Koen Meert, Senior Director, Design & Development at Emaar, one of the largest real estate development companies in the Middle East, is an accomplished executive leader with a passion for Construction Innovation, Technology and Sustainability. He is a full project lifecycle senior manager of large-scale, iconic construction projects.
Since joining Emaar in 2018, Koen has led the structural design vision and execution for the entire local and international portfolio of the company. While finding creative solutions for multiple complex projects, Koen has been instrumental in the review of the structural design of a wide variety of projects and in optimizing the same, leading to unprecedented significant savings. In 2021 he was honored the Big5 Construction Award – Sustainability initiative of the year – for being the architect of the revised structural design guidelines in Dubai.
Koen is also leading innovation in construction projects, where new techniques are implemented in various construction activities, with projects ranging from big villa developments to high-rise towers to leading a world first 3D concrete printed 150m2 smart villa development.
Before Emaar, Koen developed strong international structural design and extensive Design-and-Build experience through working for a consultant, a contractor and Dubai Expo2020 PMC.
Koen became UK Chartered Structural Engineer (IStructE) in 2015 and Fellow in 2020. He was the Honorary Secretary of the local UAE branch and part of the leadership Committee until 2019. In 2018 he became MIEAUST in Australia and joined CTBUH Dubai as Board Member. For CTBUH, Koen is part of the International Structural Engineering Awards Jury. Based on his experience and extensive professional network Koen gets asked regularly to participate in various committees and present at numerous international seminars and conferences.
