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Fairgreen Design Engineer Construct! (DEC) students in Grades 8 and 9 had the fantastic opportunity this week to learn from three visiting professionals in the construction industry here in Dubai. Our presenters included Facilities Manager David Carey, whose commercial forte is deploying technology to advantage in the built environment; Omnia Abada, Chief Engineer of BIM at RTA; and Landscape Architect Duncan Denley, a UK-chartered landscape architect since 2008. All of them are giants in their fields and had much to share with our students. Our guests spoke of the roles and responsibilities of the architect, landscape designer and facilities manager careers within construction teams.
Our students listened intently, absorbed the insights shared by the speakers, and did a brainstorming activity. They learned, for example: the areas of the floor that get the most transit should be of a more resistant material; that design decisions (or absence of decisions) affect the user experience; and that good design turns a threat into an opportunity. Fairgreen is one of the few schools outside of the UK that offers the DEC programme, a STEAM-focused curriculum founded by a UK-based education consultancy for secondary school learners looking to explore professional practice in the digital built environment.