|
Hanif Kara, ACE’s Engineering Ambassador of the Year for 2011, started his career in heavy engineering before going on to work on the Sterling Award-winning Peckham Library and now the mould-breaking Masdar City project in UAE.
Kara is a partner with AKT II, a consultancy with its roots and principles rooted firmly in London. AKT II recently became independent, following a management buy-out that has separated the consultancy from WYG Group after five years of partnership.
“Five years ago, after growing fast, we joined with WYG,” he explained. “Our intention was to expand and we stayed independent within WYG so our culture remained unique. Then the market changed. Because of that the plans no longer fitted well and we have now moved to go our separate ways.”
Hanif Kara has conflicting emotions in this regard. He is clear that he wishes WYG well and does not see the management buy-out as a criticism of AKT II’s former partners. “We worked together to make things happen and there is some melancholy that it didn’t work out. However, we also feel a little mercurial about our own prospects ahead.”
Those prospects will see AKT II continue with their innovative outlook in the face of greater competition from emerging markets, Kara recognises it’s a risk and that there is no way to tell the future.
“We know our model has potential,” explains Hanif Kara. “There is great scope for innovation and as markets globalise we can drive that from the west, and from London especially. We have been around for 15 years so we are confident.”
Hanif Kara feels that there is value in specialising in regards to place. “When the market changed around 70% of our work was in the UK. Now 60% is abroad. But we remain particular about our projects and want to remain London-centric.”
No one at AKT II feels that being based exclusively in London means abandoning project work abroad. “Being global requires offices around the world. Being international can be done from London. The creative work behind building design anywhere can be done from London. And we hire widely. There are 32 nationalities in our office.”
AKT2 has developed a culture of its own, and Hanif Kara feels the right recruitment is key to that. “We never hire temporary staff. We always want to build our culture, hire graduates and grow from within. This means our succession is in place.”
“Younger people are getting more and more clever” he suggests, noting that “the march of the digital world has an exponential capacity to improve engineering. I was lucky to be helped and encouraged by clients. New engineers need support to realise all that they can achieve too.”
As ACE’s Engineering Ambassador, Hanif Kara is clear about his sector’s biggest shortcoming. “We need to spell out the roll of engineers and help the public to see our value. We have not been good at that as an industry.”
And while Kara is proud to have been named Engineering Ambassador of the year, he is keen to share plaudits. “It is wonderful to be in such good company as past winners of this award, like Rod Macdonald. But this is not about me. This reflects the great work of a good group of people we have here at AKT II and all our clients.”
We Built This City
Along with his remarkable career and creativity in engineering, Hanif Kara labels himself “a failed musician”. Having been interested in music when younger, he, along with others from the industry, took a shot at becoming Christmas number one with their version of “We Built This City”.
The proceeds of that record went to two charities: Over the Wall, which provides free camp weeks for children with serious or life-limiting illnesses, and Maggie’s Centres, which operates cancer caring centres for anyone affected by cancer.
To download the single please click here http://www.building.co.uk/story.aspx?storyCode=5010092.
 Download article.
|