently 20 percent of our operations team is women, and that will continue to grow.” Saliba added: “The industry is evolving and there are numerous opportunities available for women to get ahead and have a significant, positive impact on the future of engineering and construction. The more women we have across the full spectrum of the industry will only benefit and encourage others to pursue a career in construction and engineering. “With ASHRAE establishing a training center in Dubai in 2017, the first ASHRAE training center outside of Society Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, we see the UAE as a hub for engineers to excel. The UAE government is making great strides in women empowerment across industry and society and we see women having a supremely bright future in shaping the construction industry, in line with the country’s goals.” The latest BNC UAE Construction Analysis report, published in November 2017, highlights the opportunities available in the industry, with findings show the value of active construction projects in the UAE stands at $818.2 billion (AED3 trillion). This accounts for 52 percent of all construction activity in the GCC region. All active construction projects in the GCC region amount to a staggering $2.43 trillion (AED8.91 trillion). — SG