Construction and Projects Department

The Construction and Projects Department is one of the departments of the University Presidency. It reports to the President of the University and is linked to the Directorate of Construction and Projects at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. It comprises engineering, technical and administrative staff with various specialisations who carry out their assigned duties as a single team, characterised by a spirit of cooperation and the sharing of expertise among its members, in order to improve the built environment of the university. The department is concerned with implementing and supervising the construction, electrical and mechanical projects that serve the university. These projects fall under several categories. Some are self-implemented, such as direct execution, where they are prepared by the university and carried out directly by the department's own staff; the department forms technical engineering committees from its members to prepare bills of quantities for the materials required for the work, and to implement and take delivery of projects according to standard specifications. Others are prepared and funded from outside the university, such as investment plan projects, which are funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and executed as contracts by specialised public or private companies; in these, the department's role is the technical engineering supervision of the work, as well as organising the administrative matters relating to project implementation.

Vision of the Construction and Projects Department

The department's future vision is to complete all the buildings of the permanent sites and to implement the infrastructure in accordance with the plans prepared for this purpose, as well as to maintain and service the existing buildings, enabling the university to improve the services related to the academic process and to complete all the requirements of the colleges, research centres and recreational facilities that exist or may exist in the future at the university. In addition, it seeks to provide studies and plans for the land belonging to the University of Shatrah so as to achieve the optimal use of the land, in a way that serves the educational and academic process of the university and complies with the standards of quality assurance and university and institutional performance, in order to raise our university within the recognised international rankings.

It also seeks to build a university that is complete in every respect (at its various sites) through the construction of buildings, halls, laboratories and support buildings capable of accommodating the growth of colleges and newly established departments and the increasing number of students at the university, keeping pace with urban development and applying the concepts of sustainability adopted around the world, in order to graduate students with a scientific, technical and practical standard that meets the qualities of a successful engineer, able to obtain employment and contribute to the development of the country, and to think in the direction of constructing more suitable university buildings that achieve the highest level of advanced specifications.

Mission of the Construction and Projects Department

To prepare special future plans for upgrading the existing university buildings and creating new ones that keep pace with the latest work carried out at universities, drawing on the latest developments in the various engineering fields, while setting plans that ensure the university reaches advanced ranks in every respect. Furthermore, the mission of the Construction and Projects Department at the level of human resources is to train students of the engineering and science colleges at the university headquarters and within its projects, in order to link the academic side with the practical side and achieve the envisioned capability of the engineer in all theoretical and practical respects.

Tasks and Duties of the Construction and Projects Department

• Preparing preliminary and planning studies of the colleges' and centres' needs for new facilities, buildings and extensions, in line with the university's master plan, as well as investment projects, in accordance with the laws and instructions in force.

• Preparing the studies, technical requirements and follow-up for projects of the annual investment budget and the operating budget relating to buildings and their maintenance.

• Providing engineering and technical consultancy to all university formations and the other facilities affiliated to the university regarding buildings and their structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, sanitary and air-conditioning services.

• Engineering and technical supervision, undertaking the supervision of approved projects and working within joint committees within the Resident Engineer's Office for projects and other construction works carried out under the investment budget, the Investment Law and the Law on the Sale and Lease of State Property, in addition to maintenance works carried out from the current budget (direct execution), and participating in the supervision and acceptance of works carried out by the university formations.

• Following up projects implemented within the university through specialised technical engineering committees, and preparing monthly follow-up reports for each project showing the rates of technical and financial completion and any obstacles or problems arising during the work, and finding appropriate solutions to them.

• Preparing the engineering surveys needed for maintenance and rehabilitation works on the buildings and infrastructure of the University Presidency and all other formations, and carrying out the works in accordance with the direct-execution instructions.

Department Staff:

Director of the Department: Dr. Abdullah Jabr Halboos

Divisions of the Construction and Projects Department

1- Planning Division: (Eng. Mustafa Jabbar Hussein Hashoosh)

The most important tasks carried out by the division's staff include:

• Receiving and checking drawings and bills of quantities and handing them over to the implementing party

• Preparing the economic and technical feasibility of projects

• Preparing the general description of projects, providing engineering consultancy, and archiving drawings and files

• Supervising the implementation of projects and their conformity with the drawings.

• Archiving drawings and files relating to projects

• Receiving drawings from the designing party and handing them over to the implementing party.

• Preparing the engineering requirements for planned projects.

2- Implementation Division: (Eng. Nashid Abdul-Zahra Dhaidan)

The most important tasks carried out by the division's staff include:

• Field visits to project sites and on-site review of the progress of work

• Discussions with the resident engineers of projects on the method of implementation in accordance with the drawings and bills of quantities of the projects

• Following up all laboratory tests of construction materials with the Resident Engineer's Office and preparing official fortnightly status reports to follow up these tests

• Following up the work of the committees for concealed-work measurements of projects and the committees for checking measurements, and preparing official status reports on the measured and audited minutes issued by the committees formed for this purpose

• Giving opinions on problems that hinder implementation and the progress of work on projects, when requested by the Resident Engineer's Office for projects

• Supervising the implementation of engineering works for awarded projects.

• Preparing change orders and recommending the granting of extensions of time.

• Preparing advance payments for completed works and materials supplied.

• Organising the work file and the daily site log.

• Coordinating with the relevant authorities to overcome obstacles to implementation.

• Participating in acceptance and final measurement committees and any other committees or works consistent with the division's work that support the work of the department in general.

3- Project Follow-up Division: (Dr. Mohammed Abdul-Baqir Jannam)

The most important tasks carried out by the division's staff include:

• Following up all university projects and recording completion rates and the work progress schedule.

• Receiving the work progress schedules of all projects, checking them and keeping them continuously updated in the department, based on field visits to projects and the weekly reports submitted by the Resident Engineer's Office, and submitting detailed reports on actual and cumulative completion rates and the extent of deviation to the department director

• Responding to correspondence received from the ministry and the university.

• Following up the provision of the required information available to the follow-up committee to the resident engineers' offices when necessary.

• Ensuring that the drawings and bills of quantities are available at the work site and that implementation is carried out in accordance with them, as well as following up the issue of variation orders for items whose quantities increase by up to 20% and for newly introduced items.

• Following up the correspondence and letters relating to investment plan projects issued by the ministry, and submitting monthly reports to the ministry including the actual completion rate of each project.

• Forming acceptance and final measurement committees.

• Following up and checking tests of the materials used in implementing projects, as well as field and laboratory tests, and their conformity with the applicable standard technical specifications.

• Following up building permits and construction approvals with the relevant departments, such as electricity, the water directorate, antiquities, the environment, etc.

4- Supporting administrative units linked to the department director

· Information Technology Unit (Eng. Murtadha Mohammed Khudhair)

· Administrative Follow-up and Records Unit (Mr. Yaseen Abbas Hamad)

Email of the Construction and Projects Department: Reconstruction_dep@shu.edu.iq