Hadeel Safaa Saadoon has joined global construction firm Turner & Townsend in the newly created role of principal consultant in BIM and real estates digital.
Saadoon joins from Coventry University estates digital services team. She was building information manager leading the implementation of BIM and digital technologies.
Saadoon told BIMplus: “The new role involves supporting clients with their BIM and digital transformation requirements.
“My main focus is on supporting our education sector clients through the process of managing their estates information by setting-up digital foundations and putting in place structured information management practices to enable them to use data to improve the operations, safety and efficiency of their buildings.
“The main challenge for me is the move to the consultancy side after working for the client side in estates operations for nearly five years. I’m excited about this change and looking forward to working with new clients and supporting them to achieve their goals.”
Extending the digital service
She added: “This is a new role as the Turner & Townsend digital team continues to grow and expand its footprint within the West Midlands region. I am based at the Birmingham office. It is a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with the existing digital team, extend and expand our digital service offering and link with existing and new clients in the West Midlands.”
Asked about the key learnings she would take into her new job, Saadoon said: “Working at the estates team at Coventry University gave me invaluable experience in estates information management, assets management and facilities management.
“I’ve been privileged to lead the estates digital transformation and implement BIM and digital processes for the wider university development and operation teams. And I’ve built the foundation of the university’s future digital twin.
“This knowledge will help me to support new clients by understanding exactly what they are going through and the complex cultural, behavioural and technical challenges that they are facing.
Women in BIM
Saadoon is a champion of Women in BIM and has held a number of extra curricular roles in this capacity. We asked how her move might impact this.
She said: “I will continue to support Women in BIM as a regional lead and aim to keep industry activities as I love to share knowledge and meet new people.
“However, due to the new role demand I have stepped down as a chair of the BIM4Estates group and co-chair of the CIAT West midlands group. Both are equally important to me so I will continue to support the new chairs and committee leads in a smaller capacity and will continue to support the UK BIM Alliance/nima team.
“I’m a fellow chartered architectural technologist, chartered manager and chartered member of CIOB. I will continue to support my institutes by participating in industry events, award judging panels and speaking at upcoming conference.”
Looking forward
Saadoon added: “Turner & Townsend are a fantastic company with a diverse range of projects. I’ve been following their news for years.
“I know a number of people who I’m keen to work with, including Gary Bell and George Mokhtar who are always active in the industry, shared thought leadership and examples of best practice. And Niall Murphy, who is a talented colleague I knew from my KTP days. I wanted to be surrounded by a knowledgeable team of experts to grow and learn from.”
Don’t miss out on BIM and digital construction news: sign up to receive the BIMplus newsletter.
