Key People

Saeed Al Abbar

CEO

As CEO of AESG, Saeed founded and built AESG into one of the Middle East and Europe’s largest and most respected specialist consultancy, engineering and advisory firms with a core focus on sustainable urban development. Under Saeed’s direction, AESG has developed a strong reputation for delivering the highest quality consultancy in sustainability, energy management, fire and life safety, facade engineering, environmental consultancy, waste management, commissioning, government advisory, project development and building consultancy and acoustic consultancy services.

In his role at AESG, Saeed has been involved in managing and directing some of the world’s most prestigious projects through design, construction, commissioning and operation. Projects have included large prestigious master plan developments, high rise buildings, housing development and critical infrastructure.

As well as his professional role as CEO of AESG, Saeed also served as Chairman of the Emirates Green Building Council between 2013-2020 and is a Board Member of the World Green Building Council. In this role, Saeed has been influential in the advancement of a sustainable buildings and cities globally and in the MENA region by working with industry, academia and government departments to develop collaborative solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges.

Scott Coombes

Managing Partner

Scott is a Director at AESG who offers extensive experience in architecture and sustainable Design. He has worked on numerous large and small scale projects throughout the Middle East, ranging from commercial and retail developments, residential projects, educational facilities and whole city master planning developments. With this experience Scott is well accustomed to coordinating groups of architects and engineers to develop functional, practical and cost effective designs. Scott’s detailed knowledge of energy modeling, building codes and experience implementing sustainable design concepts is particularly valuable in developing innovative and practical solutions in combination with building rating systems.

Thomas Lobsey

UK Country Director

Thomas Lobsey is the UK Country Director at AESG. Thomas’s position within AESG is to support the growth and success of AESG into the UK market, including business development, team leadership and project delivery.

Formerly based in Sydney Australia, Thomas previously worked as Operations Manager and General Manager for a fast growing multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental company, operating across the east coast of Australia. Thomas specializes in environmental and contaminated land investigations and remediation and has strong experience within geotechnical engineering, occupational hygiene and hazardous buildings materials. Thomas’s has a passion for effective project delivery, business strategy, growth and organization development, with a drive towards operational efficiency through a balance of structures, leadership and culture.

Thomas spends his spare time enjoying an eclectic taste in music, spending time with his family and playing hockey with Teddington Hockey Club in the National League. Tom is available now to take any enquiries and loves discussing the next great opportunity over a good flat white.

Phillipa Grant

Global Director, Sustainability

Phillipa is AESG’s Global Director of Sustainability. Having worked on some of the most complex and prestigious sustainability projects in AESG’s portfolio, including the development and implementation of Dubai’s Demand Side Management programs and multiple pavilions at Dubai EXPO 2020, Phillipa has gained a broad and thorough understanding of the energy and sustainability sector, both locally and internationally, and is passionate about furthering the global Sustainable Development Goals. Phillipa leads all of AESG’s energy and sustainability related strategic advisory projects, including the development of government policies and programs as well as sustainable development guidelines for low income housing. In 2018 Phillipa was recognised for her performance by the AESG Sustainable Business Leadership Awards and was awarded “Sustainability Manager of the Year”. In 2019 Phillipa was awarded as ‘Highly Commended Engineer of the Year’ at the Construction Week Awards 2019.

Nivine Issa

Global Director, Environment

Nivine is AESG’s Global Director of Environment. Nivine joined AESG in 2014 and has a combined sustainability and environmental sciences background with experience working on a wide range of projects across the region. Nivine’s expertise lies in environmental impact assessment and waste management design studies and she currently manages a multidisciplinary team of ecologists, environmental engineers, certified environmental auditors, GIS planners and environmental modelling experts. Nivine has also worked on a number of strategic consulting and government advisory projects through her work with the United Nations Development Program. Nivine is also a published author in scholarly journals on topics relating to climate change, oil spills, sustainability and flood risk assessments.

Peter Downer

Global Director, Fire and Life Safety

Peter is AESG’s Global Director of Fire and Life Safety. A Mechanical Engineer by background, Peter holds a Masters in Business Administration. He possesses over 35 years of experience as a fire engineer having worked throughout the Middle East, Asia and Australia. He has held senior leadership positions over the past 15 years of his career which includes leading the entire Asia and Australia region for a leading firm and more recently as Senior VP at a construction engineering company where he led the Asia region which included offices in China, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.

April Soh

Technical Director of Facades

April Soh is our Technical Director of Facades. With a Degree in Civil and Structural Engineering and a Diploma in Environmental Engineering. April brings a unique approach to façade engineering based on care for architectural detail and co-ordination, innovation and providing integrated solutions to complex multidisciplinary issues.  She has over 20 years of Façade experience across the UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong and has a proven track record of delivering some of the world’s most prestigious landmark developments. With a focus for excellence and steadfast commitment to achieving objectives, she adopts a consultative approach to clients assisting them with technical expertise, managerial focus and thought leadership.  

Fawzi Dibis

Senior Sustainability Consultant

Fawzi is a Senior Sustainability Consultant at AESG. Fawzi consults and manages a wide range of projects to help ensure their aspirations for sustainability and energy performance are met. This includes managing LEED, Estidama and Al Sa’fat requirements for projects in both Design and Construction, as well as providing specialist building physics services to deliver sustainable solutions through low energy, low carbon emitting buildings that are comfortable to occupy and well-integrated with liveable city concepts. Fawzi is often responsible for leading a range of different disciplines towards achieving a truly holistic sustainable design.

Fawzi offers a strong background in architecture and hands-on experience in building information modelling in addition to his knowledge of building physics. These key points enrich his expertise in assessing and implementing sustainable design measures and passive design strategies, through applying a whole systems perspective and being able to lead the integrative design process to optimize a building’s performance.

James Kelland

Senior Fire Engineer

James is an ambitious consultant engineer who is passionate about integrated design and specializes in fire safety and fire protection engineering. His experience demonstrates an ability to integrate and collaborate with people in a multidisciplinary team environment, as well as work independently as project lead on both small-scale and largescale international projects. He has worked as project lead on a broad range of international projects, including low- and medium-rise flats, high-rise mixed-use developments, entertainment venues including retail stores, high-rise towers, airports and masterplan developments in Asia, Europe, North America and Middle East. James takes great responsibility in delivering high quality work on time, that is tailored to meet client needs.

Abdullah Faza

Senior Fire and Life Safety Consultant

Abdullah holds a Bachelor of Science with Honour degree in Fire Safety Engineering from University of Central Lancashire, UK. He is graduate member of Institution of Occupational Safety & Health.

He is experienced fire engineer with high skills and knowledge in fire & life safety design, fire & gas mapping, façade assessment, inspection and risk assessment. He delivered landmark projects in UAE and GCC countries such as Al Wasl 2020 tower, A2/A3 towers, UAE Pavilion Expo 2020, Wafi Tower, MBR Library, Dubai Frame, Riyadh DAMAC Towers, Riyadh Avenues Project, and others.

In addition to the engineering experience, Abdullah was a fire safety instructor delivering fire safety awareness courses for variety of candidates.

Marina Kindelan

Associate Façade Consultant

Since Marina joined AESG in 2017, she has been involved in a varied range of projects such as the writing of thermal insulation guidelines, a residential development with a GFA of 300,000 sqm. in Abu Dhabi or a 5 star hotel in Dubai.

She has over 5 years of professional experience in various countries such as Korea, UK, and the UAE. She is involved from the early stages streamlining the facade design process through solid management skills and design flair to tender documentation. She possesses a solid background on facade systems, detailing and materials across these different countries.

Miguel Fernandez

Senior Façade Consultant

Miguel is based in UAE since 2010, working as Project Design Manager at Permasteelisa Gartner ME, previously working at Permasteelisa Spain since 2003 performing the following roles: Project Design Manager, 3D Manager.

Miguel has a extend experience on façade systems (over 14 years) working for complex projects for one of the biggest façade contractors (Permasteelisa Group) what requires a high organizational and communication skills.

Martin Williamson

Commissioning Manager

Martin began working in the MEP sector in 2007 where he has progressed in the industry and developed an in-depth knowledge and understanding of MEP building services. Martin has earned a good reputation in the MEP sector whilst employed by companies in the UK, Australia and New Zealand before moving to the UAE in 2016.

Having worked on a variety of projects including office and mixed-use commercial buildings, schools, apartment buildings, data centres and hospitals, Martin understands the varying requirements different projects entail and has first-hand experience in ascertaining and overcoming the challenges associated with each, from both a hands-on and management level.

Tom Townley

Commissioning Manager

Tom is a British Engineer who has over 15 years experience in MEP Design and installation, Commissioning and management He has comprehensive knowledge in his field and is up to date with regulations and trends in MEP design. Through his career he has worked both client and contractor side to complete many high-end installations, along with many other design and installation reviews. He is experienced and capable in managing large commissioning and construction teams to achieve successful completion of projects on time and to the quality required. In particular he has vast experience in construction and comissioning of large healthcare facilities, hotels and offices. Coming from a practical and design background, he understands restrictions faced on site by operatives as well as how to work around them. Tom is a positive individual with strong character which reflects in the work place. He has worked in the UAE for the past 6 years alongside many nationalities to abide by stringent deadlines and hand over top end facilities

Phil Quinn

Associate Director KSA

Phil has over 20 years’ experience within commissioning projects ranging from a maritime background to large residential projects and high rise buildings, practicing the highest level of commissioning project management and technical authoring for equipment O&M & training manuals He has commissioning experience including Power and Generation equipment through to HVAC systems in compliance with various international standards and codes of practice on these projects.

He previously worked as a Senior Operations and Maintenance Manager in the UK leading mixed teams of Engineers and Technicians ensuring complex docking periods were completed on time and to cost. Then as an MEP Manager in the UAE covering work on various projects including Midfield Terminal and ADNOC projects in Abu Dhabi and large residential projects in Dubai ranging from towers in Business Bay through to Villas in Dubai South.

Luke Sheridan

Associate Engineer, UK

Luke is an enthusiastic and highly collaborative M&E Commissioning Manager who has worked on many complex projects across Australia, Asia and the UK. Having worked with a wide range of Clients, his skills have allowed him to manage relationships through innovative project management, engineering service design, install and commissioning. Throughout his career, Luke’s project experience has included Airport Buildings, Education, Health Care, Mission Critical, Residential, Hotels, Commercial Base Build & Fitout and Shopping Centres. Luke is well versed with managing the commissioning process from conceptual design through to final building tuning, providing high quality Commissionability Reviews, Test Procedures and Commissioning Documentation and carrying out accurate testing for building handover. Luke prides himself on a strong work ethic and the ability to communicate well with all members of a project team to achieve the best results for the Client.