麻豆传媒

May 2012 Honorary Degree Recipient

Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)

鈥淪etting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means.鈥�

This quote from Albert Einstein certainly applies to Mr. Mohammed Shehadeh. His commitment to innovation and sustainability has made him a construction leader in the United Arab Emirates. We are delighted to honour him today.听

Mr. Shehadeh, a civil engineer, is senior vice president of Unibeton Ready Mix and a board member of Al Fara鈥檃 Construction Group, under which Unibeton falls.

It has taken foresight and hard work to build Unibeton to the point where it is now the market leader in the UAE. Mr. Shehadeh, who has led the ready-mix company from the start, has seen production go from 240,000 cubic meters of concrete in 1995, to a peak production of four million cubic meters annually.

But Mr. Shehadeh鈥檚 greatest contribution is not measured by the volume of concrete produced. As he explains:

鈥�To be the first choice for sustainable ready-mix concrete solutions鈥� was my corporate vision to drive the sustainability theme throughout the organization....The first task was to move away from the traditional methods of producing concrete by introducing innovative modern technology in concrete production....鈥�

麻豆传媒鈥檚 assistant director of the Centre for Innovation in Infrastructure, Dr. Dean Forgeron, sums up the difference Mr. Shehadeh has made this way:

鈥淔rom the introduction of higher performance concrete and self-consolidating concrete to the UAE in the late 1990s, and his pioneering work that allowed the production of these materials in quantities that are almost unimaginable anywhere in the world; to the implementation of an extensive recycling program and a very aggressive 30 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide content of all concrete produced by Unibeton in recent years, it is clear that Mr. Shehadeh has been a driving force of change in the concrete industry.鈥�

And this is exactly what Mr. Shehadeh set out to do 鈥� to bring together innovation and sustainability and show that it could lead to corporate success. He has worked with others, including 麻豆传媒, to realize this goal.

Here at 麻豆传媒, Mr. Shehadeh is an enthusiastic supporter of a 麻豆传媒-patented structural synthetic fiber developed by Dr. Jean-Francois Trottier. Dr. Trottier, a former civil engineering professor and Canada Research Chair at 麻豆传媒, is now the general manager 鈥� UAE for Unibeton.

And there is a continuing collaboration between Dr. Forgeron and Mr. Shehadeh. As Dr. Forgeron explains: 鈥淢r. Shehadeh has acted as an industrial advisor for my research and has put considerable effort in the promotion of the 麻豆传媒 fiber as a means of further reducing the carbon dioxide content of concrete construction in several high-profile projects in the UAE.鈥澨�

Innovation is cultivated at the Unibeton Research and Development Centre. The next generation of engineers is also supported through student internships.

Mr. Shehadeh has travelled quite a path since his own engineering student days at Florida State University. Four years after his graduation in 1985, he moved to the UAE. He held various positions before Unibeton, and it was clear that he was a leader in the making.

Mr. Shehadeh and Unibeton have been recognized with many awards. These include the international Stevie庐 Award naming him executive of the year in the Middle East and Africa in 2010. That same year, Unibeton received the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award for construction. In 2011, Unibeton was presented with a CityBuild Abu Dhabi Innovation Award for Green and Sustainable Concrete Solutions.

In an article about the award and Unibeton鈥檚 continued work on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, the director of CityBuild Abu Dhabi said: 鈥淯nibeton鈥檚 proactive use of technology to provide sustainable building solutions definitely places them at the forefront of the regional and global construction industry.听 They are well ahead of their time and set a great example for the rest of the industry.鈥�

For his leadership and commitment to sustainability and innovation, I ask you, Mr. Chancellor, in the name of the Senate, to bestow upon Mr. Mohammed Shehadeh the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

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