My Name is Haroon Mohibi, and I'm an Assistant Quantity Surveyor at Lumensol.
I like to consider myself as a problem-solver. Whether I’m at work with clients, or just helping people whenever they encounter a problem that needs a solution. It’s something I’ve always been drawn towards - identifying problems, and finding solutions.
It’s certainly what led me to this industry.
I remember, when I was much younger, watching a documentary about the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and another about the Three Gorges Dam in China. The complexity of those structures and the challenges and problems that they faced in their construction are what inspired me to do my Bachelors Degree in Construction Management.
However, like many others, I got caught up in the chaos of COVID. It took a year-and-a-half after I finished my Masters for them to clear the backlog and allow me to formally graduate, and obviously, I couldn’t just wait 18 months to start working.
So I found myself in hospitality, and I just got to work. Solving problems, like always. Working my way up to a management position. Learning a lot, especially about people, but wondering if this was really the path I wanted to follow. And I really wasn't putting that degree to good use…
But it wasn’t long before I found myself looking to put that degree to use and work my way up in the industry I’d always been keen to contribute to. But where to start?
My first interaction with Lumensol was a conversation with Arran Collins - The Director of Commercial & Financial Services at the company. I like to think working in hospitality gave me a good intuition when it comes to people, and right away I could tell that Arran cared about more than what was on my CV. He wanted to find out the type of person that I was, and listened to the passion that I had about the role and the industry.
Lumensol doesn’t build landmark buildings, or dams, or bridges, but we do solve problems. And the problems we help solve are some of the most pressing problems in our country today.
I’ve grown up in council housing all my life. I know the issues that people face every day, because I’ve lived them myself. But you don’t need to have lived through these issues to see them.
I can see Grenfell Tower from where I’m sitting right now. I remember being out in Westfield the day that it happened. Lives were lost from a tragedy that should never have happened, in my community or anywhere else.
Over the last year we saw the introduction of Awaab’s law to address the damp and mould issues that have cost people their lives.
Even outside of these tragedies that we see in the headlines, there’s millions of people right now struggling. Homelessness is a major issue, lack of social housing is a concern for many councils around the country, and thousands of people are still living in housing that isn’t safety compliant.
Now I'm with a company that works to fix these kinds of problems. We have the chance to really do some good, and I say “we” because it’s not just down to individuals, it’s a whole team effort.
There’s a lot of problems in the world today and trying to change the world as a whole might seem daunting, but I’m excited to do what I can to help people in social housing. One by one, council-by-council.
And I’m only at the beginning of my journey. I’m still learning, still progressing, and still searching for problems that need to be solved. With the goal to keep making a difference in this industry, and building brighter futures with Lumensol.
You can’t fix problems if you don’t know what the problems are, and asking questions - even if they sound “silly” in your head - is the best way to start working towards the solutions.
And remember that at the heart of what we do is people. It’s the people struggling in Social Housing or Temporary Accomodation who should be kept top of mind, but also the people in your team and the people you work with.
Put people first and good things will happen. Karma will always repay you.